Mee Kuan's Kitchen - Fish, Chicken, Pork & Prawn

It has been a year now. I remember I wrote this 'dream' down 5 years ago. I want to provide simple meals to my family at home. When I wrote that, we were frequently eat out. It was to the extent we were bored with outside food. I always wanted to have quality time with my family over the dining table. The desire was stronger when my children came into my life. Providing good quality meals becomes a priority.

Since August 2011, I started my journey. Practicing cooking daily. The taste was awful when I first started. Thanks to my family. They were very patience to me. Ee Rynn and Ee Wern, below are some picture from mommy's kitchen. When you gals grow up, hope it can be an idea for you too.

There's no recipe here. If anyone of you would like to have it, email me. I found out that cooking need instint even with menu.

1. Fish

Fried Pomfret (Bawal Hitam) 

Fish Curry ( Pomfret )

Sambal Ikan Cencaru (Torpedo Scad)

Ikan Masak Lemak ala Seremban ( Ikan Senangin )

Indian Style Fish Curry

Salted Fish with Beancurd and Spring Onion

Sambal Fish Curry

Assam Fish Curry (Ikan Senangin)



Tomato Fish ( Red Fish )

Spring Onion Fish slices (Threadfins)

Fish Head Spinach Soup

Fried Fish

2. Chicken

Five Spices Fried Chicken

Grill Chicken

Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger Slices

Indian Style Curry Chicken

Nyonya Curry Chicken

Stewed Soya Sauce Chicken

Stir Fried Dried Chilli Chicken

Steamed Ginger Chicken

3. Pork

Five Spices Pork Belly

Stir Fried Pork Belly with Spring Onion

Pork Belly with Beancurd and Leek

Nyonya Pork Curry with Potatoes

Honey Baked Pork Rib

Si Chuan Pork Rib Soup ( with carrot, corn & potatoes )

Stir Fried Pork Loin with Spring Onion & Red Chilli

3. Prawn



Stir Fried Prawn with Long Bean

Stir Fried Chilli Prawn

Sambal Prawn

Prawn Fritters

There will be more to come. I haven't upload pictures on vegetables and noodles. Stay Tune :-)

Cheers!



Ee Rynn's experience in Goal Setting

After reading story on 7 Habits of Highly Effective Kids, we have decided to look for opportunity for Ee Rynn to practice the habits.

She has been asking for a birthday party. She suggested a lot of possibility on how her birthday party should be. So I picked this up as a project.

Mommy: Ee Rynn, why not you write down a list that you need to put a birthday party together?
Ee Rynn: Ok. It's like Gobb right, mommy? (Gobb is one of the character in the book)
Mommy: Yes, it's important to plan things we need so we can do it accordingly. ( I am referring to Habit no.3: First Things First )

Ee Rynn took her note book and starts writing. The title of her planning was 'Ingredient'. She justified that 'ingredient' will sum up all the things she need for her birthday party. She wrote who she wants to invite, her favorite cake flavor, her favorite drink and her preferred decoration. I was amazed with her ability to categories her planning. She improvised her list too.

Ee Rynn: Mommy, I think the first thing we need to do is to send invitation to my friends.
Mommy: You are right. Don't you think we need to have invitation cards?
Ee Rynn: Yes, let take the balance of the Mickey Mouse invitation cards last year.
Mommy: Ok. (Amazed that she can remember there's leftover)

After the initial planning, she was always excited referring to her list and checked what needs to be done. I can see that she was practicing 'end in mind' when she imagine how her party should be. She was proactive too, in improving her planning. She took the lead in the planning. We executed her plan by bringing her to choose the cake she wanted.

In addition to that planning, she has requested to watch Mickey's Rockin' Show live in Marina Bay Sands. Her persistent request daily drain our brain out. Therefore, we picked this up as a project again. We knew she has postponed one of her 'important' to do list. Her daily timetable.

So we sat her down one night.

Daddy n mommy: Ee Rynn, let's set a goal so we can watch Mickey's Rockin' Show.
Ee Rynn: What? Her eyes were sparkling!
Daddy n mommy: Let's plan and finish your timetable before your birthday. By doing so, we can watch Mickey's Rockin' Show on your birthday.
Ee Rynn: 'Agreed'

From that day, she has remind us daily to get the 'ingredient' ready to do her timetable. Daddy came out with an idea. Doing a timetable on a card board with sticky note pad. This will allow her to make changes. Brilliant daddy! She was focus. This project allowed her to learn about time management. She learnt to be considerate too. For example:- she wants to go outdoor during mommy's cooking time. We explained why it should not clash and we make changes together by finding a right timing for outdoor. This allowed her to 'think win-win'.

The whole journey was fun. We kept reminding each other on things we need to do before her birthday. It was 'the focus' in the month of November.

Ee Wern learning to self feed

9th November 2012 : 3 days before 9 months old

Ee Wern, it's your second day learning to self feed using your hand. Yesterday, you were puzzle when I handed a plate with bread to you. You did swallow your saliva. This showed that you know it's food in the plate. But you didn't initiate to feed yourself. You looked at me. I think you must be waiting, waiting for mommy to feed you. :-)

Then, mommy hold your hand to signal you should pick up the bread. It took you a while to response. You then put your hand into the plate and mommy helped you pick up the bread. Automatically, you open your mouth. It showed that you really understand the whole process! Smart baby. When finished, you examine the plate. You can see the picture below on you holding the pink colour plate.

During dinner today, mommy gave you another plate with bread. Immediately, you pick up the bread. Smart! You tried to put into your mouth but missed it. You still need to practice as this takes a fine motor skills. Your sister Ee Rynn helped to direct your hand to your mouth. Sisterly love.

It is a joy seeing you learn and progress.

Peekaboo Ee Wern

4th November 2012 : 8 months 3 weeks old

Your world has widen a lot more. You have started playing and exploring a lot. Peekaboo remain as one of your favourite game. You entertain yourself today with my shawl.

You teaches me to have fun with things around us.

Ee Rynn draw mommy's face

4th November 2012: 4 years 11 months old

Ee Rynn drew a picture of mommy. She explained that mommy's face is full of sand because mommy fell on the sand. Therefore, there are lots of dots on the face. She said mommy is a flower too so my hair are flower petals.

She draw another 2 pictures with big earrings and funny nose.

As her mom, I am amazed with her imagination. Children can imagine anything. They don't have to justify and to make sense of their story. That's what creativity is about! Imagination is free!

In her note, she said she loves me. Lovely! She asked for 2 big hugs. Cute :-)

Conversation with Ee Rynn

(4 years n 11 months old)

In her room,
Ee Rynn : mommy, I give you 2 options. One is we chit chat, lay down n sleep; two is we don't chit chat, lay down and sleep.
Mommy : mommy want option 2.
Ee Rynn : Ok, good night mommy.
Mommy : Good night.

Eventually, we chit chat about our day.

Ee Rynn : Mommy, why are we chit chatting?
Mommy : oh ya, we suppose to lay down and sleep right?
Ee Rynn : Yes.
Mommy : Ok, let's sleep now.
Ee Rynn : I know why we chit chat. Because you are the best mommy to me and you want to know my day.

At the laundry area,
Ee Rynn : Mommy, why are you doing laundry?
Mommy : Errr... Just for a while.
Ee Rynn : Mommy, daddy just said he will do it. He will help you. You are sick now. Please go to rest and sleep so you can recover. We need to play with you!
Mommy : Ok, ok..
Mommy has to leave the laundry area immediately as this little commander continue to nag me.

In the kitchen,
Ee Rynn : Mommy, what are you doing in the kitchen?
Mommy : Preparing food items to boil soup.
Ee Rynn : Mommy, I thought you are sick! You cannot cook, do you know that?
Mommy : Err, I know. Mommy will quickly put all the meat and vegetables into the pot and leave it to boil. Then, mommy will nap, ok? Else, we have nothing for dinner.
Ee Rynn : Oh ok!

5 years old (Tuesday, 22nd January 2013)

In the living room:
Mommy: Ee Rynn, mommy has said many time that you don't step on the play mat. We want to keep it clean.
Ee Rynn: But mommy, Ee Wern was licking it.
Mommy: That's why we shouldn't step on it. It might have dirt and Ee Wern will lick that dirt.
Ee Rynn: Mommy, Ee Wern crawl around the house and her knee has dirt too. When she goes on the may, she dirty the play mat too.
Mommy: 'thinking that she makes sense'!

Breaksfast:
Ee Rynn: Mommy, how was your day yesterday?
Mommy: I had a great day yesterday. Bla bla bla bla. What I like the most is we had successfully float the boat yesterday. (We did an experiment on displacement and buoyancy)
Ee Rynn: Yes, yes, my boat was floating yesterday. She continued: Mommy, the moral from the learning experiment yesterday is Don't Give Up.
Mommy: *blink* *blink* speechless on her realization.
- It's wasn't easy to float the boat. We tried a lot of time improving it before it can float.

Book Review : The Leader in Me by Stephen R. Covey

The Leader in Me : How School and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time by Stephen R. Covey

Are today's young people prepared to take advantage of the expanding global opportunities and duly equipped to deal with the accompanying challenge? Is the school system preparing our children so they can take charge of this complex global economy? Is the traditional reading, writing and arithmetic sufficient to prepare our children? Is the school system creating children who know how to do nothing but take a test well?

Stephen Covey focuses on 7 habits implementation within the school particularly in AB Combs Elementary in North Carolina. The latter part of the book includes feedback and example from other school around the world that have taken on the 7 Habits.

Principal Muriel Thomas Summers and her team from AB Combs discover that parents, business leaders and teachers wants for children was not academic achievement. Teachers want children to grow up with qualities of good character and basic life skills. Some of the examples are responsible, caring, compassionate human beings who respected diversity and who knew how to do the right thing when face with difficult decision.

Excerpt from this book shown Asia parents felt the world has changed. They want their children's education has emphasis in 4 areas: technology, global skills, analytical and life skills and Asian values.

As for business community, they want young people with strong communication, teamwork, interpersonal, analytical, technology and organization skills. They need young people who is self-motivated, honest, has strong work ethnic and creative minds.

How will we bridge all these gap?

This book shows that inspiring greatness one child at a time is possible!
Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 is about preparations by AB Combs in implementing the leadership theme. Chapter 5 describes tools used to sustain change and success in AB Combs. Chapter 6 and 7 describe practices and approaches in implementing the same leadership theme is other countries and other American states. Example of other countries are Singapore, UK, Japan and Guatemala. Chapter 8 summarizes the framework and approaches to take in school setting. Chapter 9 encourages parents or caregiver to start pursuing the same leadership themes at home. Stephen Covey reinforce that home environment is an important place to reinforce success in the Habits implementation.

As for me these are some pointer that I have picked up as I read the book:

1. Children know when they are treated with respect. They know when adults value their thoughts and point of view. When children felt that they are respectful and being accepted good and bad by adults, they will behave and live up to expectations. Children desired recognition and will live up to expectation and achieve. Teachers in AB Combs seen it. I experience it at home with my daughter.

2. Parents or teachers or caregiver in children's life are their leaders! Children sees the world through their parents/teachers/caregiver worldview. If parent or teachers or caregivers believe that a child has worth and potential, the child will sees it. According to Stephen R Covey, leadership is communicating people's worth n potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.

3. It's not another things that you do to inspire greatness in your child. It's part of your responsibility anyway.

4. This leadership theme require parents/caregiver/teachers to make decision to change first before they can model it so the children can follows.

5. AB Combs philosophy : if you treat all students as if they are gifted, and you always look at them through that lens of being gifted in at least some aspects, they will rise to that level of expectation.

Could this leadership theme a timely answer and match to the global demands in years to come? No one can guarantee but I feel certainly it will build a strong foundation for success in your child.