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28-Jul-10

Fruit Pastry Cake

“You’ve picked up 3 pounds for the past 2 months”, my doctor told me during my last maternal check-up.  At some point, I thought I heard “2 weeks”. But no, 2 MONTHS!

“Are you on diet or exercising a lot?”, she then asked me. If continuously packing and unpacking counts, then yes.

I’ve never been considered slender. Just tall. I’ve never paid much attention to how many pounds I gain because I know I’ve always gained ENOUGH.

And the whole pregnancy thing plus now not gaining enough weight……do  I concern? Not really, when all I was instructed to do is to EAT MORE!

Can’t think of a better solution. Especially when it’s summer fruit season, when you come across with this recipe, when you know you will concern if you don’t make it now.

Ingredients (9-inch cake):

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soften
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup fresh fruit tossed with 1 tablespoon sugar (Any fruit of your choice that are not too juicy, I used sliced nectarine and blackberry)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 375F.

Grease and line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan.

With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and sour cream until light and fluffy, around 5 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated in the batter. The mixture may appear slightly curdled.

Add vanilla extract and zest. Mix to combine.

Sieve over flour and baking powder and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Arrange fruits on top and decorate as desired.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the cake.

Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Unmold and transfer to wire rack to let cool completely. Dust the cake with icing sugar if desired.

Comments (10) »
25-Jul-10

Oven Fried Chicken

This is what a clean freak who loves to cook like me would do: cook delicious food but try to minimize the effort of cleaning the kitchen aftermath.

Also, you would make this dish if you have a husband like mine who will open you a can of chicken soup when you crave for fried chicken in the middle of the night.

Ingredients (8 chicken thighs):

2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 chicken thighs or breasts
3 tabespoons melted unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix all ingredients except chicken and butter.

Press chicken into the melted butter and turn to coat thoroughly with the mixture. Arrange the coated chicken on the baking dish.

Bake for 15 minutes, turn and bake for another 15 minutes. Chicken is done when juices run clear when pricked with a fork.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Comments (14) »
21-Jul-10

21 months

Dear Ethan,

This month, we moved to our new house as your sibling is coming along. Simply for this month, I already deserve all of you and your future teammate’s love. Not to mention how I pulled poop hanging from your bottom, how I was assaulted emotionally by your hunger strike, and how I was put on the verge of collapse when you broke your arm.

I’m 6 months pregnant now. Means I have a huge belly attached to my body which could break my back bone and block my airway if I don’t keep myself as motionless as possible. Normally, I should be taking rest all the time,  having your father to do all housework and get me food that I crave for no matter what and when. However, I’ve never requested that, because I’m not only a good mother, but also a good wife. I would never ask your father to get me Church’s chicken in the middle of the night cause I know he would ignore me and instead just open a can of chicken soup for me. Not that your father is not helpful nor considerate. Without him, we will not be able to pack up all the stuff we had in our old house into hundred boxes. Just he’s slow, no sense of urgency. When I want to have everything unpacked and have our house ready now, like this instant, I will have to do it myself or it will never be done. Therefore, I was off from work for a week and took up the tasks of cleaning the house, organizing the kitchen, bedrooms, closets and den, plus laundries in-between. Reminder: HUGE BELLY! VERY PREGNANT! SUMMER HEAT! Only my will power to you kept me alive. You might wonder what left to your father was minimal. But NO! It’s not. In fact there were still tons to do,  like re-painting the den which took him 2 days to finish, and the garage which has not become a real garage until recently, cause when I pulled in my car there before, I would either need to smash the bicycle or the boxes scattered around so my car would fit in the garage and not get chopped up at the back by the garage door. All of these may not do much with your development this month, but you have to know it now so you know who you should love more. I know I’m not able to beat your grandpa though.

Speaking of your evil grandparents, you were at their house most of the time when we were moving. First, I don’t think you touched the ground at all when you were in their possession after being passed from grandma to grandpa to grandma to grandpa. The reason for that is not because you love to be held, instead you love to be taken up to ring the door bell, rattle the chandelier, turn on the kitchen ventilation fan, switch the light. The only time that you ever ran on floor was when they brought you to the mall where you could take the escalator up and down continuously like 20 times. And this is just GREAT!. Because besides the 900 light switches in this new house for you to play with, there is also a huge chandelier hanging up over the stairs. I believe very soon your grandpa will come up with the idea of standing in the middle of the stair case with his shaken legs, tossing you up as high as he can, until he hears the sound your skull makes as it hits the floor.

Recently you’ve been imitating every move we make, every cough, sneeze and yawn. You observe our daily routine and our conversations. You love to roar when you see your father blow his nose. That evening you came back from your grandparents’ house, when I was combing your hair before bedtime, you kept speaking the dialect that they use to communicate with each other. I did wonder if I had adopted a kid from some remote area in China. We’ve been teaching you how to slow down eating or drinking to avoid choking yourself by telling you “Slow down, Ethan.” Usually you will imitate us saying, “Sloooooow”. One morning, when your father was wiping your nose, which is not your favorite thing, at one point you shoved your face off him shouting “Sloooooow”. I have to admit, it’s the most convincing way for you to let us know you couldn’t have known better how to slow down.

This month has probably been one of the toughest in terms of parenting because GOD you never stop. You don’t stop demanding, whining and complaining. At this instant, you want to go outside, you want to brush your teeth, you want to reach up to the magnets on the fridge door, you want snack, my keys……RIGHT NOW, THIS SECOND! Or you will collapse on the floor crying at my feet trying to ruin my persistence. And that is the whole thing about “Being manipulated by a not-even-2-year-old”, cause usually I will give in as long as what you want is not getting you killed. For the first few days we were living in this new house, we didn’t have a right size of gate for stairs. Whenever you came close to the stairs, we grabbed you and returned you to a safe spot, and then you ran over there, and we took turns to get you back again over and over and over. At one point, you reached to the top of the stair case, looked at us with an evil grin trying to say, “Look, I don’t actually need to wait for grandpa, I think I can roll down from here and make funny sound by breaking my bones.

I’m so glad that you are adapting to the new place pretty well as you haven’t had any problem sleeping in your new room. You seem to enjoy the bigger space we have now as you keep running around the house playing hide-and-seek and pleading us to take you out to the backyard. For the first week we moved here, you were so eager and curious yet skeptical to explore every rooms and corners in the house. When you reached somewhere unfamiliar, you would look for us, hold our hands before you explored further like you realized with us around everything would be fine. And I believe that’s what I’ve been hoping for as a parent – no matter how far away you go or how difficult the situation you face, when you see my face, you will find strength.

Love,
Mommy
Comments (4) »
15-Jul-10

4 years ago…

Dear Ethan,

Four years ago, your father and I, simply like other parents, thought we needed someone to remember us after we die. Then we came up with an idea of having our own children. We believe though we are nuts, you and your sibling will enjoy the conversation about how annoying and stupid we are.

So, we decided to wed and now we have you. Before we are done regretting how screwed we are, the other monster is joining you very soon in a few months.

Love,
Mommy

Comments (12) »
01-Jul-10

Strawberry Cornmeal Mini Muffin

I really wish I could come up with an explanation. However, besides coincidence, I can’t think of any reason why I bake with strawberry AGAIN!!!

Probably because Ethan was crazy picking strawberries and put them right in his mouth at my mom-in-law’s back yard. And all he wants to eat now is strawberry. Usually I act real quick responding his interest to eat, because it won’t last.

Ingredients (24 mini muffins):

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped strawberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease mini muffin tin or line with muffin liners.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add beaten egg, oil and milk. Stir until just combined.

Reserve some strawberries for garnish on top. Gently fold in remaining strawberries in the batter.

Spoon batter into the muffin tin. Garnish with a few berries on top. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly golden on top.

Comments (17) »
27-Jun-10

Red Grape Streusel Muffin

It took me quite some time to finally move over from Blogger to WordPress after I mentioned my intention back then. The major reason is because I’m a complete tech-idiot that even something very simple to implement looks extremely complicated to me. I pass out only reading the first few lines of instruction. Over this period, I was looking for a right person to help me out.

Then, I came across with my ex-coworker, Janice, who is a super efficient and “on-brief” partner to work with. She had it done in only 2 weeks or so. And I’ve successfully dumped Blogger! Relieved! Thanks, Janice.

Thanks for all the readers who have shared with me their experiences and advices. And I apologize for my blog being invisible or “weird” for the past week during migration.

Now, one project done. Move on to focus the REAL move of my house.  Yes, we bought a new house. But, our existing one wasn’t sold until yesterday after those hectic 42 days when it’s for sale. Will tell you more.

Ingredients (12 muffins):

1 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
2 cups seedless red grape (select the tiny ones)
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 12-cup muffin tin.In a measuring cup, mix together milk, eggs and vanilla. Set aside.

In a food process/blender, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter cubes until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Remove 1 cup of the mixture for making streusel later.

Add milk mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in grapes and lemon zest.

Fill each muffin cup almost full with the batter.

To make streusel topping. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and drizzle over the reserved flour mixture. Mix together with a fork until it’s crumbly.

Sprinkle a tablespoon of the streusel over the top of each muffin.

Place in the oven and bake until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Comments (17) »
27-Jun-10

20 months

Dear Ethan,

You turned 20 months old a couple days ago.

The most momentary thing happened last month of your life is you eat three full meals a day accompanied with in-between snacks. I have no idea if you are experiencing a growth spurt or you’ve come to the realization that you are completely unacceptable doing this to us, you eat like a monster. We know that this probably won’t last, so every time you eat a good meal, we shower you with positive feedback like, “Good boy!”, “Ethan, you’ve done a great job!” or “Look, who didn’t try to kill his mommy!”

Since you spend quite some time on dining table now, it has brought us a good chance to teach you table manners before you successfully absorb all of our bad habits. Now whenever you nag to demand more food, we stop you and tell you to ask us nicely with “Please”. Then we wait for you to comply by giving us an adorably high-pitched “PISS”. Or we will try something else, like spanking or poking your eyes out of their sockets, because as much as we want to teach you manner, we in fact find you saying “PISS” extremely hilarious. We didn’t realize how well the whole thing works out until you started to abuse the use of “Please” and ask for something that you think isn’t unreasonable, like chocolate mousse in the middle of dinner, or a toy train for you to roll over on your toast.

There are very limited occasions that you are not there by my legs whenever I need to get changed. You love to hang around in our bedroom, attempt to destroy your father’s radio clock or wipe our closet mirror with your tongue. Once you see me walk in the room and get undressed. You stop doing anything and go all excited, giggling and pointing at my bare breast. As I’ve noticed that you are not that ecstatic when you see your father naked, I know that you are into boobs. And I can’t stress how pleased I feel towards this gesture of yours. Not that I’m against homosexuals, I have some closed friends who are gay, and I love them all for their unique, passionate and friendly characters. But I’m glad that you know you have choices. One thing that we seriously need to address though. Now, whenever you see my bras, you say MOMMY MOMMY and try to grab them. And  I will have to stop you doing this anymore. As much as you are amazed what a pair of nice breasts your mommy has, the last thing I want is that you’d think of me when you are “having fun” with your future girlfriends.

You are now at the stage of trying to communicate with us. When I ask you if you want snack, you pull me over to the refrigerator and say “yogoo” if you want yogurt. You tell me “boo boo” when you want me to change your diaper after you poop. You say “bao bao” (Means “full” in English) when you eat enough at dinner, though sometimes it happens even before we finish setting the table. The very moment your communication skill explodes is when you want to watch Sesame Street video. One of the huge mistakes that we’ve ever made is to let you watch the video on our laptops! I said mistake because you’ve become seriously addicted to computer that whenever we take you away from it, you would turn yourself into flame and burn yourself to death. It doesn’t help that we have more computers in our house than in the entire BC province, thanks to your geeky father, and you are constantly hit with the temptation. Now, when you spot a computer, however far or high from your reach, you will say “Momo!” with you arm extending to the keyboard. The very reason that we introduced you to Sesame Street videos was we found that it really worked on interrupting your tantrums. We’ve learned which part in a specific episode that you are crazy about, the part where every monsters gather to sing about some colors or shapes, and it makes you want to dance. I now have difficulty getting rid of those songs from my head, and sometimes I hum along them unconsciously even when I’m at work. But I’m not complaining because it brings me to think about how you shake your head and swing your body when you dance. It takes a portion of my brain dedicated to the thought of where you are and what you are doing now. And it makes me feel less stressful while working.

Ethan, I don’t mind being bombarded with Elmo’s voice in my head as much as I mind how fast you are becoming a little boy. I didn’t think I would notice that because I see you every day, but sometimes I enter your room in the morning and you look a little taller or your cheeks are a little leaner. Now you even fit in those pants that we received from friends some time ago when they were still too long for you. Sometimes I quietly watch you playing across the room by yourself, I see an independent handsome little guy there. I will selfishly interrupt you and ask you if you want to play piggy-back. You will look up and say “Pig Pig”. Then I sit on floor, you climb up on my back with your arms around my neck, I support your legs with my arms. When I go 1-2-3-FLY and lift you up, you will giggle maniacally. I feel your weight on my back. And it reminds me how tiny you were when you first came out from my belly. You were so light. I used to worry that I would get tired of holding you in my arms, or having you lie on my back because you are getting bigger and bigger. But I want to assure that I won’t ever get tired of this at all, because I know there is nothing can ever bring me closer to you.

Few days ago, you started to notice my big mole below my neck on my back when we were playing piggy-back. Whenever people see my mole, they bug me with advices telling me that I have a huge dark blot at my back that I need to get rid of, cause it brings me an uneasy life. I was very sensitive about this mole growing up, worrying what kind of life would be ahead of me. Then years went by, I’ve striven towards my  independence, my career, my family……and now you. People used to ask me about you and I’d usually begin with, “Well, he never stops…” and then, “I never thought it would be this hard. I finally realized what that mole has brought me.”

Yet, the first time you found my mole by touching it and said “Mo Mo”, though I’m still wondering where you learned this word from, at that split second my body became completely stiff with goose bumps all over my skin. Without hesitation, I held you up to my face and smothered you in kisses and you laughed with your entire body. Now whenever we do this game, you go straight to touch my mole on my back. My pulse is forever closer to the surface of my neck because of you, because of my responsibility toward you, and I can’t thank you enough for the dimension that this has added to what it means to be alive. And it makes having this mole worth the uneasy life I endure.

Love,
Mommy

Comments (2) »
20-Jun-10

The Men in My Life

Dear Ethan,

Your father and I had a fight over the ever unsolved issue of him yelling at your ALL THE TIME.

There is no secret that your father has no patience for anything but golf. Ever since he’s addicted to golfing, I hadn’t seen him until you were born. Now, since your presence has drastically diminished his time spending on golfing, he has attached himself to Golf Channel, golf magazine, and golf session on Craigslist. Anytime you are left in the sole care of him, all I can think about is maybe you are now unplugging an electrical cord and putting it in your mouth because your father is on the couch rewinding the Golf Channel over and over again to study a specific swing position.

Not that your father is incompetent. He loves you very much. I believe he does more for his child than most of the fathers out there. Just he’s a competent geek who loves golfing.

I have my own system to keep the house in order in my own hands. After you came along, I had to involve your father simply because I couldn’t do it all by myself. At first I had a hard time adjusting as he’s always too slow to come to feed you, or he’s not vacuuming the house clean enough. It’s taken me a long time to accept that it’s okay if he doesn’t do things my ways even though my way is always the right way.

However, I can’t really let go of his being impatience in terms of taking care of you. Whenever he forgets the fact that you are not a 30-year-old but a toddler who would not do anything he wants you to do, which happens all the time, he breaks down, loses temper and yells at you. Then you cry, and it breaks my heart. I was worried that it would not take too long for you to starting hating him.

Yet, the best part is you’ve never shown any sign of despising your father at all. You often call for him when you wake up in the morning. You enjoy being tickled by him. You run to the door once you hear the keys clinging sound as he comes home.

Your father and I have talked over this yelling issue, we fought over this. And I know that he’s been trying very hard to keep reminding himself that yelling is not the only way to discipline you. And I can assure you, for what has happened between you and your father – the way you look at him now, the way you crawl up to him and kiss him on his lips, the way you touch his ear for comfort when you are tired – that alone is magnificent enough to push your father to become a more patient person than he thought possible.

On Father’s Day, I want to let you know that this geeky, furious but loving guy is your father. He is your man. And you will be his.

Love,
Mommy

Comments (5) »
20-Jun-10

Red Bean Chili

As much as I love this dish, I love this picture. It has made me consider to put chili on my regular cooking list now.

My worry of turning chili into a regular beef sauce has gone, because what makes this chili so different is I put cocoa powder, lime juice and most importantly beer. Yes, a whole bottle of good lager which I can’t come up with a substitute.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1-2 jalapeno, seeded, finely diced
Salt and pepper for season
1 bottle of dark beer
1 can whole or diced tomato
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 can red kidney bean
1 cup frozen corn kernel
Juice from 2 limes
Grated cheddar cheese, diced red onion and cubed avocado for garnish

Directions:

Brown beef in a large skillet in 1 tablespoon olive oil until no longer pink. Set aside.

Add another tablespoon olive oil to skillet and saute onion and garlic until fragrant but not browned. Add carrot, celery and red pepper, cook for 2 minutes until soft. Add jalapeno and saute for 5 minutes. Return beef to pan and heat through, season with salt and pepper.

Add beer and scrape up any brown bits from bottom of the skillet.

Add tomato, chili powder, paprika, cumin and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours.

Gently mix in kidney bean, corn and lime juice. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Garnish with cheddar cheese, red onion and avocado. Serve with cornbread, tortilla chips or rice.

Comments (13) »
10-Jun-10

Elma

Dear Ethan,

The other day both me and your guu guu were texting about names for the new baby.

Guu: What about Taylor or Cadence?

Me: Nah, I know a Cadence who’s a bitch. And I can’t stand Taylor Swift, she just keeps showing her upper teeth for no reason.

Guu: Oh, I like Taylor Swift. Paige?

Me: I like Paige. Just your brother thinks his last name would let people make fun of her by saying, “Let’s page Tam!”

Guu: Esme.

Me: Never heard of that. Acne came to my mind now.

Guu: What about Zoe?

Me:…… Elmo’s girlfriend.

Guu: Good. Ethan will love it then.

Me: No. He will just call her Elmo or Momo.

Guu: You guys love Emma, right? Let’s do Elma.

I had a sonogram yesterday. Though they couldn’t see the penis, they were not 100% sure if this baby is a girl. I still believe my instinct – it’s girl.

Now we may need to seriously think about naming her Elma.

Love,
Mommy

Comments (6) »