The camouflage nuclear missiles, riding on 18 launch vehicles, rumbled past Tian’anmen Square and were reviewed by Chinese leaders and foreign guests.

The parade, marking the 60th anniversary (1949-2009) of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, reached a crescendo of excitement when the gigantic vehicles, each had 20 wheels, came to the center stage, carrying “remarkable symbols” of China’s defense muscle.

(Photos of the missiles are at: Xinhua News)

I wish that I were still in China to watch the national day parade on TV because we don’t have CCTV here and anyway, you get to see more through the local TV stations!

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When we first arrived in China, I didn’t know what to expect living in a Communist country. After all, life here is pretty normal.

When I saw the Chinese version of the “Uncle Sam Wants YOU” recruitment (or promotion?) poster, I was unfazed.

I was still cool when I see the occasional side car (or the Hummer below) on the streets when I go grocery shopping…

But I *was* impressed when I flipped through CCTV channels and found that they had a MILITARY channel! Not sure if it’s FOR the military or BY the military but the news broadcast focused on military updates mostly.

I love men in uniform but the male broadcaster doesn’t have the Richard Gere, John Travolta or Tom Cruise appeal

In comparison, the female news broadcaster looks pretty dishy :-). Don’t let the pretty face fool you - she could be just as lethal as Uma Thurman’s character in “Kill Bill”!

Then, I started to notice “military-themes” in everyday scenes around us e.g. the firemen gathered for a drill with 2-3 fire engines near some apartment blocks.

The boy’s preschool even held TWO fire drills (with a fire engine AND firemen) within just 6 months! When was the last time you experienced a fire drill with all the works?

(By the way, the fire chief approached me when I was snapping the photos on my mobile phone. I told him that my little boy LOVES fire engines and after showing him my photos, he relaxed and smiled. And yes, the boy demanded to see the fire engines AGAIN and AGAIN for at least a week!)

If you were impressed with the SUPER STRAIGHT files of the National Day parade, what do you think of these files below by supermarket staff? Every Monday, a flag-raising ceremony is held at major supermarkets and some organizations - we’d only have it in schools, right? They take it VERY SERIOUSLY.

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One day, Hubby’s colleague gave us a lift back home and I had the chance to walk through the underground carpark. Nothing interesting, right?

That is until you have to walk through THIS door to get upstairs.

The men were cool (they see it everyday) but when, I saw this, I was like:

“Oh my God! That’s a bloody door to a vault! The underground carpark is a bomb shelter!!!”

That’s when I realized just how “military” this Communist country is.

I see strong attempts to influence the children from young. My tall and highly-active boy is strongly encouraged in his physical activities (potential soldier!) at preschool.

I was amazed by his fascination with the Monday flag-raising ceremony in preschool (I hope it’s just a phase!). On the first day we were there, he immediately went to join the 4 “selected” older children who stood ramrod straight with their eyes raised before the flag!!!

The Principal just glowed with pride and went on to emphasize that ONLY the good, obedient children had the opportunity to stand there. She explained that this “xiao peng you” is still small but is already a good example

Seeing this, you can bet I hid away these military-themed Chinese preschool colouring books.

CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND

We found this children’s playground by chance and I was dumb-struck by this “mini commando training ground”!

There was a slide and a tunnel but this tyre ladder? Looks very much like something from an army obstacle race or training course!

My little “Spiderman” was attracted to this chain ladder and wanted me to help him up it.

Despite it being quite tricky, he could climb up the chain ladder barefoot and he was encouraged by his first attempt to climb it again and again.

But I was tired and just wanted to sit and relax so I shoo-ed him towards the slide and tunnel where the kids were playing LOL

This must be where the current and future Olympic gold medalist gymnasts started their training!

I don’t like military-themes e.g. dressing children up in fatigues or letting them join in military-like activities e.g. Canada’s Kiddie Commando Exhibit.

Why and how could anyone market the military lifestyle as “fun” when there are child soldiers in countries like Afghanistan and Palestine???

An episode of “Army Wives” is enough to make one appreciate the challenges they face.

After a while, I started to accept the strong military presence as a part of our daily lives - the crime rate is low although it rises during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) but we seldom hear of snatch thieves or break-ins.

Crime is still there e.g. rape, robberies and kidnapping but the incidence is low and the culprits are usually apprehended quickly based on the updates I hear from my Chinese-speaking friends.

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An Army officer lives on our floor and he is a fine example of one who “serves to protect and maintain the harmony”. One night, the boy was being *extra naughty* at dinner time i.e. not coming when I call and not eating what I fed. Hey, my cooking ain’t THAT bad.

Since the hot food was cooling down in the cold weather and I got so mad I threw him out of the apartment (we can still see him through the iron grille)! He started crying and I asked if he was going to eat his dinner when the Army officer appeared, checking on a potential case of child abuse…

The boy freaked out because the Army officer is tall and big and still in uniform! I opened the door quickly to let him in as he scrambled into my arms. Our neighbour was smiling but I told him:

“He’s being very naughty not to eat his dinner. Actually, he’s afraid of you now because he thinks you’re the police coming to catch him!”

Hearing this, he smiled apologetically and backed off, assuring the kid not to be afraid, told him to be good and that he’s leaving now. Hahaha, you can bet the boy behaved during during dinner that week

But I’ve also witnessed the Army’s brute force in implementing the law on the street vendors. Some of these errant small businesses extend their their goods’
display onto the common area i.e. the pedestrian walkway.

One day, I was shopping for something when I heard loud shouting and the shop owners frantically dragging or pushing the metal frames displaying bags, hair clips, clothes etc into their shop area.

Stepping outside, I saw army personnel, with a senior Private (?) leading the way, pushing down the metal frames that could not be rescued in time roughly onto the ground. They were also loudly shouting at the shop owners and writing out fines…

I’m all for law and order and the shop owners ARE in the wrong for obstructing the walkway with their goods but I didn’t like the way they handled them. But then, how do you handle stubborn people? The metal frames were back on the street the next time I went there!

While I felt relatively safer in China, I’m not sure I’d like to live under military rule. How about you? How do you feel?

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In China, the preschool serves this daily menu ALL prepared in their kitchen:

1. Breakfast - man tou, bao, porridge serve d with powdered milk, almond milk, peanut milk or soybean milk;
2. Lunch - fried rice or rice with chicken/pork and a bowl of soup;
3. Snack - fresh fruits and
4. Dinner - Noodles in soup (mian tiao) or rice with dishes AND a soup.

In Malaysia, the preschool serves this:

1. Breakfast - white bread slices spread with kaya (spread made with egg yolks, sugar and coconut milk); buns filled with cheap, sweet jam or biscuits! Kids drink plain water from their water tumbler.

2. Lunch - fried rice, rice with one dish  i.e. bits of chicken, chunks of sausages etc (vegetables optional) or porridge.

3. Snack - biscuits or breakfast leftovers and

4. Dinner - ditto as lunch.

Now, for a country like Malaysia renowned for its multi-racial delicacies, I find it quite shameful that our children are eating such a poor diet in the kindergarten. I think we need a Malaysian Jamie Oliver to start a revolution in our preschools!

After complaining to Hubby about it, I decided to prepare and then pack breakfast for him.

Here’s the first week’s menu:

Gardenia Toast’em Raisin Oatmeal with half-boiled eggs
He was first attracted by the purple plastic bag the bread comes in and actually likes the bread dipped into half boiled eggs

Gardenia Toast’em Raisin Oatmeal with butter and strawberry jam
The next morning, he asked for the same raisin oatmeal bread again. When I asked what he wanted with it, he said “butter and jam”. I decided to pack it in the Thomas lunch box he got as a present last year.

While cutting the sandwich, I asked if he wanted strips or squares and he said, “Square!” Ok, order noted down. The lunch box came back empty

Banana and peanut butter sandwich
Sliced bananas on peanut butter is my personal favourite and it’s the ONLY way I’ll eat peanut butter. I decided to try it on him but he said, “Wo bu yao. Peanut butter is not nice!”

Bleagh…I wonder if it’ll work if I told him it’s Stitch’s favourite sandwich? (Well, it’s actually Elvis Presley’s favourite snack but he had his sandwich slathered with butter and deep fried. OMG!)

Simple french toast
I was telling my Mum maybe my French toast is not tasty enough or moist enough because he liked the triangles but he’ll not eat the toast after one bite.

Since he has a sweet tooth, I tried dipping it in honey for him but he STILL didn’t like it. Hmm…I’ll try this again and add more milk for a creamier, moister French toast. Hope it works!

Simple macaroni and cheese
My little Chinaman does not really like Western-style food. He’s not a fan of deep fried foods (which is good) and will only take spaghetti cooked in a simple tomato-based sauce (minus the herbs).

Since he’s eating very little cheese, I am almost half-mad thinking of various recipes for him. In the end, he seemed to like this absurdly simple mac n cheese. 2 slices of Kraft cheddar cheese melted over boiled macaroni LOL!

Hard boiled eggs on toast
This little boy loves anything on toast and I wanted to make half-boiled eggs again today. However, I left the eggs slightly too long in the water and got 3/4 boiled eggs.

Sprinkling some light soya sauce and white pepper over them, I mashed them and spread the mixture over the toast. He didn’t mind eating them but when I asked if it’s nice, he said NO. But he opened his mouth wide “AHHH…” after he finished each bite. He’s as perplexing as a Chinese puzzle O_O

Hard boiled egg, sweet potato and grapes
Last night, we had grapes for dessert and he asked to take them to school. Then, I boiled a sweet potato and remembered the pack of bento food picks my uncle got me:

Instead of giving him several food picks (and cause an uproar among the kids), I let him choose one to eat with the sweet potato. I was glad to see the lunch box come back all empty

So…does that mean that I’ll start bento-ing? Well, I won’t be going all fancy-schmancy like some bento Mums but I’ll definitely be packing a healthy lunchbox for my preschooler!

What do YOU serve your toddler or preschooler? Let’s exchange menus

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Since I can’t take ANY cough medicine now, I resorted to the good old Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa, which a trusted paediatrician from Beijing had recommended to me when I had a nasty cough before coming home.

Guess what happened? I got better faster on just Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa compared to my boy who was taking Rhinathiol (Promethazine)!

Because he was running a fever a few days, he had to take paracetamol (which he HATES) that he found Rhinathiol more pleasant. However, after a few days of Rhinathiol, he started to reject the “sweet orange medicine”.

When he saw me taking the Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa, he asked for the “black medicine”. True enough, his phlegm subsided and soon, he was coughing less and less!

Now that more and more people are infected by flu or cough, I’ve been recommending this sweet and pleasant-tasting loquat syrup that claims to:

“Eliminate phlegm, relieve coughs and soothe sore throats.”

Even my Mum was impressed that she’s taking it and asked my sister to buy it for her husband and kids who are also coughing now. Although you can mix it as a drink, the kid and I prefer to just take the required dose (1 tsp for me, 1/3 tsp for him) three times a day.

Try it if you like - just make sure you get your bottle from an established Chinese medicine hall. Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa is made in Hong Kong and now comes in a sugar-free version!

Notes from Wikipedia:
1. A study at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine published in a 1994 article, “Pharmacological studies of nin jion pei pa koa”, indicated that Pei Pa Koa had significant effect on relieving coughs, removing sputum, relieving asthma in vivo (on living subjects) and in vitro (in a lab).

2. At one point in 2006, Pei Pa Koa was recalled in the Philippines as the Bureau of Food and Drugs found Formalin (a chemical used for preserving cadavers) in all Pei Pa Koa products in the market. However, a few months after the recall, Pei Pa Koa was released back into the market as Formalin traces were no longer found in the new Pei Pa Koa product line.

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I remember the boiled pearl barley (and sugarcane juice) from childhood days growing up in my Chinese grandmother’s house. Even my Mum would boil it for us sometimes especially when the weather is hot because pearl barley has cooling properties.

Did you know that Koreans drink a barley tea regularly in place of water? If you go to a genuine Korean restaurant (and not those franchised sensations), you’ll be served this barley tea. I actually prefer the Korean barley tea’s light flavour over the Japanese green tea.

Anyway, now that the weather is so hot, my Mum boiled some pearl barley soup for the preschooler but surprisingly, he only drank one bottle and didn’t ask for more. Hehehe, it turns out that he prefers his mummy’s recipe over Grandma’s!

I actually created this recipe during a hot summer because somehow, I thought that pandanus leaves were needed. And since you can’t find pandanus leaves in China, I thought of other ingredients to add flavour to the drink.

Here’s the recipe that has my preschooler drinking at least 3 bottles at one time (and asking for more!):

Almost 1 litre of water (filling up about 3/4 of the slow cooker)
A handful of local Chinese pearl barley (I once tried the wild Tibetan barley, which has smaller grains but they were not as flavourful to me)
5 - 6 strips of candied wintermelon
Brown rock sugar to taste

METHOD:
1. Soak the pearl barley for about an hour or so until the grains soften.
2. Dump everything into the slow cooker and go do your own thing
3. Within 2 hours or so, the aroma of boiling barley will waft through your kitchen. Switch off the slow cooker and keep the lid half open to cool it down.

NOTES: You may find this recipe a bit on the sweet side and that’s because I tend to add a bit of hot water so that he drinks a warm bottle of pearl barley each time.

However, since he’s discovered ice cool drinks and asks for for cold barley, I cut down on the amount of rock sugar I use. The drink keeps well for 1-2 days in the fridge. Please throw it away if you see bubbles foaming on the top as this means it’s gone rancid.

Bottoms up!!!

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The first thing on Hubby’s mind was: DURIAN. Yup, he had been hankering for the ‘king of the fruits’ for such a long time because he didn’t have any during our last trip back around Chinese New Year.

Since the durian season was tailing off in Penang, he literally slammed on the brakes when we passed by a roadside stall selling local Malaysian durians LOL. The tot and I were getting bored in the car already when he FINALLY walked back toting the delectable durian with the overwhelming stench

WE LOVE YOU, DURIAN, THORNS AND ALL
Hubby is a true durian connoisseur as he likes the durian with a slightly bitter taste while I prefer only the sweet durians. Luckily, he bought one which was just perfect for me: golden yellow, thick and creamy flesh with a mid-sized seed and deliciously sweet!

I think I ate about 3 seeds and stopped because the smell was getting slightly too much for me (must be the pregnancy!). Hubby enjoyed what he bought and could happily return with his mission accomplished.

The tot? Sigh, as hard as I tried to cajole him with, “Try a bit…it’s nice. It’s sweet. Just ONE bite. If you don’t like it, you can spit it out.” he refused to open his mouth hahaha. Guess we’ll have to Malaysian-ize him when he’s older…

Tips for eating durian:
1. If you let the tap run along the thorns, you’ll easily get the stinky smell off your fingers when you wash your hands with soap - I swear it’s true!
2. If you pour about half a cup of drinking water into the hollow of the durian shell (after you’ve removed the fruit), you’ll have less chances of getting a sore throat from overindulging in the ‘heaty’ fruit. Or, tuck into ‘cooling’ mangosteens to get your body back into balance.

PENANG FRIED KOAY TEOW
Remember my desperate attempt in June to cook up my own Penang Fried Koay Teow? It sure felt good to be able to order a plate of fried koay teow anytime I want now

This maiden plate of fried koay teow was okay only because it wasn’t a famous one (the prawns were slightly undercooked so they had a yucky taste) and the uncle included sambal belachan with the fried koay teow???

I hope I’ll be able to tuck in to my favourite char koay teow from Gurney Drive or Bayan Bay soon…

PENANG ASSAM LAKSA
Because the nearby steaming pot of fish soup smelled so, so, so tempting, I asked Hubby if he wouldn’t mind sharing a bowl of assam laksa with me and he gallantly obliged his expectant wife.

This bowl of rice noodles scalded in fish-based soup (tuna fish or some local Malaysian fish) topped with fresh onions, pineapple, lotus buds and a sprig of mint was again only passable. Probably because I’m craving for more spicy foods rather than sour foods.

That spoon of brownish paste is actually liquidized fermented shrimp paste, which sounds totally disgusting but it gives the Penang assam laksa its interesting sour-and-sweet taste. Hey, don’t diss it before you dig into it!

THE TODDLER’S LUNCH
Wherever we stop for lunch or dinner on outings, we’ll always see if there’s something suitable for the toddler. Luckily, the economy rice stall had a nice selection of home-style cooked dishes.

Hubby and I took turns to feed him his white rice accompanied with stir-fried tofu, steamed pork, long green beans, pumpkin. Unless he has a good meal to fill his tiny tummy, neither of us can enjoy our food. So, when he’s happy, we’re happy

THE FIGHTING FISH (SEOW PHAK HOO)
This is actually boiled dried longan juice in ice and served in old glass jars (probably fermented soybean paste jars), which is a signature drink in Penang and mainland Seberang Perai and Bukit Mertajam.

While the folks in Kuala Lumpur (especially Petaling Street) may order their “mata kuching (Malay=cat’s eyes), we folks in Penang don’t bat an eyelash when we order our “seow phak hoo (Hokkien=fighting fish).

Our overseas visitors can’t help but smile when I translate it - the story is that the old glass jars were usually used by young boys to store their fighting fish (aargh…can someone enlighten me the name of that little, black fish species???).

At battle time, the two Contenders are placed in a fish bowl where the ferocious little fish will attack each other in honour of their namesake i.e. “fighting fish”. The winning (and living fish) will then return to its tiny glass jar to be shown off by the proud (and usually boastful) boy hahaha.

Only certain coffee shops serve a nicely-boiled longan juice so unless you sip into a cool and refreshing glass (not overly sweet), then you know you’ve got one of the right ones. Bliss on a blistering hot day!

And that’s the start of our Malaysian food frenzy. We actually managed to stop over at some of our favourite Indian, Indian-Muslim, Malay and Chinese restaurants so you can look forward to some mouth-watering Malaysian dishes.

Is this the end of the China posts? Of course not! I’ve still got LOADS of food and folklore stored up on my computer and camera. Just wish I had more time and energy to post them up.

For now, let’s live it one day at a time, shall we? Jom makan (Malay=let’s eat!)…

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