House and Home Tidbits

Ten Things... to do in the shower (apart from bathing!!)

2017-06-27T16:39:00.000-04:00

So let's face it, if you were to calculate how much time we spend in the shower, it's a lot! Seven days times at least a shower or two every day, maybe fifteen minutes each. It's literally hours every week. I'm a busy mom and every minute I can steal from something to multitask gives me more hours in the day, sort of! I often try to use my showering time to do other things and so here's a list of some of them:

I take the opportunity in the shower to do some simple exercises! My favorite are standard barre moves. It takes minimal room and time to do some easy barre exercise like these. Another favorite of mine are simple lunges or going on point to releve. Doing a couple sets of each is a very productive way to wait those several minutes while the conditioner does its thing in your hair!
Exfoliate! Keep the product in your shower and if you have a few minutes extra, try exfoliating any area where hair grows! This will help eliminate in-grown hairs and promote follicular health
Grab that scrub brush and scrub down the grout here and there in the shower, between soaping yourself. It will make keeping your shower scum free that much easier!
Use this time of quiet to find your zen. Try some slow exaggerated breathing. Close your eyes and find your happy place. A few minutes each day of quiet meditation is great for mental health.
Have you ever tried warming up your vocal chords? Ok we are not all professional singers but the steamy warm air is the greatest place to hum, practice a tune or do your vocal scales. It keeps the voice box warm and in tune!
Meal plan. I usually spend a couple minutes in the shower mentally planning out the household meals for the next few days, even the week. Then as soon as I jump out of the shower, I jot it down so I don't forget. This is a great way to multitask something that has to be done during the week anyway.
Grab those makeup brushes and clean them while you shower! The best product for cleaning your make-up brushes are actually just water and a mild soap like baby shampoo - which is perfect! Make sure you take a small bowl, wash cloth or sponge into the shower to help. And in case you did't know, make up brushes should be cleaned every week, especially if you use them daily. Not cleaning them leads to cross-contamination, build up of bacteria and potentially harming your skin and face.
Cut your nails. Grab those nail clippers and give yourself a trim while in the shower. The warm water makes your skin nails super soft and easy to cut, and allows the cuticle and hang nails to soften for grooming too. Just remember the following: it's best to dry your nail clippers after. The water can rust them and also promote bacteria, even dulling the blades. Also, you may want to use a wash cloth to collect the trimmings so that you can properly discard them instead of just washing them down the drain. Yes, they are biodegradable (I suppose eventually!) but I've never been a fan of washing things down the drain that can be discarded. The drain water filters back either as recycled water or into the rivers and ocean eventually. It's not really the place for nail clippings!
Write a love note to your partner in the steam!
Whiten your teeth! Most tray whitening systems or strips require 10-20 minutes for the treatment to take so what better way to multitask than to pop the whitening tray in your mouth before you shower! By the time you're done with your shower, your teeth will be fresh too!

Well, try out these little tidbits that I do in the shower and enjoy the extra time you've made for yourself in your day!

My husband is doing the Whole 30 Diet

2017-06-27T13:47:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago, my husband told me he had gotten off the phone with one of his best friends who now lives in California. This friend is his fraternity brother from college days 20+ years ago, groomsman at our wedding, Godfather to our middle child - like family. JNP declared, "I'm no longer eating sugar or carbs". Ok, so most wives may roll their eyes or let out a giant exhale but truthfully, I was very excited for my husband. He is overworked to the point of exhaustion, rarely goes to the gym anymore and is not only overweight, but just lacks general direction in life. To put it bluntly, he has no interests or habits outside of work. I was supportive.

Day One: He enthusiastically made four trips to Trader Joe's and loaded up on all kinds of crap. I mean, "approved food". This consisted mostly of dried fruits, jerky of some sort, chicken. Its of it. Kombucha, oh God! The Kombucha. So I didn't say anything, just observed. I went ahead and prepared meals for the children an myself, noting that shopping bags were strewn everywhere, and while, yes he was actually cooking for myself, the pots and pans were left out after and my beloved stove was not wiped down. I chose to still say nothing because in the greater scheme of things, I was so thrilled he had some sort of interest and direction with his health.

As the week went on, this continued, his trips to Trader Joes increased and by now I was observing and evaluating his movements and thinking to myself, this was not efficient at all. I still didn't know exactly what "diet" he was on or what he could eat or couldn't eat. I had, however, realized that most things he said "I can't eat that" to me. I had by now ascertained he was not eating carbs, sugar, processed food, dairy, juice, desserts, chocolate, salt, pepper, salad dressing, spices of any kind, oil. Basically, flavor, I was dubious but stayed silent. I was secretly plotting to intervene just so I could help him a little with this new fervent for the supermarket.

By the end of that week, we had dined out and I noted he was (surprisingly) sticking to this meal plan. I was actually very impressed and I think having his buddy keep in check was the key in this success. But at the restaurant, he had ordered a grilled salmon with nothing on it and a side of spinach. I kept thinking, surely there's more to this diet than this kind of food??

On Monday of week two, I headed to the grocery store after my morning Pilates class, planning to shop for the beginning of the week. I walked around taking items off the shelf and then putting them back, not knowing what I could cook or buy. I was assuming I could fry him some tofu with some vegetables. So, I called him, he was at work.
"Do you want tofu for dinner?"
"I can't eat it."
"How about black beans?"
"I'm pretty sure I can't eat that"
"black rice?"
"no rice"
So then I said, "how about you have Jim tell me what I can buy. It will make grocery shopping and meal prep so much easier for you if I can help"

Five minutes go by and my phone vibrates. Group text.
No soy. No rice says Jim
Can you tell me the name of this diet? I respond
It's not a diet, it's a nutritional reset
(yeah...yeah... just give me the GD name of it!!)
yes, sorry, can you tell me what JNP can and cannot eat? It will help me a lot
Look up Whole 30

OMFG. Now I knew exactly what JNP was doing! I don't think he knew what he was doing, but I sure did! I've had a whole lot of friends Insta their Whole30 'journeys', some with their husbands, some with other girlfriends! I had instant flashbacks in my head of all those potato-hash-fried egg- breakfasts, avocado on lettuce with beef tips, bowls of green vegetables and chicken on top. Got it!

JNP Do you realize you're doing the Whole30?
Um...no.

Texts went back and forth (if you're interested, click this link for more details on the Whole 30). I bought a cart of green veggies, potatoes (yes they are allowed JNP!), Wild Sockeye Salmon, ghee (also allowed).

There were a bunch of confused texts the came from my husband after, all along the lines of I can actually eat that? Yes, dear! You can actually have flavor! Poor guy had been cutting out salt, pepper and spices!

So.... It's been about 3 weeks now and the biggest thing I've noticed is JNP's attitude. He is much happier. I asked him about it, he said "it's given me something to focus on outside of work. I like going and getting my chicken and snacks. The biggest thing is, I did' realize how much I missed Jim. Doing this together makes me call him several times a day and we talk about what we are eating, or I ring him to ask him questions. Before that, I would call him maybe once a month".

If you're wondering, I definitely think JNP has lost weight but the more important thing is I have noticed how much of a better mood he is in. He seems interested in something non-work related. He was never one to cook before and now he is in the kitchen (messing it up, yes, but also cooking!). He is definitely a little obsessed with the Kombucha...I'm half expecting him to start doing yoga (not opposed to it!)... he even borrowed a colleague's Sam's Club card to buy a case of it (it was half the price of WholeFoods apparently). JNP also didn't eat a lot of vegetables before this 'nutritional reset' and now he'll eat big bowls of it. Every night, I make a big pot of various steamed green vegetables, they're delicious! My seven-year old devours them! I just steam them for a minute or two, then fry lightly in a touch of ghee and a garlic clove, and add salt and pepper to it off the heat.

I'm extremely proud of JNP and very supportive and I just hope he can keep up the woodwork. Even though, I literally just called him to let him know his bar hopping antics of Friday night were not Whole30 'approved'. Oh well, a little cheat here and there is not harmful!

100 Things to do in the Summer

2017-06-27T12:58:00.002-04:00

You can find Summer Bucket lists all over the Internet so I put together my own, with all the things I like doing over the summer by myself and with my husband and children.

Make fruit platter of assorted seasonal sweet summer fruits - berries, watermelon, nectarines and plums, pineapple, strawberries, cherries, kiwi fruit, mangos...
Have a water balloon fight with your kids... or ditch the kids and have it with your partner or friends!
Make your own burgers
Eat popsicles in your front yard
Visit the local pool
Go on a nature scavenger hunt around your neighborhood. There are loads of printable lists on the internet like this one.
Visit a local historic society and learn about your neighborhood
Do a big pre-Fall/back to school purge and clean out all the closets of clothes you either no longer fit or haven't worn in a while. As the old rule goes, if you haven't work it in two years, get rid of it! I regularly go through my clothes and donate or throw out items I no longer wear Not only does it feel amazing but you can make room for new clothes!! That means shopping!!
Make your own Caramel sauce. It's great as an ice-cream topping, or for dipping fruit.
Build a sandcastle
Make your own Lemonade, perhaps help your children set up a lemonade stand at the curb and let them learn about consumerism and money.
Go Berry Picking. Here are some tips for when you go.
Purchase your own Butterflies and journal about them until they are released. Have your children draw what they see every day. Look up the plants Butterflies like to feed on. Perhaps plant these seeds to attract more butterflies.
Make your own bookmarks. You can choose some flowers from the garden and press them onto your bookmarks and then have the kids write their names and the year on them as a keepsake.
On a rainy summer day, build an indoor fort and spend the day there, reading and telling stories.
Grow vegetables, enjoy the bounty of your hard work.
Visit the local library regularly
Eat fresh summer corn
Go fishing
Make a really good sangria and invite your friends over to drink it in your backyard
Make popsicles out of fresh fruit
Pick a place that is within two hours away that you have never been to before and spend a whole day or two there exploring it like a tourist. This year we picked Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was truly amazing! We never realized what a great city Grand Rapids was and so close to us!!
Ride a rollercoaster
Buy an ice-cream maker and make your own ice cream
Make homemade jam out of summer berries
Invite some children over and have them enjoy a pinata
Catch fireflies
Make mud pies with your children
Enjoy local al fresco dining
Walk barefoot in the grass
Use fresh cherries to make cherry turnovers
Eat salad for dinner for a week
Turn the TV off for a whole week and enjoy being outdoors or doing quiet indoor activities
Go on a boat ride
Get ahead on your Halloween costumes
Go to a local fair, eat funnel cake, ride the ferris wheel and have a go at a carnival game
Let your children splash in the tub with toys and bubbles as long as they like, hey it's Summer after all! There's no school tomorrow!
Ride in a convertible
Cook hotdogs on your grill
Enjoy a smoothie-only breakfast with the whole family
Visit a local farmer's market
Paint a picture outside
Get a pedicure
Spend a day and try out slow cooking BBQ at home. Spend the time to explore smoking meat, making your own barbecue sauce and buying the right kind of wood.
Plant a seasonal flower bed
Rearrange some furniture in a room in your home. It's like buying all new furniture!
Play a game of tennis or golf - or both!
Take an art class
Take the family to a Zoo you've never been to before
Watch the sunset
Watch the sunrise
Squeeze your own orange juice
Wash your windows
Buy a whole watermelon. And eat it.
Go for a hike
Change your hairstyle
Cook all your meals at home for an entire week
Go for a bike ride
Jump on a trampoline
Visit a splash pad
Buy at least one Christmas/Holiday gift
Plan your Fall family photos
Get a full body massage
Do a Sudoku Puzzle or a Crossword Puzzle
Take your mattress off and flip it, vacuum under your bed and behind it!
Re-stain your deck
Spend a week doing 25 sit-ups and 25 push-ups every day. Feel the difference by Day 7.
Introduce one new food into each family member's diet.
Wash all your winter blankets and winter linens.
Drink Tea instead of Coffee for a week.
Enjoy something with your partner you wouldn't usually enjoy together
Make a piece of jewelry
Try going dairy-free for a weekend or a week
Try Origami
Bake bread
Enjoy one of the free outdoor concerts offered locally in the summertime
Enjoy ice-cream for dinner one night in the summer! Seriously.
Donate a tree to your local council. They usually always accept donations for their parks.
Do a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle
Watch a documentary on TV with your children. Sit down after and talk about it. See if there is further study to be done, or an 'excusion' that can come from it.
Find a no-stitch craft project to do either by yourself or with your children, visit your local fabric store and then execute it! This summer we made no-stitch tutus! It was so fun!
Wake your children up to a room full of balloons. Just for fun!
Make your own lip balm
Take the kids to the pet store. Look at all the animals.
Color Mandelas buy yourself. It's tedious but so therapeutic!
Eat breakfast outside
Start a cloud journal with the children
Visit an aquarium
Ride a swing like you're a 5 yr-old!
Eat ice-cream curbside after dinner one night
Write a letter to a friend who lives far away
Make a milkshake at home
Get your car detailed
Go for a drive and listen to classical music the whole way
Make pasta from scratch
Clean out your freezer
Buy your own coffee beans and grind them to order. Taste the difference.
Churn your own butter in a mason jar. It takes forever, but it's totally fun to do as a family.
Write a short story
Go camping
Leave a note for your loved one in an unexpected place.

3 Kitchen Items I cannot live without

2015-08-14T14:36:00.001-04:00

We all know how much I love to cook so here are my 3 Kitchen Items I cannot live without!

1. A flat cooking utensil. I have found that this is my 'go-to' item when cooking everything from pancakes, to scrambled eggs, to fish and even pasta. Surprisingly, one of my absolute favorites in this category is this IKEA 365+ Hjalte one. So much so, that I have bought several for friends and family. It's soft handle is ergonomic and it's plastic texture is perfect for any pot or pan, both metal, cast-iron and non-stick. I have left my utensil resting on my hot pans before and it never created those nasty plastic indentations from the heat. The bonus is they cost just $3.99 each and you can throw them in the dishwasher!

IKEA 365+ HJÄLTE

Spatula, stainless steel, black

$3.99

Article Number:

001.494.59

2. My Mini-Prep. I own the Cuisinart Mini-Prep but there are so many versions out there. So here's what I love about my Mini-Prep. Whenever a recipe calls for "finely minced" or "finely chopped" onions, garlic, or ginger - or a combination of all three, I can throw it all in my Mini Prep and I have the least stinkiest and least labor-intensive way of prepping these items. There's nothing worse than doing this by hand! The Mini-Prep bowl has just two settings: chop and grind. Its capacity is roughly 24 ounces or 3 cups and there are only 3 components to the small appliance: the base motor, the bowl and the removable blade. Both the bowl and the blade can be cleaned in the dishwasher. Cuisinart also sells their appliance with a spatula and a recipe book. I store my mini prep in a drawer by my cutlery, it's that small! If you don't own one of these, definitely go buy one for yourself, they retails for about $40.

Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus Food Processor DLC-2A

Instruction and Recipe Booklet

3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Olive Oil is oil pressed from olives which are fruits from the Olive Tree. I hear the process is actually very simple and if you actually press an olive, you can see the oil come out! Olive Oil is proven to be incredibly good for you. It has a lower smoking point (due to its high monounsaturated fat content) which also allows you to cook food without extra risks of burning it and safely at a very high heat.

The main problem with Olive Oil is that just because a product is labelled as 'Olive Oil', does not necessarily mean it is of great quality. It's like the difference between a wine that is sold in a box and a wine sold in a bottle. Two different calibers and two totally different products, in terms of quality. Some of the lesser quality oils labelled as 'Olive Oil' sometimes extract the oil from the olives using chemicals, or even dilute the oil with cheaper ones.

So what do you buy? Always buy Extra Virgin Olive Oil!!! It is extracted using natural methods and is standardized for purity, taste and smell. Extra Virgin Olive Oil always has a distinctive taste and is high in phenolic antioxidants (one of the main reasons why olive oil is so beneficial). Extra Virgin Olive Oil is also very high in monounsaturated fats (good fats!), contains a modest amount of vitamin E and K and is loaded in antioxidants, some of which have been proven to have powerful health benefits (such as anti-inflammatory properties and protection against cardiovascular disease). Studies have shown in preliminary evidence that Extra Virgin Olive Oil can help fight Alzheimer's Disease, cancer, heart disease, joint problems and strokes.

I always try to buy Olive Oil that is source from a location reputed for its high quality olive oil, such as regions in Italy, Spain and even locally in California. Always, read the label and see where your Olive Oil comes from, and do buy the more expensive one, it is expensive for a reason! Your food will always taste better when cooked in a higher quality oil.

Find me on Instagram!!

2015-05-22T22:14:00.001-04:00

Follow me on Instagram @houseandhometidbits

I will be loading lots of food pictures and other items that catch one of my five senses daily!!!

Mediterranean Baked Branzino

2015-05-22T21:28:00.001-04:00

So last night I went to a fun fun girl's night at my friend's house. There were 7 of us and the theme was Mediterranean, we each brought various yummy delights - hummus, baklava, dolmades, watermelon and feta salad, herbed rack of lamb etc etc. I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and try something I love to eat (whole fish) but had only tried cooking once before about 7 years ago (turned out OK from recollection!). This dish wasn't my dish choice when I was thinking of my pot luck contribution, but boy am I glad I made it, it was so delicious and I would love to share it with you.

So here's the backstory. I headed to my local fancy schmancy supermarket that sells great product, fresh baked bread and really fantastic meats and seafood. When I arrived there I had originally intended to make a marinated Octopus salad but I was super disappointed to find that the only octopus and squid they sold was frozen. It was 1:30pm and I had to be at my friend's house at 6:30pm. Being Australian, I have been spoilt with always fresh-never frozen seafood and buying the product frozen in a package made me incredibly nervous! I put it in my cart, started to walk away and all kinds of thoughts crossed my mind What if I can't thaw this out in time? Will I screw up this dish and force everyone to eat rubber? Am I making life harder for myself with this dish? I went with my gut instinct (excuse the pun!) and put the packet back in the freezer case.

While I waited for service, I thought to myself When I think of the Mediterranean, what dishes do I think of? My first thought was whole fish-lemons-olive oil. Turns out I had two choices that day for whole fish: red snapper or branzino. Branzino!!! How could I pass this up? Well, if you don't know, Branzino is a European Bass with a delicate white flaky flesh, lots of bones and fairly small but is absolutely synonymous with Mediterranean or Italian food.

The fishmonger was nice enough to remove the gills and guts and I had the option to have the heads removed but opted to keep them and the tails for a prettier presentation (isn't it odd that a dead animal's head on a plate makes the dish look stunning!?! Crazy!)

So here's how I prepared it (super easy and very delicious)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 32 mins

Oven Temp: 325F

Serves: (1 fish per person as a main meal or 1 fish for 2-3 people as a shared appetizer) Roughly .5-1lb per fish

Ingredients:

1-2 Branzini (about .8lb per fish)

Herbs - flat leaf parsley, dill and fresh oregano

Lemons

Olive Oil

1-2 cloves garlic thinly sliced

1 Shallot thinly sliced

Salt

Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325F

2. To a baking sheet or oven proof dish, drizzle a tsp of olive oil and lay the fish presentation side up.

3. Cut three slits to the presentation side of the fish

4. Season the entire fish with salt and pepper. Don't forget the cavity of the fish.

5. Fill the cavity of the fish with lemon slices, the sliced garlic, shallots and whole springs of dill, flat leaf parsley and oregano. Reserve a few garlic slices for the slits and insert the slices in the slits.

6. Season again with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and top with a few thin slices of lemon.

7. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the fish and bake uncovered for about 32 minutes.

8. Allow the fish to rest for a few minutes but do serve as soon as possible.

9. After resting, transfer the fish carefully to a serving platter. Garnish with more lemon slices and wedges, a drizzle of olive oil and chopped flat leaf parsley, dill and fresh oregano. Sprinkle sea salt and serve with a light salad of dressed greens with shaved fennel and red onion.

**Note: be careful, this fish (albeit delicious) has lots of little bones. Be very careful if you are feeding this fish to children, though I probably would not recommend it.

Children are the pickiest eaters!!!

2015-01-07T18:54:00.001-05:00

I just love this set of photos going around from mommyshorts.com

Click below to see more of these hilarious photos!!

The joys of Magnatiles!

2015-01-07T00:11:00.001-05:00

For parents out there who have not yet experienced the joys of Magnatiles, I urge you to buy a set. While a set of Magnatiles are not cheap, they are without a doubt the best "toy" a preschooler can have and in fact my two daughters have these in their preschool classrooms.

What are Magnatiles?

The first day my then-3 yr old played with the tiles, 2013

A set of Magnatile will set you back between $100-$200 and each contains colourful sturdily built plastic magnetic tiles in various shapes and sizes that can be used to magnetically connect to each other to build amazing structures and shapes.

Our set was obtained from an educational stored called Lakeshore Learning and it has honestly kept my three children (yes even my 19month old) happily occupied for hours.

For my 3 year old, the focus early on seemed to be on the shapes and their spatial relationship to other pieces. She enjoyed connected square pieces with other square pieces and grouping the triangles together etc.

I still remember when my second daughter received a set from a good friend of ours for her second birthday. My older daughter immediately hijacked the gift and sat in her room playing alone with the tiles, having fun building grand structures - and even more fun breaking them down and watching them collapse to the ground with one quick swoop and plastic-y sounding crash!

In fact, this very process of building and then demolishing tiny masterpieces was what enabled my older children to enjoy the Magnatile with their baby brother! The girls would create fantastic forms (sometimes spending much time and effort on impressive structures) and then they would beckon their baby brother over to break it. He would teeter over and relish in the joys of destruction the way only a baby can. Repetively, my children would be so entertained by this simple and fun "game" they had invented. And so it made me realize that the joys of these tiles are not just in its construction but also in its destruction!

Created by my 4 year old. I love how a simple rectangle develops a pointed end as it rises vertically

There aren't many child-friendly activities that offer children pure entertainment both whilst playing independently as well as with others. This is the appeal of Magnatiles - that children can enjoy building things out of the tiles alone but they can also receive an great amount of satisfaction building (and breaking) the same structures with others. I've seen my daughter sit and build alone quietly while her sister completed a jigsaw puzzle and at other times, they work beautifully together to build 'castles', 'Arendelle', or a spaceship!

My 4 year old now creates amazingly complex structures. Here, a "simple" box shape is enhanced by an angled addition with triangular spikes and an intriguing way of balancing off the edge.

So what do children learn from Magnatiles? Geometry, angles, fundamentals in construction, magnetics, gravity, form, puzzle building!

My four year old daughter has been enjoying the Magnatiles for almost two years and it has been fascinating to observe how even the way she plays with the Magnatiles has evolved. In the beginning as a young 3 year old, it was all about the shapes and colours. Could she group all the squares together and build one block? Could she made turrets out of all the triangles isosceles?

Then over time, she gained a more sophisticated approach to the use of the tiles. She started making patterns, putting two triangles together to make squares, or using other shapes in general to create new shapes. She would play with the colours of the tiles and test out angles and non-standard shapes.

More recently as a 4.5 year old, she is playing with challenging forms, pushing the limits of gravity and playing with force and tension to introduce bends and changes in angles to basic shapes. She thinks outside of the box more and more each day and it shows in her creations. Her pieces are unpredictably interesting and awe-striking. Occasionally, she has elaborate and imaginative stories to accompany her structure, which shows that her thought process is so much deeper than the superficial creation of a 3D shape. These tiles are just wonderful!

If you don't have a set, go out and buy it today! Ps this is not a paid or endorsed advertisement!! Just advice from one parent to another!!

What's for dinner tonight?

2015-01-06T23:16:00.001-05:00

Ginger flank steak fried rice!

Buy the best beef you can afford. Slice very, very thin:

Marinate for an hour in sesame oil, soy sauce, freshly grated ginger, 4 cloves of garlic sliced, hoisin sauce, honey, vegetable oil. Don't add salt until you start stir frying in your wok. Heat wok to high and add some vegetable oil. Stir fry the beef until just cooked.

Remove cooked flank steak and keep in a dish together with the cooking liquid.

In a little more oil, stir fry your favorite vegetables. I used, broccoli, red pepper, carrots, grated and squeezed zucchini, mushrooms, onions, cabbage, green onion and green beans. Make sure you cook things like the onions, pepper and carrots before more delicate items that require less cooking time like mushrooms. Once stir-fried, add soy sauce, salt, pepper, a dash of honey and sesame oil. Do not over cook !

When the vegetables are almost cooked, add day old cooked white rice, if the rice is dry, you can heat separately with a sprinkle of water in the microwave for a minute or so to revive it. Stir fry still on a high heat.

After a few minutes of stir frying, reintroduce all the cooked flank steak (it should look a little ground or chopped beef and be very tender) and all if its juices and liquid. Stir fry for a few more minutes before adding anything that requires off-heat last minute cooking such as toasted peanuts, chopped cilantro, free onions or sesame seeds.

The New House!

2015-01-04T21:03:00.000-05:00

Well, it's about time I blogged about our new home since we are just about to enter the framing process!!! This has been a project in the works since 2012 and partially explaining my two year hiatus from this blog!! I had my third child and we started this process and I simply ran out of time! But 2015 is going to bring so many new changes and a re-commitment to myself and my writing!

The new land! Summer, 2014

So to recap, we bought our dream piece of land in 2012 when Miss R was only 6 months' old. We just sort of sat on it and didn't do much as we were not yet ready to embark on a big project. All we knew was that this was where we wanted to live and we wanted to build our own family home to raise our children in. Last year, when we had our third child, we soon realized what it meant to outgrow a home.

The current home we were living in seemed to shrink in around us! With no finished basement, no driveway and a very small yard, my 4 year old moved into the guest room that we actually use for guests very regularly and the kids were taking over so much of our main floor. When my Dad visited from overseas in the (bitterly cold) winter of 2013-14, we truly felt the squeeze!

Our current home also has no food pantry! So with three young children who seem to eat everything (and nothing), I have been playing tetris with my available kitchen storage, cramming boxes in here and tins in there. I have been forced to grocery shop three times a week because my small 30" fridge holds a bare minimum and certainly not the 2 gallons of milk we go through in a week!

It took us a little over a year (Sep 2013-Oct 2014) from the beginning on the design process to obtaining permit plans but we got there finally, after several engineering hiccups and other delays! Thankfully, the weather here has been mild so far so we were able to demolish the old house in October 2014 when the weather was still in the 50sF. I remember calling my project manager on a Monday to find out when the old house was being torn down and he said, "about 2-3pm". I asked, "today????" "yes today!" So I rushed and pulled out Mini-V from preschool early and we rushed over to the site just as the excavator arrived! The best part was my 4 year-old got to do the first demolition! She sat in the excavator and was not scared. She giggled with excitement as she slammed that claw into the dilapidated roof! I was equipped with my camera and recorded it, priceless!

My 4 year with the contractor in the excavator!

My turn!

We watched for about 30 minutes and then we headed home to relieve the nanny and grab the two little ones who were waking from their naps. The four of us enjoyed "the show" and even I got to do some demo work! It was a little nerve racking when the excavator shook with each demo impact!

It wasn't long before JNP arrived and had a blast going for the old garage, reducing it to a pile of bricks and metal. I am sure we hindered the scrap sorting process but boy were we lucky to have made some memories that day!

JNP climbs in the excavator for his turn...

Since then, it has been fun watching the hole made for the new house, footings erected and concrete poured. We've encountered some further unanticipated complications along the way (bad soil, working with the water table etc) but I am certain it won't be the last.... isn't that what we should expect with any large project?

The weather is now getting cold and the next steps will be framing and getting walls up. I have signed off on the window selection and roof so it won't be long before it starts to look like a house!

We are so excited to start this project! Stay tuned for more updates!

10 Things: I Didn't Know Before Becoming a Parent

2012-10-09T22:49:00.001-04:00

(1) I would never need an alarm clock again. Sunday morning, my two-year old woke up at 6:15am. Now, remember I worked as a corporate lawyer for years and I don't remember even waking up this early in those days, except to catch a flight. I think the last time I set an alarm was....um.... before kids??

(2) I would become an expert negotiator. It goes something like this: "How about we color with the crayons after your have put your clothes back on and stop hiding under the dining table?"

(3) I would become a really good liar. I think I told this one today: "<insert name> called me today to find out why you didn't eat your yoghurt. Yes, good girl. I will ring <insert name> and tell them you ate your yoghurt". Today, I used her hand surgeon's name. I secretly hope she doesn't randomly announce to him that she ate her yoghurt at her appointment tomorrow morning...

(4) I would have my hand in so much poop. Literally. The most distant and recent example of this was a couple weeks ago.

Usually when one of my girls have done a diaper blowout, I stand them up in the big laundry sink and use the extendable faucet to wash them down nicely. Of course, before I do that, I have to carefully peal away the diaper and quickly (with one hand) discard it into a plastic bag I store under the laundry sink. Well, first time this ever happened - I was in the process of peeling the diaper off and I lost control of it and it just opened out... plop...plop....plop. My one hand was gripping my Mini-V, the other was now holding an open, half empty poopy diaper and I am staring at what has plopped into the sink. These were my thoughts: "What just happened??...I wish I had gloves... I wish I had another bag... If I blink, maybe we can go back in time... omg I have to use my hand and pick that sh*t up. Literally". And I did.

No amount of anti-bacterial soap will erase that disgusting memory. This is where I remind myself I have two degrees plus a Masters and yet I find myself handling poop all day. So gross. Pregnancy should come with a poop warning.

(5) Children think it's absolutely normal to spit out into your hand whatever it is they have chewed and decided they don't want to swallow. The worst part is they do it in public too. Oh, and if your hand is not freely available, be warned that they will just spit it out on you, the floor, really anywhere. Today, my daughter decided to not finish her pasta and so she just spat it out on my kitchen floor. And then they will use your pants leg to wipe their dirty hands and mouths afterwards.

(6) The diaper bag is now my handbag. I never actually realized when I was pregnant that it would be a long time before I would be reunited with my handbag. I mean every now and then when I am out without the kids of course I leave the diaper bag at home and take a purse but I had no clue before kids that essentially the diaper bag would be all I would carry! I was never a real purse-kinda-gal anyway but I do miss carry around items beyond my "bare essentials" of wallet/lip gloss/keys/gum. I also sorta miss carrying around junk I don't need... toothpicks, restaurant candies I know will never make it to my stomach because of the bag lint attached to it, sachets of sugar, random bobby pins, random receipts shoved in my bag that should be thrown out...

(7) You never get to eat. Parents of 2+ kids, you know what I am talking about. You and your partner tag team eating at restaurants: "honey, you eat first and I will feed the kids and then we can swap"... then you inhale your food the first instance you get because you don't quite know if you will get another five minutes uninterrupted to eat for a while. Sometimes I am so hungry and honestly, I don't get that five minutes just to get even a cracker to tide me over... between the "carry me Mommy!!!!" (whimpering ensues if you attempt to put them down) and then the constant diapering, feeding, crying... I think back to the good old days of one child. Man, those days were good! When she was down for a nap, I had all that time to myself. Now I am just holding out for when I can ship them off the school. Maybe then I will eat.

(8) Going to the toilet becomes a spectator sport. Not only does my toddler barrage me with a ton of questions about what I am about to do, but then she wants to be there, watch and get a running commentary during the main event. This is how it goes: "Mommy, you go wee-wee? I'm coming too... Is it big wee-wee? Maybe poo-poo? Did you fart? Was it big poo-poo? Will you wipe now? Can I see it? Can I flush it?". Honestly, you would think I had just given birth to something memorable.

Sometimes I try to trick my toddler just so I can use the toilet alone in peace for once: "Mommy is going to...um... check something...." (quick exit) but this usually follows with tears and the pained wailing of "Moooooommy!! Where are yooooou? Come baaaaaack!" - not worth it, I think having a spectator and answering questions is slightly more tolerable than trying to back one out whilst listening to your child cry and scream for you like they are in pain.

I really miss the days of being able to go to the toilet in peace. Sadly, the few occasional moments I do have the chance to go alone, I tend to drag it out like it is some sort of vacation. I take my phone, have a game all ready to play, or sometimes I keep a nice new catalog waiting for me and then I take my time and sit there for several minutes, just enjoying the solitude. It's really quite pathetic.

(9) It becomes normal to refer to yourself in the third person. I honestly can't remember the last time I used "I" in a sentence with my children. It's always Mommy this or Mommy that. It's so bizarre when you actually think about it. I mean, I know that they know that I am Mommy, so why do we do it?

(10) That just my touch, hug and kiss, has the power to stop tears and make a crying child happy again. Now, that is a gift, maybe even a superpower!

'Annie' star all grown up!

2012-10-07T16:31:00.005-04:00

This came up on my Yahoo browser today and I had to share! Annie was one of my all-time favorite movies as a child. The famous 1982 John Huston musical about an orphan who is taken in by a billionaire bachelor made its main star Aileen Quinn, who played the title character Annie, a recognizable face in every household.

Thirty years on, the movie has been released as a special edition on Blu-Ray and here is the star all grown up!

Taken from yahoo.com

Aileen Quinn is now a 41 year-old woman! Can you believe it!? I think she looks so different from her photo as Annie - would you recognize her on the street?

I am still here!

2012-10-07T16:19:00.001-04:00

Once again, I have not been writing for a little while. My sweet little two-year old had a little accident and was in the ER last week, ending up with hand surgery. She is doing great but what a scare, poor little thing. She is still bandaged and on antibiotics but healing nicely.

Between that episode, battling the morning (all day) sickness with this pregnancy (uuuurgh!!) and finally getting possession of our new house, I have had no time at all to blog :(

I promise to write something more current soon! Stay tuned for product reviews coming your way very soon! Happy Blogging!

10 Things: Fall Garden Preparation

2012-09-27T13:10:00.000-04:00

Fall is a nice way to end a leisurely warm summer. The leaves start to change into beautiful crimson and amber shades and then every gust of cool wind seems to leave the streets scattered with pretty fall foliage. House porches welcome back pumpkins, scarecrows, corn husks and bales of hay. It's a time to drink pumpkin spiced lattes, eat caramel apples start planning our upcoming Holiday season.

I really enjoy September, but it is also that time of the year when our yards start to wind down for the year. So here is a checklist of the essentials for this time of the year:

(1) Start pruning back your trees, bushes and hedges before the nights and mornings get too frosty. You also need to cut back perennials and prepare them for the winter months. Consider covering some less hardy perennials with hay and burlap before the frost. You want to time this so that it is after the last summer growth but before temperatures compromise your plants. Aim for mid-late September. By October, it is usually a little too cold in most states in the US

Hostas

(2) Now is the time to divide any bulbous plants and re-plant. These include hostas and calla lilies. Hostas thrive during Fall replanting because the warm days coupled with cooler nights provide the perfect conditions for strong roots and winter preparation.

(3) This is also the time to plan your spring garden and plant the spring bulbs - tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, jaunquils. These bulbs do a lot better after having been underground during the winter months so get them into your ground during Fall the year before.

(4) Book your sprinklers to be blown out and winterized. If you live in a climate where you experience sub-freezing conditions, as we do, your sprinklers must be blown out and closed until the temperature is steadily back over about 40F and in time for the Spring's first growth (Usually mid-April). The cost involved is minimal - usually around $30, sometimes less, rarely much more. This needs to be done sometime in early-mid October.

(5) If you plan on getting the help, you will need to organize leaf clean-up around the end of October, when most of the deciduous trees have completely finished expelling their season's leaves and before it is too cold. Aim for the very end of the season so you don't need to do this too many times in the year, although expect to rake leaves a couple times to ensure your yard is tidy and in compliance with your city's leaf removal ordinances. Some cities allow you to rake your leaves directly to the curb of your street and a sweeper comes by on an allocated day to collect it. Other towns require you to bag your leaves for curbside collection. Make sure you find out your town's regulations and comply accordingly. Many gardeners will actually take your leaves away with them and re-purpose them into mulch, so that helps too!

(6) Take stock of your lawn and prepare it for the next season. Have it aerated to break up compressed soil so that water and nutrients can penetrate to the roots and sub-levels, apply a high-phosphorus mix to your soils to encourage Spring turf and cut your grass back for the last time of the season to 1 1/4 inches because disease is less likely to occur with short grass, plus shorter grass tends to encourage leaves to blow away rather than cling to the blades.

Pruning a dead branch or limb from a tree

(7) Trim any dead tree limbs so that the winter months of snow and wind pose no additional risks to you or your home.

(8) Mulch young plants. The newly planted plants of the season are the most vulnerable in its first winter so you should add a layer of mulch (chopped leaves, weed-free straw or wood chips) after the first frost but before the ground freezes. As mentioned before, I have found added a layer of straw and then protected by burlap to be a great barrier between the new plants and the winter elements.

(9) Arrange now for your upcoming snow removal, or confirm with an existing contractor. Many landscapers provide this service during their down season so check rates and make sure your driveway, front stoop and any other access ways will be adequately cleared during a snowfall. Also make sure these areas will be salted to eradicate icing and ensuring safety. This is especially important if you have regular front door visitors such as postal workers, UPS or a city sidewalk - which must be shoveled and salted by you.

(10) Order your firewood! This is the time to clean out your wood-burning fireplace and chimneys and order your season's firewood. Make sure this is stored properly, with a cover if you need, to keep the wood dry. You should also keep the wood far enough from the house so as to not pose any additional fire risks to your property and to make sure any critters, such as rodents or bugs stay far enough from your dwelling.

10 Things: Fun and Easy DIY Halloween Costumes for Kids

2012-09-25T22:03:00.000-04:00

Well, it's getting to that time of year when we all need to start planning our Halloween costumes. Whether you're on a budget, or you are like me and don't really want to spend $50-$100+ on a decent halloween costume for the kids, take a look at these DIY options that will take minimal work, plus you can rummage through what you already have and work around these bits and pieces to make a great, memorable and one-of-a-kind Halloween costume for your children.

1. Superheros

All you need are come cool leggings and co-ordinating tops, then you can add letters and belts to the outfit and make simple masks and capes using whatever you have around the house.

2. Flower Children

Without even a single stitch, you can piece together this cute outfit by matching a fall-colored dress with co-ordinating tights and shoes, felt petal collars and headbands with stickers will complete the outfit.

3. Toadstool

What a cute and simple idea for a boy or girl. Very easy to make, all you need is large hat to decorate as a toadstool.

4. Gnome

How cute is this outfit for a little man!! This should be a fairly easy costume to put together with bits and pieces you may already have and then all you need is a beard. For this, you can just go to a fabric store and buy a small piece to cut into a triangle shape and attach that to a piece of elastic for your child to wear.

5. Lego

All you need for this one is a box, red plastic cups, a red outfit for underneath and the other miscellaneous craft tools required to put everything together. Simple!

6. Chicken

For this costume, you need a leotard, which you will stuff to make a little rounder. To the leotard, attach two white feather boas. The headdress is a pilot hat with red embellishments for a rooster. Use two kitchen rubber gloves for the feet and all you need is yellow leggings to complete the look!

7. Hot Air Balloon

This is a fun outfit you could put together the morning before you go Trick-or-Treating! All you really need is a few cardboard boxes, a few odd craft supplies and balloons.

8. Octopus

Love this costume for a baby but really it would work for any small child, walking or not. All you need is 6 adult long socks or 3 pairs of stockings lengths (minus the briefs), which you will stuff with batting or whatever you have lying around the house. Randomly sew on variously odd buttons you may have. These will act as suction cups that you normally find on tentacles. The legs are then attached to a length of ribbon to ti around the child. Save one set of briefs that were attached to a pair of stockings and attach two eyes - this will be a hat for the child. Great, easy costume!

9. Flower Pot

Here's another super easy one. All you need is a large bucket or planter, faux flowers, a headband and glue.

10. Popcorn Movie Vendor

I saved my favorite for last! How neat is this one? If you have a small baby in tow and you plan on carrying your baby Trick-or-Treating with you and your older kids, this is a great idea! Dress as a movie popcorn vendor and disguise your baby carrier as a popcorn container. Dress you baby in white and affix a hat decorated with popcorn on top (make sure it is hot glued on securely)!

Easy Ways to Serve Cake and Ice-Cream

2012-09-25T20:24:00.002-04:00

I found these fantastic tips on how to easily slice cakes and serve ice-cream for parties and I wanted to share them with you because I will definitely be doing this in the future. You can find the article here at realsimple.com

Slicing a sheet cake

Use unflavored waxed dental floss to make nice clean cuts in your sheet cake. Hold a piece of floss taut between your fingers (it should be about a foot longer than the cake itself). Drag it down through the cake, then release one end and pull the other end out of the cake sideways. Continue to “cut” in a grid pattern.

Carving a Round Cake

Apparently you will get more pieces if you slice a round cake this way. Use a long, sharp knife to cut a smaller circle inside the round cake. Cut the outer ring into pieces, then cut the remaining, smaller cake as you normally would, like a pizza. Give the frosting-laden outer wedges to the kids, and reserve the more lightly iced interior pieces for the adults.

Dicing Ice-Cream

I love love love this tip! Why didn't I think of this before?? Save minutes (and your poor wrist) by trading in an ice cream scoop for a knife. Place a cylindrical cardboard container of slightly softened ice cream on a cutting board and cut it in half lengthwise to create 2 half-circles. Turn each portion of ice cream cut-side down. Remove and discard the packaging. Cut each portion crosswise into slices.

Scooping Ice-Cream

To prevent a sticky situation, start scooping before the party starts. Place individual scoops in a cupcake tin lined with paper baking cups and transfer the tray to the freezer for up to several hours. After the cake is cut, remove the scoops from the paper baking cups (or not) and drop them onto the waiting plates.

Making Pasta Necklaces

2012-09-23T21:09:00.001-04:00

Here's an easy activity to do with your toddler on a rainy day at home. Make pasta necklaces! Chances are you will have all the ingredients around your house already, plus this activity helps your child develop his or her fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. Plus, it's fun!

What you need:

large hollow pasta (rigatoni is best, penne will work fine too)
string or ribbon
a small safety pin or paper clip

First tie a knot at the end of the string or ribbon. This knot has to be large enough to block the pasta from falling off the thread.
At the other end of the string or ribbon, fasten the safety pin or paper clip to use as a threading aid in your pasta.
Have your pasta handy - make sure it is UNCOOKED!!! Help your child to thread the safety pin or paper clip through the pasta and down the length of the string or ribbon.
Continue doing this until you are satisfied with the length of the necklace.
Connect the ends together with a nice knot and bow and allow your child to wear it

Your child is going to love wearing this quirky necklace, especially because they made it! This activity takes very little time, minimal effort and costs hardly anything. It is a great time filler on a day indoors.

Lamb cutlets with a red wine jus

2012-09-23T00:37:00.000-04:00

Made this last week for dinner one night. Australian lamb cutlets marinated with rosemary and garlic, served with a red wine jus, buttery mashed potatoes and sauteed garlic spinach.

Vanilla Custard Pots for Toddlers

2012-09-23T00:04:00.000-04:00

An easy little dessert for your toddler and the good news is it takes no time at all and your child will love helping you in the kitchen!

The only adjustments I made to the above recipe was that I used a little more sugar. Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a small jug, mix the egg and the sugar together, then add the vanilla extract. This is a great opportunity to have your children involved. My daughter excitedly broke the egg and helped me stir the sugar in. She loved it!

The recipe calls for bringing the 2/3 cup of milk to a near boil on the stove but that was too much work for me, so I poured the milk into another jug and microwaved it in increments to make sure it didn't boil. In all, I think it took less than 2 minutes.

Very carefully, slowly pour the milk into the egg mixture while stirring rapidly so the eggs won't curdle.

Place 2 or 3 small ramekins into a deep oven tray and strain the custard into them to lose any lumps. Carefully pour enough boiling water into the oven tray until the water comes halfway up to the ramekins. Make sure no water splashes in the custards or it will compromise the texture.

Place the tray in the oven and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until the custards are set.

Fighting stains with Cream of Tartar

2012-09-22T23:10:00.001-04:00

BEFORE

So I was on Pinterest and saw a post about the uses for Cream of Tartar. So I clicked on the link, which led me to a random blog with a suggestion to use Cream of Tartar for cleaning a stainless steel kettle

BEFORE

My eyes were glued, my mouth parted slightly with intrigue!! My kettle is forever decorated with the brown telltale splotches bearing next-burner witness to all my stovetop dishes of yesterday. I read the instructions and decided to try it out.

Before I launch into the description of how to clean your kettle, take a look at the photos and decide for yourself whether the result are noticeable! I admit, it wasn't 100% effective and there are still stains left behind on the kettle, however the difference is significant and worth it for probably about 10 cents worth of Cream of Tartar and a little elbow grease.

AFTER

This is what you will need:

what you want to clean
cream of tartar (costs a few dollars at the supermarket)
rubber gloves
a scourer or good sponge
bowl
teaspoon
Tbsp water

Mix the water and enough Cream of Tartar together to make a thick paste.

Pot the rubber gloves on and in the sink dip the scourer/sponge into the mixture and start scrubbing the kettle (or whatever it is you wish to clean).

Keep scrubbing for a couple of minutes until you get the desired result. You can always add more Cream of Tartar directly to the kettle and scrub.

Give the kettle a final wash with a clean sponge and some washing detergent and then rinse. Not bad for minimal work and minimal cost!

The other side of the kettle once cleaned

Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce

2012-09-22T13:03:00.000-04:00

Our neighbors dropped off a box of their last summer harvest of juicy red tomatoes. Yes, we love these neighbors! I kept looking at the tomatoes for 2 days, pondering what I should make with them that would do justice to the impeccable quality of these beautiful organically grown fruits. I wanted to enhance their deliciousness, without losing it amidst a zillion other ingredients. I had previously made a roasted tomato basil soup, so I thought about instead making a really delicious pasta sauce. It turned out incredibly (if I may say so myself!), even my little fussy eater has been eating her pasta with the sauce (she is usually a fan of plain boiled pasta)!

So here it is.

The first thing I did was I halved all the tomatoes lengthways and cut out the hard top stem. I placed them neatly on two sheet trays, skin down. I think I must have had several pounds of tomatoes (15 big sized tomatoes in all).

After laying them out, I gave them all a good seasoning of freshly ground sea salt and black pepper. I sprinkled them with torn fresh basil from my garden (probably also the last for the season), good extra virgin olive oil and finally scatter about 8-10 whole garlic cloves, still with the skin in tact

At this stage, don't worry about the skins because we will peel them off later after the roasting process.

Preheat an oven to 350F. Place the trays in the center rack of the oven and roast for at least an hour and a half. Keep checking. You want the tomatoes to be juicy, cooked and aromatic. Too coked and they will dry out, not cooked enough and they won't have that roasted flavor.

Once they are done, take the trays out of the oven and let them rest for a little while so they are cool enough for you to handle.

Once you can safely handle to tomatoes, keep a pot handy and start peeling the skins of the tomatoes by hand, discarding the skins and putting the flesh in the pot. Peel off the garlic clove skins and add the roasted cloves to the pot, discarding those skins too. Add the basil to the pot as well.

Everything added to the pot

Now, peeling those tomatoes is a bit fiddly, I admit. However, I don't really know any better method (any suggestions?? - you need the skins for the roasting process). The only thing I can say to ease your mind is that because the tomatoes have been roasting for so long and because they are cut in half, the skins should come off fairy easily. If you wanted to, you could very well score an "X" on the bottoms at the very beginning to encourage the skins to peel away during the cooking process.

Once everything is peeled and added to the pot, lift off any of the nice pan juices and remaining olive oil on the sheet trays with a couple tablespoons of water. Use a plastic or wooden spoon and stir, add this water to the pot.

Put the pot on the stove and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 30 minutes. You want to cook the liquid out a little more and meld all those flavors nicely. At this stage, I found my first pot too small, so I had to transfer everything to a larger pot (hence, the different pots in the two photos!)

After the mixture has reduced a little, the color will change slightly and the sauce will start to look more cohesive. Here is a close-up.

Turn the stove off, move the pot to a safe place on the counter near an outlet. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture into a sauce, which you can run through a sieve if you choose to (I didn't because I actually like a more rustic textured sauce)

And there you have it! Check for seasoning and adjust if you like. This is great as a sauce but quite frankly, you could just eat it in a bowl with a spoon, as a soup. I think the sauce works best with spaghetti or a more textured pasta like rotini or spirals. I didn't take a photo of it as a finished product because I was too quick to eat it - OOPS! You could also use this sauce for proteins like chicken or shrimp, or as a base for a hearty stew or other soup.

Where did I go this week?

2012-09-21T15:26:00.005-04:00

Apologies readers for being MIA all week. What a week! Busy busy busy everyday but here are my highlights (and excuses for being away):

1. We bought a new house!
2. We found out Number 3 is on its way!

I hope my reasons are good enough for being away all week! I will have new posts up and ready this weekend hopefully! I have some interesting recipes to share too!

Happy Friday everyone!

Seasoning a Wok

2012-09-17T16:55:00.003-04:00

I cooked a beef stir-fry last week and made the mistake of leaving my wok in the sink overnight. Big mistake, there was a ring of rust underneath and a little bit of rust inside! Uh-uh! If you cook with a wok regularly you know that woks are supposed to be "seasoned" (this means oiled and blackened in a sort of self- rendering non-stick process) and to maintain a seasoned wok, you should never wash it again with detergent but just hot water and then keep it oiled thereafter.

So I was now faced with the dilemma of what to do with a previously seasoned wok that now has its patina compromised. I searched on the internet and found some useful websites and instructions and I set about fixing my wok problem.

I found this website, which not only explains how to properly season your wok but also explains how to give your wok a "facial" (exactly what I needed) and so I followed Grace Young's clear instructions. First I got it smoking again on a hot stove and oiled it once more.

Off the heat, this oil was rubbed off with a dry paper towel. I then added a couple of tablespoons of course salt and a little more vegetable oil and rubbed this into the wok with another dry paper towel.

It was amazing!! Not only was my salt turning brown and removing all the tackiness and grime built up on my wok, not to mention the rust, but suddenly a lovely dark patina emerged on the interior surface. It was slick and shiny! I was so happy!!!

After a few minutes of rubbing the hot oiled salt on my wok, I discarded the salt into the sink and rinsed the wok out in hot water. My wok was looking great! Seasoned beautiful and smooth to the touch. Here is a photo:

On Sunday, I made a vegetable fried rice using my newly re-seasoned wok. The food turned out great, did not need a lot of oil and the food slipped out nicely afterwards into its serving dish. I was able to easily wash my wok out with only boiling hot water (couple times) and then I stuck the wok back on the heat to evaporate the water.

My vegetable fried rice

After a 4-year love/hate relationship with my wok, I think I finally get it. I had always been washing my wok in detergents (WRONG!!) and I had also never taken the care to really season it properly (WRONG!!). I found some additional great wok tips. Here they are.

10 Things: Raising a Socially Conscious and Capable Daughter

2012-09-16T22:30:00.007-04:00

1. Girls can do anything boys can do.

Don't raise your daughter to think she can't be anything and do anything at all in this lifetime. Of course, there will always be some gendered differences that are undeniable (how realistic is it that your daughter will be the national spokesperson for testicular cancer?) but your daughter should never view her gender as a setback in life. Your daughter should be exposed to lots of sports and activities so she has the opportunity to realize her potential both intellectually and physically.

2. Don't force your daughter to wear pink.

We live in a completely gendered society and it often upsets me when you see the big divide in children's stores between girls' and boys' clothing. When I first found out I was pregnant, we decided at first to not know the baby's sex. Well, let me tell you how difficult, if not nearly impossible, it is to buy gender neutral clothing. The girls' section is filled with peter pan collars, ruffled sleeves and little pink polka dots and bows. Not to mention everything is adorned with "Daddy's Princess", and yet the boys' section is a walking advertisement for anything with wheels - tractors, cars, firetrucks.

Well, my now toddler daughter loves cars, digging in the dirt, rocks and playing with boys. Sure she loves to wear dresses and rummage through Mommy's makeup drawer but we must remember that children are completely uninfluenced in the beginning by society's attempts to mold their likes and dislikes according to their genders. Why should we tell them they should be or what they should like? Well, shouldn't we just let them be who they want to be? Don't force your daughter to wear pink ruffles if she likes blue. Mini-V loves pirates so I recently purchased Carter's Pirate Pajamas (for boys). My husband thought I was nuts at the time but I didn't care especially at that moment when my daughter's face lit up as she saw her new PJs.

3. Don't treat your daughter like a princess, and she won't act like one

I guess this follows with the above point. Every time I see a mother of a little girl treat her like a princess, not only do I roll my eyes but, like some amazing seer, I have this foresight of what's to come for that mother... probably a spoilt little girl. Look, I get it. Girls love all the fairytales with princesses and they love Disney and castles and make-believe but where do you draw the line between allowing them to enjoy princesses and then them actually thinking they are one?

Let's face it, in real life Princesses don't work, they order people around like servants, they are high maintenance and they use tax payer's money to promote their own agendas. Do we really want our daughters to behave like this when they grow up? Do we want them to think it is OK to be high maintenance and to squander other people's hard earned money away for their own whims and fancy? I certainly have never ever done anything in a "princess" theme for my daughters, nor do I intend to ever. This is an unrealistic fantasy and I would much rather encourage my daughter to not be high maintenance and be a real person - someone who works hard, appreciates the substance of things and doesn't get caught up in having the need to be "taken care of".

So how do we strike this balance? We should be encouraging our girls to take pride in their appearance and carry herself with poise like a little lady but they still need to understand they are not above other people (like princesses), there is no sense of entitlement of getting what you want just because you happen to be a cute girl. In my household, there will never be any pedicures or manicures for my underage children, there will be no handbags (what could they possibly have to carry?) and there will be no spa treatments. If you treat you baby like a princess, what happens? You have a 14 year-old brat that still behaves like a princess. Sorry if this is harsh, just stating facts.

4. Encourage your daughter to have friends from all walks

As children, we know not about differences, there is a greater level of acceptance and a more tolerant playing field of interaction. Abled children play with handicapped ones, children of different races play together, they don't know if their best friend has two Mommies or no Mommy at all. Frankly, they don't care. They just want to know if you will play with them. Social tolerance is learned in the household so set a good example. Show your daughters (and your sons) it's OK to play with boys and girls and everyone in between. Let them play freely and don't let on about your own prejudices. They don't even understand that boys are different to themselves. I know this because last week, my daughter said to me "Mommy, you are a good boy". There is definite confusion there and that is OK. That is what is pure about children. There is plenty of time to educate your daughters about socially acceptable practices, like not sleeping over at a boy's house, but let that time come later.

5. Girls will fall and bruise too. It's OK

Everyone says "most boys will break a bone as a child" and while this probably holds true, it is also OK for girls to climb, jump, bump and fall. My older daughter is a total tomboy, as I have already mentioned and while we have been lucky enough to be spared so far with an emergency room visit, she has taken several hard knocks to the head, and elsewhere. My outlook is that, as long as she is lucid, behaviorally cognitive and not gushing out with blood, chances are she is OK. Sure I have made a few precautionary phone calls to the pediatrician to make sure - you can never be too sure - but remember, most children who are not seriously hurt from a fall will cry well after they fall because they were (a) scared or (b) lapping up the sympathy. Of course give your daughter a cuddle and give her that sympathy and love.
This is really important for your child's emotional development BUT try not to overdo it just because she is a girl.

Let your daughter be tough and shake it off, just like your sons. Don't shout "ooooh myyyy god" if she skids on the grass a little harder than usual. Just walk over calmly, ask is she is hurting, wipe the tears and tell her she is OK and you love her. They feed off your emotions and believe me, I have plenty of friends with kids who cry cry cry over nothing but any 3rd party can tell you it's because the parent overreacts and treats the child like he or she is dying. Don't do this. Don't scare your child. Let them cry and tell you if they are hurt - not the other way around.

6. Girls want to be firefighters too

Let your daughters play with gender neutral toys and encourage her to dream and be anything she wants to be. We are big advocates of this in our household. When you break it down, a child's developmental milestones are pretty basic - and un-gendered. They have to develop intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically. That's really it. Things like gross motor skills can be worked on through many means so let your daughters play with gender neutral toys. Build your toy collection so that anyone walking in would be unsure if you had a daughter or a son. This means that not only should your daughter be able to enjoy cars and trucks and legos but your sons should feel free to develop their imaginative play through things like toy kitchens and dress-ups too. Mini-V really enjoys her Thomas the tank engine train and her firefighter hat and of course, surprisingly, she still gravitates to the tea set and the dolls (isn't gender and sexuality the darndest thing? Must be innate!) but the pint is we would never keep her from playing with boy-oriented toys. In fact I have ordered plenty of "boy Happy Meals" at McDonalds just for varied toy selection!

7. Don't paint your little daughter's fingernails.

It looks silly. See No. 3.

8. Try to use varied superlatives

Please don't always tell your daughter she is the most beautiful, even if this is true. Our ultimate goal is to encourage our daughters to be strong, capable young ladies with good self-esteem. Try to use encouraging words like "clever", "smart" and "happy". While, yes, your daughter is undoubtedly very pretty, focusing on this sort of praise does not let her also realize that there is much more substance to
her.

Of course, you can keep complimenting your daughter on her looks but remember to compliment her other characteristics too. Tell your daughter how you think she is extremely imaginative or confident. Also applaud her abilities and accomplishments, like spelling, drawing, being a good friend or helping her little brother, too. These words and praises actually mean something and will show your daughter there is much value in such traits. It will encourage her to be authentic and proud of who she is, regardless of how she looks.

9. Educate your daughter about sexuality and sex

Our society is highly sexualized and we should encourage our children - both boys and girls - to have a good, intelligent grasp of sexuality and sex. In this day and age, I don't even think my point needs further explanation other than don't delay this too long. If you daughter is mature enough to handle this, then she is mature enough for the evolution of your parenting role. Wouldn't you want your daughters to hear the important stuff from you anyway? Talk about these topics openly and honestly. You don't need to sit and divulge everything that surpasses their maturity or interest level but certainly open up a frank discussion so at least your daughter knows you are open to talking about these topics if and when she is ready.

10. Remember to still encourage your daughter to be feminine and soft.

I know this sounds totally archaic and almost completely contradictory to most of what I have said but I really do believe there is a certain innate soft quality about females and this should not be stifled nor discouraged. Yes, your daughter can be strong and capable but she can also be feminine and gentle. This is not to say that you should direct your daughter either way. I mean, really, you just want them to be themselves so, having said that, we should not try to influence our daughters to not be soft (sorry, double negative!) just because we associate this with something negative like being weak. Softness does not amount to weakness. There is nothing weak about being feminine, in fact this can be a great asset. There is something to be said about great females in this world who are (or were) extremely nurturing and gentle.... think Oprah Winfrey, Mother Theresa or Princess Diana. You can achieve greatness even if you are feminine. But as I have said before, neither femininity nor strength should be mutually exclusive or for the sake of the other. We are women, can't we have it all?

Vietnamese BBQ Pork Steamed Buns

2012-09-16T11:31:00.004-04:00

So I did some late night grocery shopping on Thursday night by myself, once Super-J came home from work... I had forgotten how peaceful and enjoyable it can be when you don't have little ones in tow pulling at you and asking to hold every little thing you put in the cart (many an odd lime has had to be forcibly purchased after Mini-V has insisted on holding it through the entire shopping experience and then refuses to let it go as checkout... I don't think they want it back with teeth marks anyway!).

Well, you know what happens when you shop alone? You roam down the aisles you really don't need to go down (just so you can prolong the "alone time") and you end up discovering all kinds of exciting ingredients. Then, you have a false sense of time and buy everything you really don't need, thinking oh yeah, I will make that on the weekend. I had one of those moments on Thursday night and purchased a mysterious packet of Vietnamese "mixed flour" labelled Bot Banh Bao. OMG steamed buns!! I love those at Dim Sum, really how difficult can it be!?!?

Let me tell you.... 6 hours of cooking later and I made them!!! They were delicious. I am adding this to my new section called "What's Cooking" because I love to cook and know you will love to see what I make!

First, I had to roast the pork. I looked up 'Chinese BBQ pork' on the internet and found this amazing recipe. I varied it to only use the marinade. I didn't marinate it overnight and I did omit some of the ingredients, it turned out great. Here's how I made the sauce -

Combine -

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1 garlic clove chopped
3 Tbsp ketchup
3Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar (I didn't have the white wine the recipe called for)
2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp Honey

After mixing this, I smeared it all over boneless country style pork ribs and put it in an 350F oven for about 2 hours, turning it over every now and then to check. I admit, you can cook it for less if you want but I wanted the sauce really caramelized and pork super tender.

Once the pork was cooked, I started on the Bot Banh Bao dough. I really wish you can make the dough ahead of time because having to wait for the pork to be done first adds so much time to the cooking process. Unfortunately, it is one of those sticky doughs that has to be mixed, rested, then re-kneaded and finally rolled and steamed immediately. Time consuming (especially with two small kids).

I followed the instruction on the packet. Basically, you have to mix the packet of "mixed flour" with 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp vegetable oil. The instructions said to hand-mix for 10 minutes. No way I was doing that, so I put it in my Kitchen Aid and set the dough hook on low for 10 minutes.

Then you have to let the dough rest for 15 minutes (this is when I took a break to have my lunch, which might I add, I did cook simultaneously!). After 15 minutes, I used the suggested 2 Tbsp of reserved mixed flour to flour my board and then you have to knead the dough for ten more minutes. Let me tell you, the dough is sticky so make sure you reserve more than the recommended 2 Tbsp of mixed flour.

After kneading, I cut out little squares of waxed paper (approx. 3"x3") to place under each steamed bun.

Then you roll the dough into a log and supposedly divide into 12 equal portions according to the recipe. I use the work supposedly because think I actually yielded 16, not 12.

I found the dough quite sticky by this stage so between two pieces of waxed paper, I then rolled each portion into flat circles to make each bun.

I had Super-J chop up my BBQ pork (not all made it, some had to succumb to his mouth, I don't blame him, it really was good!)

After rolling out the circles, I placed about 2 Tbsp of the chopped pork in the center and pinched up the dough to enclose the mixture. Make sure you have enough pork or you will just be eating bun, but also don't overfill or it may open out during the steaming process!

Place the finished bun onto a square of waxed paper.

uncooked

Place the prepared uncooked buns in a steamer. I used an All-Clad double boiler. Steam for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, this is how it looked - I have to admit, they came out great and they tasted very authentic!! Labor intensive but not difficult and very satisfying after!!!

Tips:

Reserve more than the recommended 2 Tbsp of mixed flour for the kneading process of the dough. As I have mentioned, it is sticky and I found I needed more flour for my board
In hindsight, I would have added a little of the BBQ sauce from the pork into each bun, just for a bit more moisture. I was worried it would compromise my steamed bun, as I had never made them before, so I held off on this, but after making the buns I now realize it can take a little sauce inside without an adverse results
work quickly through the steam bun-making process, the dough tends to get stickier and harder to work work the longer you take. If you can enlist some help, I recommend it. By the time I got to the last 5 buns, my dough was sticking even to the waxed paper and I was having more trouble bunching it once the filling was added
Don't overcrowd the steamer, I did 2 batches and my first batch (photo above) was a little crowded and when I had to remove them, they stuck to each other a little - not a huge problem but you can see in the picture where it stuck. My second batch did not do this.
Store in an airtight container and simply microwave to re-heat. I think you could probably freeze them in zippered bags too.