World of Wati

Wilkie, the Little Painter

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Thu, 31 May 2012 23:07:45 PDT

Wilkie enjoys painting very much and it's very clear that he is enjoying his art class which he joined just over a month ago. And this is his latest masterpiece, his first ever 'serious' work, in watercolour. He dabbled with watercolour at home for sure, but this dinosaur artwork of his just makes Roy and I very proud!

Well done Wilkie!

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Dark Chocolates Galore and Brownie!

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:26:06 PDT

Followers of my blog know that I am a chocoholic, I am a sucker for super dark chocolates. I have a collection in my pantry, of dark chocolates that were either bought by or given to me.

I haven't been making dessert for a while since lately I have been eating yoghurt with seasonal fruit or dark chocolate on it's own as dessert. Last month, I had a strong desire for brownies, brownies that are luscious, rich and intense. So I whipped up a gluten free brownie that was very easy and took only 20 minutes to bake. Well, I have a collection of dark chocolates in my pantry anyway, so it was an excuse for me to bake!

Ingredients:

100g dark chocolate, at least 72% dark
2 tablespoons gluten free flour (I mixed 2 parts rice flour, 1 part potato flour, 0.5 part tapioca flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
50g butter
2 eggs
3 tablespoons unrefined cane sugar
Vanilla
A pinch of salt
Optional: chopped nuts or dried fruit (highly recommended)

Method:

Melt chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering hot water
Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in a separate bowl until frothy
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl
Pour melted chocolate in the egg and mix gently with a rubber spatula
Add the flour, chopped nuts or chopped dried fruit (if using) and fold gently until all the colours are uniform. Do not over mix
Pour into muffin cases or baking tin of your choice
Bake for 15-20minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Try not to overbake

Note: I added chopped dried apricot (as I'm not keen with nuts in brownies) and this gave a nice texture and sweetness to the gluten free brownie. It also makes the cake moist after a few days as gluten free flour tends to be a bit dry. It's highly recommended. Try it!

I have made this several times over and served it in different ways, such as with strawberries, yoghurt or ice cream. I also discovered that the brownies are excellent when you eat them frozen, right out of the freezer! I chopped frozen brownies up, and served with some green tea ice-cream. Yum!

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2012 Spring Activities

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 05:34:24 PDT

I know I've been missing in action, life outside of blogging has ben keeping me busy as usual, but here are just some snippets of what we've been up too since Spring began.

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Singapore Visitors in Tokyo, Feb 2012

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:07:24 PST

WARNING: Lots of photos!

My niece and nephew finally arrived from Singapore after postponing their visit to Tokyo since November 2011. They stayed with us for 10 days, and surprisingly it was a breeze 'looking after' them. My guess is they like Japanese pop culture (they know more of Japanese celebrities than Roy and I do) and Japanese food to begin with, so it was no surprise I hardly get stressed out, especially when it comes to "what to feed them?" Kudos to them, they were polite not to ask sensitive questions and I greatly appreciate that very much.

It's always helpful when people know what they want to do, or go and eat before they even land in a country, and my neice and nephew did exactly that. It makes planning the activities a bit easier. I think they had a really enjoyable and exciting time in Tokyo. Probably, it was their most brilliant holiday ever! My nephew said he will miss onigiri (rice ball) the most.

So here are some photos to share. What's missing are Disneyland and Harajuku among others, as I wasn't with them. They had a blast in Disneyland except for a tiny problem of the weather being COLD. Otherwise, the weather was fine most of the time, safe for a couple of light-rainy days. My niece was hoping for snow and she got one, a good snowy weather, right on their very last day, in the morning when they had to leave for the airport. It wasn't even snowing at Narita Airport, so they missed so much snow that was still going pretty strong hours after they took off. But, at least they got to experience their very first snow, ever!

More photos on Flickr!

Sushi lunch at home on day of arrival

Ice skating at Toshimaen

At Toshimaen Theme Park

Shopping in Ginza

Temple at Asakusa

Asakusa souvenir street

Lindt Chocolate Cafe, Ginza

He had a Lindt brownie. It was very good, chocolatey, fudgey and not sickly sweet.

I made Apple Tart for them, served with vanilla ice-cream

Enjoying Apple Tart and playing games on iPad

Tempura lunch at Takashimaya Shinjuku

The tempura restaurant

Burger lunch at Kua'Aina, probably one of the best burger joints in Tokyo.

Our orders: Hamburger with cheese. Super yum! Will be going back there again.

Digging in...

Farmer's Market, United Nations University, Omotesando

Observatory level, Roppongi Hills

Observatory level, Roppongi Hills. We also went to Tokyo Tower, the red and white steel building on the left.

Time to go home and it's snowing!

Sayonara and see you again soon!

Lastly, a thank you gift from them

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12th Anniversary, and Counting...

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:47:48 PST

That's right. We have been married for 12 years, have been going through ups and downs, more ups than down, more laughter than tears.

I have been super-busy plus currently my dear niece and nephew from Singapore are in town for a 10 day holiday so I have been busy showing them around being their personal tour guide, hence the lack of entries.

However, we managed to have a lunch date on our 12th anniversary! Thank goodness everything just worked so well: the babysitter looked after Fredi, Wikie was in school and my Singapore visitors were out and about spending their money off in some trendy Japanese department stores. So Roy and I were left to ourselves to celebrate our 'silk' marriage year.

Vainity Fair!!!

We went to Beacon in Shinjuku, a New York style grill house, that belongs to the same group as Cicada where we had my 37th birthday lunch in 2010. The food was delicious, but I wouldn't go as far as saying as fantastic. We enjoyed our meal nonetheless, in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere without the little ones bugging us every few minutes!

Here's a toast to us! Happy 12th Anniversary, my one and only Roy. I love you.

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Winter 2012, First Snow

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:22:06 PST

A snow covered street, in front of our house

After putting Fredi to bed, I went downstairs and looked out the window. I let out a sigh when I saw a beautiful white blanket on the ground and on rooftops gleaming in the dark. It was one of the most beautiful snowfall I've witnessed in Japan. The view outside, with the snow in the dark, just gave me a sense of peace and serenity. The snow was still falling, in big little clusters, the kind that is dry and light. In times like this, how I wished the boys were up so we could go outside and throw snowballs at each other.

I grabbed my camera for I HAVE to take photos of the scenery, post them onto Facebook so my family and friends in Singapore and other countries could see what was going on. And here they are, the snow fall at night, and the morning after. Enjoy!

Shit! We forgot to cover our bicycles.

The trees, right outside our door

The morning after: Some snow had melted but it left a frozen ground. If not careful, one could slip, fall and get hurt

Our bicyles still standing, thank goodness!

Time to play and dig some snow

Simple fun is best

Tip it all off and do it again!

Mummy trying to break the ice and clearing snow off the street: that was my morning workout and it aint light!

You're a great helper Fredi with that small spade!

Ah! Daddy popped out to have a shufty

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Salmon in Spicy Coconut Stew

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:53:16 PST

I had been getting rather fishy last week. Since my craving for sweet stuff had more or less subsided, I had been rather inclined to eat more fish. This shouldn't be a bad thing as eating Omega 3 fats from marine sources is good not only for the heart, but also the brain and eye. This, of course, should be done regularly, as part of your daily lifestyle, not something you eat once in while. I try and make healthy eating second nature to me, like brushing my teeth. I think I have been a good girl so far. Yes, I do eat sweet stuff every now and then, but I don't think those little sweet treats will do much damage to my body because I eat real whole food 80-90% most of the time.

Tasty and great for the body: Salmon in Spicy Coconut Stew

The Sri Lankan Fish Curry I made previously was lovely, it was light and pleasant. This time, I want something richer to go with my favourite oily fish, salmon. What came out was a surprisingly tasty Salmon in Spicy Coconut Stew.

I used:

400g salmon (with bones or steak, whichever you perfer. I used both)
1 can (400ml) coconut milk (full fat)
250ml water
Juice of half a lemon
olive oil
1 medium size onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 teaspoon ginger paste
4 small or 3 medium size tomatoes, quatered
2 chilli (optional)
Tumeric powder
A bunch of fresh coriander leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

Sprinkle and rub some tumeric powder and lemon juice on each side of fish. Marinate for 30 minutes
Heat some olive oil, about 4 tablespoons, and fry the salmon on each side for 2 minutes. You just want to brown it, not fully cook it. Place browned salmon on a plate.
Using the same oil, sauteed the onion until almost transparent. Add more oil if necessary.
Add the tomatoes, chilli, garlic and ginger paste and fry for another 2-3 minutes, until tomatoes are almost but not completely break up
Add the coconut milk, water and stir
Add the salmon in a single layer, coriander leaves and salt in the coconut stew. Stir gently to incorporate the salt. Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, until salmon is cooked.
Test taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve hot with steamed rice and your favourite vegetables!

I'm not sure which curry I like better, but Roy said the salmon in spicy coconut stew is the winner! I agree!

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Sri Lankan Fish Curry

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:07:04 PST

When I read the recipe on The Pefect Health Diet, I told myself that it is so easy I have to do it soon. The original post was about the health benefits of eating Omega 3 fatty acids from fish, and that the recommended consumption is 1 pound (450 grams) of oily fish per week. I don't eat as much oily fish as recommended, so I take Omega 3 supplements (EPA & DHA) everyday without fail.

Sri Lankan Fish Curry, adapted from The Perfect Health Diet

My favourite fish has to be salmon. But this time, I used mackerel, another good oily fish, simply because they were selling them cheaper than usual. I was a little hesitant because of the bones, and Roy is particular about them. I went ahead and bought the fish with bones anyway!

The original recipe can be found here. This is my version, with a slight differentiation because I don't have some of the ingredients. In most of my cooking, I don't really measure. Do you ever see celebrity chefs measuring their ingredients when cooking? Not always! I depend on my instinct, unless I'm baking, so the measrements here are approximate.

I used:

4 tablespoon olive oil (more oil if necessary)
450g mackerel
1 medium onion
2 small garlic
1 teaspoon ginger paste
a bunch of corriander leaves
1 red chilli (optional)
1 teaspoon chilli powder (optional)
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
2 tablespoons cumin powder
juice of half lemon
2 vine ripe tomatoes, quatered
2 cups water
salt to taste

Method:

Sprinkle and rub the cumin powder on the fish. Add the lemon juice and marinate the fish for 2 hours in the fridge
Heat the oil and fry the fish for 2 minutes on each side. You just want to brown the fish, not fully cook it
Place fish on a plate
Using the same oil in the pot, sautee onion, garlic and mustard seeds together. Add more oil if mecessary. Sautee for 5 minutes, or until onion turns transparent
Add tomatoes, ginger paste, chilli and chilli powder. Cook until tomatoes start to break up
Add water
Add the fish on a single layer, corriander leaves and salt (abut 1/2 teaspoon). Cover the pot and cook for 7-10 mins, or until fish is cook
Test taste and adjust seasoning to your liking

Dinner is served, Sri Lankan Fish Curry

My favourite veggie: Stir fried cabbage, with spinach, garlic and dried anchovies

We ate the curry served with steamed rice and my favourite stir fried cabbage. Roy had it with steamed broccoli. Despite the bones, Roy said it was lovely. To me, the bones added to the taste, and I had no issues eating boney fish as I grew up eating it like that anyway. I liked the flavour, it was light and pleasant, not overpowering on the spiciness. I prefer it to be hotter but I liked it the way just it was. Will definitey be making it again, but without bones next time!

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French Apple Tart

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:03:59 PST

It is very clear that I love sweets! Especially when it comes to that time of the month, I always crave for something more eloborate, not just dark chcolates. It itensifies a week before it starts and then subsides a week the cycle finishes. I've been playing with the idea of creating another blog, dedicated to just food that I make. But for now..

Apple Tart, after baking

My latest sweet indulgence was French Apple Tart. It was surprisngly so easy to make, especially if you used ready made frozen pastry sheet, like I did. It was not gluten-free, although I plan on making a gluten-free version after stumbling this recipe. The last time we had something similar was Roy's Tart Tatin, which was gorgeous.

Apple Tart, before baking

When making my first recipe, I always start with small proportion, enough for 2 people, sometimes 3 if Fredi likes it, which is most of the time!

I used:

100g thawed and softened frozen pastry sheet (make sure the fat used is butter, not otherwise)
1 and 1/2 Fuji apple (they are rather big in Japan)
2 tablespoons Okinawa granulated black sugar (or sugar of choice)
40g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon apricot jam
1 tablespoon water

Method:

Heat the oven at 180 degrees C
Roll out pastry sheet into a thin layer of crust. Trim the edges by using a ruler and cutting with a knife, but I just folded and tucked them in to straighten them
Using a fork, prick holes in the crust
Put it in the fridge while you prepare the apples
Peel, core and slice the apples thinly
Take pastry crust out of fridge and arrange apple slices overlapping one another
Using your fingers, sprinkle the sugar over the apples. Use more sugar if neccessary. 2 tablespoons gave the right level of sweetness for me
Cut butter into little cubes and sprinkle them evenly over the apples
Place tart in oven and bake for 180 degrees C for 30-35minutes, until pastry and apples brown around th edges
Once done, take it out of the oven
Microwave the jam and water for 1 minute. Mix the mixture and seive it using a tea strainer so that the glaze is smooth, but if you can't be bothered to seive it, you can skip it :-)
Using a brush, glaze the tart with the apricot mixture to give a shiny appearance

Apple Tart, after baking

Apple Tart served with Haagen Dazs Macadamia ice-cream

You can serve it warm or cold, with your favourite topping. I love this tart because it is very classically French! I love the taste of the black sugar and it wasn't that sweet, it was just right. The thin crust was crispy and soft and the apples were beautifuly done too. Definitely worth a try!

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Abok-Abok Sago

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:21:08 PST

For international readers, the title means a Malay dessert of steamed sago (tapioca pearls) with coconut and palm sugar. Traditionally, freshly grated coconut and palm sugar are used. Then the sago is mixed, wrapped in a banana leaf in a cone shape and steamed. This was how exactly my mother used to make them. Sounds complicated but very easy to make!

While it is a challenge to make a truly traditional Malay dishes and desserts in Tokyo, it is not at all impossible. All I have to do is think of an alternative and improvise. I am lucky to be living where I am right now as I have easy access to ingredients to make traditional desserts.

I was still in a craving mode for traditional desserts after my sucessful attempt with the Glutinous Black Rice Pudding. What's next? I remember a packet of sago and dessicated coconut sitting in the kitchen cabinet waiting to be used, so what to do with them? Abok-Abok sago!

100% Pure Okinawa Black Sugar

I don't have anymore palm sugar left so I substituted it with 100% Okinawa black sugar. This specialty sugar has quite a similar caramelish, malty taste to palm sugar, with the trace minerals and vitamins intact because it's unrefined unlike white sugar (which I avoid). It comes in irregular rock shapes, so you can actually suck them like candy, as some people in this country do! Fredi loved it after grabbing a handful when I wasn't watching.

Muffin pans in place of banana leaves

I also don't have banana leaves, so I just went ahead and used muffin pans instead and they turned out fine!

Since I'm not sure how the dessert will turn out, I made it using small proportion, so please double or triple the measrements if you make it for more than 4 people.

I used:

1/2 cup sago, or tapioca pearls (soaked for 30mins, washed and drained)
4-5 tablespoons pure black Okinawa sugar, chopped into small pieces (use palm sugar or other dark unrefined sugar)
30g dessicated coconut (use freshly grated if possible)
pinch of salt

Method:

Prepare the steamer
Mix the soaked sago, dessicated coconut and pinch of salt together
Put a tablespoon of sago mixture into muffin pan, followed by a tablespon of sugar (see photo above), and followed by another tablespoon of sago mixture. You have 3 layers total.
Place the muffin pans into prepared steamer and steam for 15-20 minutes on medium-high heat, or until sago turns transparent
Serve warm or at room temperature

Steamed and cooked Abok-Abok Sago. Notice the melted black sugar. Beautiful!

I love the the way the shape turned out, not coned but round.

The recipe above makes 5 and they turned out perfect. The black sugar worked really well, and the dessicated coconut turned soft from the steam. I am satisfied with the result and will definitely be making it again. Of course it would be even more decadant if I used fresh coconut and wrap the sago in banana leaves. I can only remember, as a child, the fragrance of the banana leaf as I peeled it to reveal the cooked sago inside. But my modern version is just as good if not authentic!

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Rice as Dessert: Glutinous Black Rice Pudding

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:26:03 PST

Rice is quite a versatile ingredient as it can be used either as dessert or otherwise. It's mainly starch, a safe starch that is converted to glucose used by the body for energy, among other things. I love rice, I am Asian in general and a Malay in particular so rice is a staple in my diet.

Recenty I have a strong craving for something coconutish. Since adapting back to eating healthily, I find that I started to crave for traditional food more and more, food that I used to eat when I grew up as a child in Singapore. Coconut and rice are two major ingredients used in most traditional Malay dishes including desserts. I have 2 packs of black rice in my kitchen cabinet, perfect for making Bubur Pulut Hitam, or Glutinous Back Rice Pudding!

Traditionally, pandan leaves are used, but none are sold in Japan so I used the Madagascar vanilla beans instead, the same beans I used for making ice-cream. It is also traditional to use freshly squeezed coconut milk for the pudding, where the santan pekat, or "thick coconut milk" is used for the topping while the santan cair, or "thin coconut milk" is used to cook the black rice.

I used:

2 cups glutinous black rice (soaked for at least 4 hours or overnight, and washed)
4-6 cups water (may need more)
6-8 tablespoon sugar to taste ( I can't remember exactly how much I used but adjust to your liking. I used Okinawa black sugar and unrefined cane sugar together)
vanilla (I used vanilla beans. If you can find pandan leaves, use that instead)
1 can coconut milk (scoop out and reserve some of the cream ("thick coconut milk") that has settled on top of the can and save the rest with the water ("thin coconut milk") that has settled at the bottom of can for cooking later)

Method:

Put water, black rice and vanilla in a pot deep enough to hold all that water.
On medium-high heat, bring it to a boil.
Once boiled, turn heat down to medium-low and cook for 30-45 minutes until rice is cooked through and soft enough to bite. Ensure to stir every few minutes to cook it evenly. It should have the consistency of a thick, soupy porridge.
Add the sugar, start with 6 tablespoons, and gradually increase until you are happy with the level of sweetness.
Add the "thin coconut milk" and bring it to a boil for a minute or 2 and turn off heat.
Add a pinch of salt to the reserved "thick coconut milk" and mix well. This is the usual practice, but optional. I like it with salt.
Serve the pudding hot, topped with the "thick coconut milk".
You can refrigerate the pudding up to 3 days. To warm it up, just nuke it for 40s-1minute. Alternatively, you can eat it cold!

Of course, you can Google around and find that there are several ways to making this simple, hearty and healthy dessert. I love rice and coconut (it's a superfood in my opinion, including the fat) and a bowl of hot Glutinous Rice Pudding satisfies my craving nicely for traditional dessert. I ate it for 3 days in a row, 3 times a day!

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Can You Recognise the Characters?

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:33:01 PST

When Wilkie was still raw from his bout of chicken pox, he had to stay indoors and Roy had been the one looking after him most of time. So what did they do one day when Fredi and his mummy went out to the weekly playgroup? Some fun art on the floor of our balcony. Can you tell who the characters are?

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Spicy Bean and Carrot Soup

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:08:13 PST

Food for the soul: Spicy Bean and Carrot Soup

What could be more satisfying than a bowl of hot soup to warm up the body in this chilly weather. I love Winter in Tokyo as it's dry, sunny and blue sky is a rather common sight. The temperature at the moment ranges from 5 degrees in the day and could dip to -2 when it's dark.

All the Christmas leftover had gone and dusted, and I felt like making soup, something thick, something spicy but very easy to make. Enter our favourite Spicy Bean and Carrot Soup. The idea was adapted from this book, one of the recipe book collection in our kitchen. I did some small changes but most of the ingredients are the same as in the book.

This was what we had the soup with: Rice, fried cabbage with chilli and dried anchovies, avocado and spicy beef

I used:

1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 fresh tomato, diced
1/2 large or 1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped very finely
1 can red kidney beans, drained and washed
1 medium sized carrots, skinned and cubed
2 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder (more if you like it hotter, I do but Roy could only take it so far)
1 tablespoon chilli flakes (same as above)
2 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter (or ghee)
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unrefined sugar
salt and black pepper to taste
Some chopped fresh coriander to garnish (optional)

Method:

Heat butter and olive oil in pot. When oil is hot, but not smoking hot, add the chopped onions and carrots and fry for 5 - 7 mins.
Add the garlic and fry for another 5 mins until onions and carrots are slightly browned.
Add canned tomato, tomato puree, chopped fresh tomato, all the spices, sugar and water. Stir and cook for 5 mins and bring it to a boil.
Reduce fire to low and simmer for 20mins. Stir every 5 mins or so.
Add the red beans, and cook for another 5-10 mins, with the lid on. Add salt and pepper.
The carrots should be tender by now. Test taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
Let cool for 10 mins.
Transfer half of the soup into a blender and blend for 2 mins.
Pour it back into the pot and stir. You want the soup to be creamy and with chunky bits at the same time.
Serve it hot, garnished with freshly chopped coriander (it makes a lot of difference!) Best eaten with crusty bread, or steamed rice.

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Christmas 2011

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:05:09 PST

Christmas this year was merrier than in the past because for the first time, we had our own Christmas tree, complete with presents under it.

Christmas morning

In the past it was usually a quiet affair, for we had no compelling reasons to make it grand. For us, the key to great excitement and fun have always been for the kids, and that means presents. Not that this year was any grand at all, it was just that Wilkie is older and understand things much better.

2nd day of chicpen pox

On Christmas eve, Wilkie was one unlucky child though. He caught chicken pox. Roy took him to the doctor and he was given the usual cream to apply on the spots and was advised against going outdoors for 2 weeks. Fredi is vulnerable for he hasn't caught chicken pox, so he was given an injection to prevent the pox from being worse than Wilkie, if he ever gets it himself.

Anyway, we deliberately waited till the last minute to put the Christmas tree up and lay the presents. The boys were in bed, unbeknownst to them that mummy and daddy were busy downstairs. The idea was to suprise the boys when they wake up in the morning.

On Christmas Day, I was the last to get up. Wilkie ran upstairs, woke me up and asked me to "hurry up and come downstairs... there's a Christmas tree and Santa put presents!"

Wilkie looked subdued but he was back jumping up and down after the shot

Both Roy and I were so happy to see his reaction as it was exactly what we had planned. The night before we told him if Santa is going to get off at our local train station to send presents. Although he's got chicken pox, the sight of the surprise Christmas tree and the presents he thought Santa gave lifted his spirits high and cheered him up. He had no fever, he was as happy as he could be.

Breakfast in the morning to start Christmas Day

After breakfast and shower, it's time to take more photos!

Presents...

More presents...

Then we opened the presents, very slowly, and then it was time for lunch. We had roasted turkey bought at Seibu department store--no hassle of roasting it myself. I quickly made some broccoli, mashed potato and mushroom cream sauce. Wilkie had his usual nori roll and chicken ball. Fredi was starving by the time lunch was served and he gobbled the turkey fast. And then we all had a chocolate log cake for dessert. The boys enjoyed blowing the candles and singing Christmas songs.

Carving out a turkey leg

We wish you a Merry Chrsitmas

1, 2 3, blow...!

The opening of presents was stretched towards the evening since Wilkie spent a great deal playing and putting his Transformers toys together. The parts to build the robots were rather difficult to ensemble even Roy had some difficulties.

Thank you Daddy!

Fredi seemed not to be too bothered mostly as he's still too young to understand. He wasn't excited about ripping the wrappers off his gifts, but he liked the Thomas toy set very much.

It was nice that we got presents sent all the way from the UK and America. It was also nice for me to go out and get presents for others. Although we are not religious, we celebrate the festive day in the name of good fun. It's more for the kids to enjoy, and a chance for us to spend quality time with loved ones in a little bit different and special way.

Hope you've had a fun Christmas too!

Simple Chocolate Puffed Rice

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:54:28 PST

I bought a big bag of puffed rice recently at a stall they put up specially on that day at Ikebukuro station. I couldn't resist buying it as I thought it would be a great snack food for Fredi. It's not that healthy because it's covered in sugar, but at least it's not wheat and gluten-free. Fredi eats snacks only when I take him out, otherwise he eats 3 solid meals a day.

I love puffed rice, not Rice Krispies made by Kellogg. The difference is the former is fat, fluffy and crunchy, while the Kellogg brand is rather flat in taste and texture and not as crunchy. I have been meaning to make use of my dark chocolate selection into something more interesting, so the idea of chocolate puffed rice came to mind.

So here goes the recipe.

I used:

100g 76% Lindt Dark Chocolate
2 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 cups puffed rice

Method:

Melt broken dark chocolate with coconut oil
Once melted, add honey and cocoa powder
Stir well until smooth – I used a manual hand mixer
Add puffed rice to chocolate mixture and mix well
Spoon chocolate puffed rice into paper cases
Chill for at least 1 hour, until set

It's a simple and easy dessert to make. They taste great refrigerated. I give no excuses if I want to eat sweets, and when I do eat them, I use ingredients that I know wouldn't cause me health issues, and low in toxicity as possible.

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Parties in December

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:30:33 PST

I am not cmpletely done yet with posting our Autumn activities, but I feel like posting what we've been up to in December.

It has been a rather busy month, with 3 parties in a week! The first two were Christmas parties organised by the clubs I'm a member of. They were held 2 days in a row, and that included big eating especially on the second party. It was great fun, nonetheless with the usual activities of singing, story time and craft time. Of course, the highlight was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" where Roy was the man behind that red suit and white beard on the first party. He had done this for two years in a row and the boys have still no idea the real identity of Santa :-)

Stockings to be filled with secret goodies and for decoration

Can you spot our stockings?

Red rouge is to go with the red hat

Wilkie received his gift from Santa (his Dad!)

A fun family portrait for X'mas 2012. The boys might find out who the real Santa is when they are older

Panda Bear Club Christmas group photo

2nd day of X'mas party proved too much for Fredi

OK, at least Fredi didn't cry this time.

No matter what, Fredi is not thrilled to meet Santa and he isn't the only one

Polar Bear Club Christmas group photo

The third party was for a birthday and farewell to our dear friends, The Marknebelung. It was held at the Tokyo America Club. We celebrated Eric's 5th birthday and his family's farewell. Both Eric and Wilkie have been friends before they were even one year old. We used to meet every week for playdates with other mummies and we all became close friends, until one family after another and another left Tokyo for good and now them. This time, they are leaving Tokyo for London, due to work. It has been a great pleasure being friends with them and we will definitely miss them. I'm sure our paths will cross again in future. Good luck in your new country!

Bowling time! Fredi enjoying every moment of it

"See if I can hit that right"

Lunch time: bowl of chips

The mummies: We have known each other before our kids turned 1

The cake is here!

Everybody singing Happy Birthday Dear Eric

Happy 5th Birthday Eric and farewell to The Marknebelung

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22 Nov: Happy 5th Birthday Wilkie!

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:14:42 PST

This IS a very late entry, but here are photos of Wilkie's 5th birthday celebration. He requested for first, a chocolate cake, and then a pink cake, so I ended up making a chocolate cake with pink frosting (white chocolate ganache with pink food colouring), dusted with pink sugar powder to give that snowy effect. I made 2 cakes, one without the ganache, just a simple blue whipped cream text.

The day before his birthday, we went to Disney Sea which was a HUGE failure - he was put off by the the view of and the loud volcanic eruption sound effect just as we stepped onto the entrance. He immediately said, NO, NO, NO, I don't like it. I want to go home! It didn't go very well after that, so no more Disney Sea. It could have been more positive if we have been to Disney Land instead as he recognises more of the Pixar characters there. But oh well, no more of Disney Land or Sea!

On the day of he turned 5, we celebrated it first with the Polar Bear Club which was a simple affair of singing a birthday song and cutting the cake. All the mummies AND kids liked the cake and the white chocolate ganache was surprisingly good with the chocolaty cake.

And then another simple celebration at home with dear Daddy. Wilkie, as we expected, asked to blow the candle 10 times, and of course, we let him.

On that day, he ate nothing much else, but just cake for both lunch and dinner! It was his day and whatever he wished for I hoped, came true, made him happy, and made his day! He loved the gifts that we got (after much debate whether Transformers is an appropriate toy-- he's very much into it at this stage).

How time flies and he's now a 5 year old boy.

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Fredi Loves Zoo Train, an iPad App

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:50:43 PST

Wilkie learns how to make rice pancakes

When it comes to learning, my kids do it mostly at playtime. This could be anywhere, in the kitchen making rice pancakes, at the park, on train rides, watching the level crossing, or playing on the computer. They like reading too, but they only like particular books and to be read at particular times.

Both have their own iPad

My boys have no restriction to technology at home, including the iPad. We enourage them the use and access of technology. It's increasingly used in educational setting, even for young children. They love playing games, digital or analog. The same with books and there are many cool stuff that the boys can do on a digital book. We don't have a TV, although we have a TV set, and we watch a lot of children stuff that we download, or install from DVDs.

Recently, Fredi discovered a new game on the iPad and fell in love with it. The game is called Zoo Train, an iPad application developed for children with special needs. There are tons of games on the iPad, but what he loves most is the educational type.

In one of the games in Zoo Train, a user (in this case, a child, since it's an app for children) is required to match the letters, and in the process learn how to spell. Fredi loves it and I am actually quite amazed he could actually do it by himself. Prior to this, we used to sit down together playing this particular game and he would observe what I did. Clearly he understood what is required, learned it, and did it all by himself in a matter of days. When Roy saw he could match the letters on his own, he was surprised and in awe. No, I'm not boasting. Like any parent, you just feel proud when your child shows a new ability, any ability, just like talking, or saying a new word. Fredi's favourite words are bye-bye and "kan kan kan" (Japanese version of "ping ping ping" sound of the signal at the level crossing).

Fredi very focused in matching the letters Watch on Posterous

The Zoo Train application is fantastic, in my opinion. It's so easy to use even a 2 year old can understand, very colourful but clean in design and it's intuitive. Even I enjoy playing it too.

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Gomoku Gohan, An Improved Recipe

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:36:39 PDT

Gomoku Gohan served with root veggies and left over baked salmon

Gomoku Gohan has been a staple at home for the past few weeks. It seems to be the family favourite at the moment, with the exception of Wilkie. Fredi eats it so quickly I struggle to catch up. It's a very satifying meal on it's own as all the veggies and meat are put together in the rice. Of course it woud be even more complete if served with a bowl of miso soup, plus other additional veggies and meat, which I usually do.

On my previous recipe, I didn't follow the traditional method. This time, instead of just water, I used dashi, a commonly used Japanese stock for cooking here, made basically of kelp and bonito fish flakes. I got the recipe from here, and this is how it looks like.

I was surprised at how easy it is to make basic dashi.

On Hallowen party I made Gomoku Gohan for a potluck lunch and it was my first attempt at using dashi. I also used dried shitake mushrooms and gobou (burdock root). The result was surprisingly tastier and the dashi stock gave the dish a darker hue. This may also be partly due to adding some of the soaking mushroom water as well. The gobou gave an earthy and nut like flavour. I liked it much better with dashi and now I understand why dashi is such an intergral part in Japanese cooking.

The recipe itself is very versatile, you can use, in my opnion, whatever veggies in season or meat you like. Here's mine, an improved version.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice (Japanese short grain rice-you can use other types of rice)
2 cups dashi (recipe here)
150g chicken cut into little cubes (I used thigh meat with skin on)
4 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in water*, cut into strips
1/2 cup of carrot, cut into strips
1/2 cup gobou (burdock root), cut into strips
1/2 cup konyaku, cut into strips
2 tablespoons soyu (Japanese soy sauce)
1 tablespoon unrefined cane sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
1 tablespoon mirin

Method:

Place and mix gently everything into a rice cooker
Push the button and cook as per normal
Leave for 5-10 mins before serving

* I replace 1/2 cup of dashi with the soaking mushroom water. This is optional but I think it enhances the flavour.

Gomoku Gohan for Roy's obento with pickled radish

The day when I made obento for Roy with the improved recipe using dashi, he sent me a text that said "Wow! Gomoku is REALLY good!"

So there, if your husband approved and complemented your cooking with so much gusto, you've craked it! The proof of the pudding (in this case, gomoku) is in the eating indeed.

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Trick or Treat: Sweet Potato Pudding

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:47:57 PDT

Every year, Wilkie's school organises a school trip of sweet potato picking. This year is his second year. That afternoon, I waited excitedly for Wilkie to come home with a bag of freshly picked sweet potatoes. And here they are! They were still covered in dusty earth and the shapes irregular, unlike the ones sold in the supermarket where sweet potatoes look nice and clean.

What to do with so many of sweet potatoes? I have several ideas, and sweet potato pudding came to mind. I know I could just make chips out of them or mash them, but that would be boring. No, I want something sweet and it's Halloween so I want a treat, not a trick!

The recipe has to be as simple as possible, with minimal preparation. Since it was decided there and then in the morning, I used whatever ingredients I have in the kitchen. Hence, a pudding was made on an impromptu.

Ingredients:

400g cooked, peeled sweet potatoes (I nuked them for 7-8 minutes)
300ml full fat milk
3 eggs
4 tablespoon unrefined cane sugar (or rice syrup or maple syrup or your choice of sweetener)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Vanilla

Method:

Dump everything in a blender and blend until everything is blended well, smooth and has a milkshake consistency.
Pour onto baking dish and bake at 170C for 25-30 minutes. It will crack slightly and centre will be a bit soft but these are OK.
Cool and then chill in the fridge before serving.

To me, this is perfect for breakfast as I usually prefer something sweet. At home, dinner time is 6pm and we usually don't eat after 7 or 8pm, so by the time we get up at 7am the next morning, we are hungry by 8am.

Although the pudding is a dessert, it's fine to eat it for breakfast because the ingredients are pretty healthy. It's not a processed food. Sweet potatoes are rich in minerals and vitamins. It's a good source of healthy carbohydrates and a safe starch. Plus the eggs and milk added some proteins and healthy fats, so it's pretty much nourishing, unlike wheat based products like sweet pastries, muffins or cereal that are devoid of nutritional value.

I feed this to Fredi for breakfast and for tea, served with full fat yoghurt and blueberry sauce. He loves it and so do I. Too bad both Wilkie and Roy are not keen on sweet potatoes. One is a fussy eater, the other thinks sweet potato is a 'foreign food' (unlike white potatoes), whatever that means.

There are some sweet potatoes left, so IF I made another pudding, I'll try and add fresh grated ginger and replace dairy milk with coconut milk.

Happy Halloween everyone!

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Halloween Party 2011

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:21:11 PDT

As usual every year, the PolarBear and PandaBear Clubs organised one of the most anticipated party, the Halloween! The Polar Bear Club was originally set up in 2000 for families who speak English predominantly at home and whose hometown is not Japan. Since it received an overwhelming requests in membership, a second club was set up, hence the birth of Panda Bear Club. I have been a member of these clubs since Wilkie was 1 year old in 2007.

On this year's Halloween party, I planned on dressing up Wilkie as a witch and Fredi as Mike Wakowski of Monsters Inc. Wilkie was Mike W when he was 2, and I have been saving the costume for Fredi now that he's 2. But Fredi, going through a stage of terrible 2, refused to put it on, so I just let him be. Instead, I put him on a Postman Pat shirt. Alas, he slept during the first hour of the party since he woke up at 4:30am that morning and kept me awake long the way! Oh well, I might as well wake up and took my time preparing potluck dish for the party. Roy was really kind and sweet as usual as he let me took my time to put my make up on (I had been thinking of red rouge for my lips to go with the red horns as I was the devil for that day) while he kept an eye on the boys especially Fredi who is at the stage of separation anxiety. I wanted to do my eyes more dramatically than I could but I was pressed for time.

Whenever there's a party, it's traditional for club members to bring a dish for potluck lunch. This time, I brought Gomoku Gohan, made according to traditional recipe. Recipe to follow soon. After lunch, we had a massive chocolate cake ordered specially from Costco. Everyone had a slice, including me, shared with Fredi, while Wilkie had one all to himself. He waited patiently to get a particular slice with a pumpkin cream decoration on it. He was so happy when he brought it to the table to sit and eat.

Then it was time for Trick and Treat! As usual, it's a sweet sugary affair, but hey, I'm not going to get uptight about dietary principles here and it's only on special occasions I let my kids have what they want. In the end, they didn't eat much of the sweet treats at all. But the Trick and Treat wasn't all sugary stuff, we also get crisps and senbei (japanese rice crackers). Apart from sweets and , we also get story books, so that was a very nice touch!

The complete set of photos can be viewed on Flickr.

Spell checking

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:13:39 PDT

What the heck, I went through some of my previous posts and noticed that I've got spelling errors! I edit mostly on google mail through Posterous, and even with it's spellcheck capability as I type (or was it a Mac functionality?) , I still could afford some errors. How embarrassing! But come to think of it, it's not a serious blog, I don't have many readers and I don't have the luxury to spell check VERY SINGLE WORD, given the time I've got in my hands. I love blogging, it's a hobby that keeps me a little more sane from all that tumultuous world of parenting. So perhaps a little mistake here and there is OK :-)

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Autumn Activities, Part 1

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:18:43 PDT

Autumn in Japan is one of the nicest season, it started off with the temperature slowly decreasing to below 30 and hovering between 23 and 25 degrees. In some days the summer's humidity still lingers and could be felt in the warm air, which means you can still put a t-shirt on without needing a cardigan or light sweater.

Since I've started a series of activities based on the season, I'll continue to do so here, with early autumn.

The playgroup club that I am a member of organised a graduation-cum-picnic party for member's kids who won't be attending anymore due to school. Once the kids go to kindergarden, they won't be able to attend the club anymore since the playgroup is held Tuesday weekly. When they graduate, new members sign up. The club has been going on for 10 years, originally set up for families in Tokyo who speak English at home, and especially to those whose hometown is not Japan. The party was also a celebration of its 10th anniversary. It was a load of fun, face-painting, games and a huge chocolate cake for everyone. Yeap, I had a slice!

Then we had a birthday celebration of a friend whose daughter used to go to the same club. The homemade Hello Kitty cheesecake was very pretty, fit for a sweet 4 year old girl.

The next was Roy's birthday! I made a small and simple vanilla sponge cake covered in chocolate ganache. Wilkie helped me along the way and was so looking forward to presenting it to his dad as a surprise. Roy had no idea about the cake, so he was ver touched and of course surprised. Wilkie wanted to blow the candles for him more than anything. He did it 5 times. Roy enjoyed the cake very much.

We then set off to Shinjuku Park for the kids to run around in a big space, and to play some bubbles. We all got rather hungry afterwards since it was getting late for lunch, so we headed off to Takashimaya 10 mins walk from the park. We felt like eating Unagi (eel) this time since we've never had it before in a restaurant. We love unagi and we know Fredi would eat it no sweat, and Wilkie, the fussy eater would eat rice, without the unagi. Unagi set is usually served on a bed of rice with an accompanying soup. It was an enjoyable lunch, but the problem was that it has too much MSG in the soup. Japanese use MSG liberally in their cooking. That is why I am willing to spend all that time grocery shopping and cooking at home, although we like eating out from time to time.

Roy's students had been wanting to do a barbeque since summer but it didn't materialised, so we opted to do lunch at Sizzler in Shinjuku. Wilkie as usual attracted the ladies and they were more than happy to sit and chat with him.

At other times, we had our usual play in the park in the neighbourhood.

Undokai: Sports Day

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:11:47 PDT

October is usually the month for schools around Japan to organise undokai, or sports day. Undokai is usually held on weekends either Saturday or Sunday. They even have a national day for it. Since it is held on a weekend, the school will have a day off in lieu.

Different schools organise undokai in their own special way and both parents and teachers get busy working together in preparation towards the day of the event. The kids also get busy practising their games and performances coached by their sports teachers.

In Wilkie's kindergarten, undokai is more about the spirit of sports and games and the spirit of sportsmanship. Every kid, even those who need special assistance, is a winner, there are no losers. Every kid takes part in a programme or more. Even dads get to participate in a tug of war. The event includes dancing, running round the track in turns and some pretty amazing acrobatic stunts. The whole experience was both fun... and a little boring. It was fun when you see your kid's turn to race and dance, and boring when there was quite a lot of waiting around. But all good fun nonetheless, and the weather, being early autumn, was a perfect 23 degrees.

The sports day reminded me of my time in primary school, where my school provided special snacks for everyone. But not at Wilkie's kindergarten or other schools to my knowledge. Parents had to bring obento or packed lunches to eat at lunch break during the event. You pick a spot, any spot and lay a mat and literally have a picnic on the school ground. We live 5 minutes walk away from the school, so we opted to eat at home, and then return to school an hour later to continue with the event. At the end of the day, each kid was presented with a plastic gold medal, plus a cheap plastic frame with a photo of them and their friends in action (taken when they were practising prior to the event)

**Start of rant** The ONLY bad thing happened on that day, was a bunch of parents and adults smoking right at the school entrance. Smoking IS allowed in the school, although, in a designated area, the spot was ill picked. Smoking in the school premises SHOULD be banned. I was felt so sad and so angry when I saw a baby, being carried on a baby carrier by his/her smoking mother, being surrounded by other smokers and breathing all that unfiltered unhealthy cigarette smoke. I was so shocked that this is even allowed and treated in a casual manner. The principle, surely is the responsible person for setting the rules, obviously, this is not one of them. There is only one entrance and exit to the school, so no one escapes the cigarette smoke if there happens to be smokers. Alas, this is Japan, where smoking is considered healthy and nothing to be worried about. Even if there is a non-smoking sign, there is no penalty if you did smoke. Even the local doctor whom we see regularly is a smoker himself. ** End of rant**

Anyway, here is a bunch of photos of Wilkie in action. His house team is red.

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Wilkie's Daily School Obento

watilarke@gmail.com (Wati Larke) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:33:48 PDT

Every morning, this is what I prepare for Wilkie's obento (packed lunch) for school: rice sprinkled with salt, wrapped in nori and sliced into bite size, plus a chicken ball also sliced into bite size. The chicken ball is very easy to make: minced fatty chicken meat (usually thigh meat with fat) and salt. Shape into thick mini sausages and bake at 180 C for 25-27 minutes until nicely brown.

This is as plain as he would happily eat. As I've said before, Wilkie is a very fussy eater, but at least his lunch is pretty healthy. No toxic industrialised processed food involved. Although plain, I don't mind him eating the same thing almost everyday at all since all the essential macronutrients are there: carbohydrates from the rice (rice is a safe starch as oppose to wheat-based products like bread, pasta, or noodles), protein and fat from the chicken. Nori is the only vegetable, albeit from the sea, Wilkie happily eats. It's a rich source of nutrients including iodine, calcium and iron, plus Vitamins A, B and C.

Wilkie eats 3 solid meals a day and rarely asks for snacks. The daily treat he gets is a square of 72% dark chocolate that he eats after school at 2pm, followed by dinner at 6pm.

Sometimes his school would make salad from vegetables grown in the school garden. They would involve the kids to prepare and eat it as well during lunch. It's a really wonderful activity to have in my opinion and I think every school could do this as part of the school educational curriculum. Learning about food, especially, real healthy food should have more emphasis on early education and I think Jamie Oliver's effort in introducing cooking in school is a step in the right direction if authorities are serious about tackling obesity issues that are increasingly visible among young children. No, obesity is not a problem in Japan, but the point is knowing what is real food and what isn't, since more often than not, kids have no idea what real healthy food is. Wilkie doesn't know the toast he eats for breakfast is unhealthy, but it's the only time he eats it and I try to minimise junk food as much as possible, while encouraging him to eat healthier food most of the time.

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