Fabulous 30

I turned 30 and fabulous. When these two being added together, it means I am fabulous 30! I was really happy because this time hubby bought me a cake without me begging him to get me one and I got to blow candles! yay! It's chocolate velvet cake from Humble Beginning and it was so good.

After so many months, I finally got the chance to savour the sticky bone pork rib. We went to Morgan Field for my birthday lunch. This is my first time stepping feet to Paragon. Both of us ordered half rack but of different flavours. We also ordered sauteed mushroom for appetizer and I had a special drink ;) with no alcohol. We were so full after the meal.  This time I brought some finger food for baby J and whenever he screamed I just pop one into his mouth. For dinner , I cooked  "lau shu fen" soup because I need to eat something plain but tasty. 

Here's the latest picture of baby J. He's so naughty nowadays, always scream for no reason. He is also very cranky because his gum is very itchy. His 3rd and 4th teeth are coming, I guess.

 

So as this is my big 30, my dearest buddy Stephanie organized a birthday celebration for me during tea time with Lay Hoong. Lay Hoong's birthday is on the exact date last Thursday when we had the celebration. The cake was very yummy. It is creme brulee from Secret Recipe. I also received hand made card from buddies , Stephanie and Suet Yin. Suet Yin mailed the card to my house and I had already forgotten if I ever give her my home address before ;) It's a surprise then. 

Happy, happy ;) in the arms of my loving hubby and baby

Tips on making and storing baby food (1)

I was thinking to share on how I usually prepare porridge for baby J. I bought this useful ice cube maker from Daiso some time ago. It is a very good size for freezing puree and easily come off when I broke open the frozen puree. Important thing is it has a lid to cover the puree. Hygiene is a big thing in baby's food. You don't want to contaminate baby's food with other frozen  meat/fish/chicken in your freezer.

The green puree is zuchinni. 1 zuchinni yields 4 cubes. I just steamed zuchinni  (cut into smaller pieces) for about 10 minutes and process in blender. Then just pour the puree into the container to freeze.

Here is pumpkin puree. I only have 1 of the Daiso container so I transferred the pumpkin cube out into plastic container to keep. I remove the skin of 1/8 local pumpkin and cut into smaller pieces. Then just steam for about 15 minutes. Remove from steamer and mash the soft pumpkin with a fork. After that just transfer the pumpkin puree into ice cube maker to freeze. I usually will finish up these puree within 2 weeks.

Sometimes I cook the porridge in normal pot on stove. But it required constant stirring to avoid the "small" amount of rice from sticking to the base of pot. If I am busy or need to attend to other work in the house, I will throw everything into a slow cooker and add hot boiling water to shorten the cooking time. Even with hot boiling water, it requires about 2.5 hours to get a smooth consistency so sometimes I wish to just use the pot to cook it. Haha! Anyway, I will process the rice into smaller pieces in blender if I use the pot. I usually made and keep a batch of the processed rice to make the cooking express.

Mini express pizza

Facebook is such a powerful tool. I learnt a lot of new stuff , received quick information or news and connected with friends in Facebook. When there was the earthquake early this year, we logged onto Facebook and watched everyone else giving us live update on the situation. Here's one of the new stuff I have learnt. I called it mini express pizza. It's mini because of the size and express because it's so quick to prepare. It took about 20 minutes for the whole process.

I made a serving for 2 person. 

Ingredients:

4 pieces of sandwich bread

2 huge sausages of any flavor. I used black pepper sausage

Oregano/basil/parsley flakes -optional

ketchup

fresh parsley

1/2 onion

4 cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven for about 5-10 minutes at  150 degree celcius. You can turn on the oven first then only start assembling the ingredients

2. Spread ketchup on only one side of  all the 4 breads

3. Slice onion and spread on the bread

4. Cut sausages and place on top of the onions evenly

5. Sprinkle some oregano/basil/parsley flakes if you wish

6. Put a cheddar cheese on top of each bread

7. Place the mini pizza on pan and shove into oven

8. Bake for about 10 minutes

9. When they are done, take out from oven and spread some fresh parsley on top.

See how easy to make a simple yet filling breakfast for weekend morning?

California handroll

We have 2 avocados left from the box because baby J now refuses to eat avocado. We introduced him to this super fruit earlier when he started solid however when he already tasted other sweet fruits like pear and apple plus my tasty porridge, now he knows avacado is not the best tasted food. I used up 1 avocado to make california handroll for lunch last weekend. However I made a mistake by assembling all the handrolls before eating because the nori sheets sort of damp off after being exposed to the air for too long. I should have make it one by one after finish eating each. It's fairly easy to make California roll but some of the ingredients are quite pricey like avocado and caviar. Even the short grain rice is also higher in cost than the normal grain rice.

I assembled roughly about 12 rolls. The ingredients:

6 nori sheets, cut half each.

1 avocado, sliced

6 imitation crab sticks

caviar

1 zuchinni

1 cup short grain rice

sushi vinegar

Japanese mayonese

Steps:
Cook rice in rice cooker according to your rice cooker manual. When the rice is done, pour 2 tablespoon of vinegar and mix with wooden/plastic laddle. Try to use a fan to chill down the rice when you mix. Then cover the rice to avoid the air from drying the surface

Place nori sheet on clean surface

Spread about 2-3 tablespoon of rice on the lower left of the sheet

Squeeze some mayonese on top of the rice , then 1/2 teaspoon of caviar

Place the sticks of zuchinni, crab stick, and avocado.

Roll into the shape of handroll

Use about 2 grain of cooked rice to stick the end of nori sheet to secure the shape

Put a little caviar on top (optional)


The steps here sound a bit hard to follow. Easy, just google. There's plenty of recipe out there. I am just merely putting down the steps to remind myself on how I did it this time.

Stew pork with braised nuts

I can't recall if I ever post this food before but I made it many times before. I have no time to go back and search my  blog if I ever did this post so anywhere, I added new ingredient to it.

This dish is remarkable simple to cook. Just throw all the ingredients into the claypot and let it simmer for 1 hour or more. 

Ingredients
Pork - soft bones, about 600g
Dried water chestnuts, about 20 pieces and break the bigger ones into half
5 shitake mushrooms, quartered
1 can of braised peanuts
10 tau hu pok, cut the bigger pieces into half
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3 tablespoon soy sauce
water just enough to cover all ingredients
salt
pepper


.... So easy. nom nom

Baby J eats porridge + broccoli + pumpkin + fish

After introducing anchovies to baby J 2 weeks ago, today I gave him 2 new ingredients. They are fish and broccoli. He is used to pumpkin so I just keep the pumpkin in his meal for the familiar sweet taste. This time I added half a teaspoon of virgin coconut oil into his porridge for dinner. He finished up the porridge and dessert. His dessert is pear puree. I know pear can relieve constipation for babies however it works extra efficient for baby J. I worry the new ingredients will cause constipation problem to him so gave him pear today. I gave  him pear or apple puree at least twice a week.  He loved his dinner!

Chocolate ice cream

I still have half whipping cream left from making red bean ice cream. Cream is expensive so I am not going to let it go to waste. I went forquick groceries pick up for a few ingredients during lunch break, things like cocoa powder and semi sweetened chocolate. I planned to make chocolate ice cream. I use this recipe

The ice cream turns out very chocolaty, the real chocolate indulgence. The texture is perfect just like how I imagined it will be. I am stopping the ice cream marathon after this or else I am doing to gain extra fat in no time.

Red bean (azuki) ice cream

When my ice cream maker arrived at my mother's house, I was excited and at the same time feeling desperate to get hold of it. I waited until I go back to my mother's house and saw the gadget, I still try to withhold my excitement until I took it back home with me. I already got this recipe ready to use anytime. I made lemon ice cream before (manual way) and I wanted so much to try out the red bean ice cream. Recipe from here: http://userealbutter.com/2010/02/14/red-bean-ice-cream-recipe/

I didn't use exactly the recipe that's given . I made the ice cream paste myself by cooking red beans in very little water then processed half of it into paste and left over half-processed so I can get the small pieces of red bean in my ice cream. I am happy ;)

Thanks to the ice cream maker now I do not need to freeze the mixture and break the ice my hands and repeat this many times. :D I let the mixture churn in the maker for about 30 minutes and that's what I got like in the picture above. Fat, I am coming. Slim, please hold me back!

Lime sorbet

This is the second trial with my ice cream maker. I made the lime sorbet using this recipe. It is very easy and required only minimum ingredients. Mix the following.

Lime zest from 4 limes
Lime juice from 8 limes
Syrup (simply combine 2 cup of water with 2 cups of sugar and dissolve in a pan)
1 cup of water

Chill the mixture in fridge overnight and churn in ice cream maker as directed by the manual.
Overall the texture is soft and the taste is nice however the sorbet melts quicker than those I eat in shop. I need to check out how to keep the sorbet/ice cream last longer

Baby J eats porridge + carrot + potato + anchovies

This weekend I introduce baby J new ingredient: anchovies. I took some anchovies and washed them. Then I dried them in oven, followed by processing the tiny fishes into powdery form. I cooked porridge with potatoes chunked into small cubes, some shredded carrots and the anchovies. Due to the presence of potato which later I mashed using fork, this porridge is very soft and velvety. Baby J finished the portion I prepared for his dinner. Can't wait to introduce him something new next week!

Baby J eats rice + pumpkin + green

I upgraded baby J food's texture into higher level of acceptance. This time I blended the rice into smaller particles before cooking. For the green, I cut some leaves of vegetables into small tiny stripes and cubed the pumpkin. Baby J likes the taste of pumpkin as it is sweet. I guess the pumpkin adds some sweet flavoring into the bland and tasteless porridge. I let them boil and simmer in pot until soft with constant stirring to avoid the rice from sticking to the base of pot. I did not blend the mixture and just let baby J eats like that. He accepted the texture and loving it! He finished 2 meals today with a pear puree. I hope this gives my little one a balance meal. I am thinking of introducing him some anchovies in another 2 weeks time. He already got 2 teeth!!! grrrr....

Baby J eats pumpkin + potato + green

I have been preparing semi solid food for Baby J. I started to add some varieties of different ingredients into his food lately. For the past weekend, I made pumpkin, potato and green leafy vegetables for his main meals.

I cleaned and cut 1/6 small pumpkin into cubes. Then I put them into steamer. I also laid down 5 leaves of small "bak choy" on top of the pumpkin cubes. I let them steamed for about 15 minutes. At the same times, I peeled about 8 baby potatoes and boiled in some water for about the same time ~15minutes or until soft. When both sides were ready, I mixed them into blender and add the water from boiling potato. Blend until soft and parted into 3 servings. I served the one in bowl to baby J once it cooled down a little to warm temperature and kept the 2 other servings into clean and sterilized containers. 

Baby J loves the sweetness from pumpkin and he needs the iron from green leafy vegetables. Potato is for him to build energy for his "active lifestyle".

Socks monkey

I wanted to make something crafty because my life for the past few months had been related only to feeding, cooking, and baby sitting. I checked and found something called socks monkey. Excellent!  This is what i was looking for. Simple, easy and quick. I managed to completed it in few days time considering I only work on it for short period of time everyday. However because I am lazy to trace the pattern, I just simply cut and hand sewn , the size of the arms and ears are not really proportional to its body size. Arms too short and ears too big. Anyway, they still look cute because that's what a soft toy should be, CUTE. I plan to send it to my niece for her coming birthday. I hope she will love it as much as I do.

Baby J eats first porridge

My baby sitter is down with flu so I took a day off today to stay home with baby J. I made him his first porridge! I only cooked 1 tablespoon of rice which I processed into powdery form. I shredded a bit of carrot into the mixture of rice and water then let it cook for about 25 minutes. Stir it from time to time to avoid the tiny bits of rice from sticking to the base. I hope he will love his first porridge

Baby J eats stewed apple

I haven't been writing much about anything else except baby J's development. I am still cooking but I am not cooking anything new. I have been making the same old food again and again like salmon spaghetti and herbal soup on weekend especially for father's day. Although we went for seafood dinner, and Nando's lunch, I still want to make something special for the new daddy.  Last week, I cooked the usual daily food except for one of the day which I made lion head meatball because the new daddy has been asking about it.

The company gave 2 apples on one of the day last week. I saved them up and make stewed apple for baby J. It's easy to make and healthier. I did not opt for the ready made puree for baby because I can make it myself, so why not? Baby J slept a little earlier today at 9pm so I quickly rushed and finished up some house chores then prepared the stewed apple.

How? I cut, core and cube the 2 apples. Spread them in a pot and add a little water just enough to cover the  base. Cook it for few minutes or until soft. Transfer over to blender or food processor then blend them into soft, smooth texture. Keep in clean sterilized containers and write down the date before freezing up. Whenever I want to use, I will just thaw and warm up the apple in hot water. This is the second batch I made for baby J. We have 4 apples :)

Baby J at 5 months

I introduced baby J to semi solid food since 2 weeks ago. I started weaning with rice cereal that was commercially prepared to get him get used to the softer and smoother texture of his first semi solid food as I mixed the rice cereal with expressed breast milk. He didn't accept the food so well in the first where he kept pushing the food out with his tongue. He could not understand the concept of swallowing food but now he will open his mouth when he saw his tiny cute weaning spoon approaching and close his lips to capture the spoon. He can swallow although sometimes bigger chunks of food still being pushed out from his little mouth.

I made mashed pumpkin for him. Steamed and mashed with potato masher , then serve to him with mixture of breast milk to thin the texture. I kept the left over in clean container and freeze them for subsequent feeding. I also tried mixing carrot into the rice cereal. Another food that I prepared for him is stewed apple, where I cooked apple cubes until they are soft and blend the apples. We bought some avocados and fed him on weekend too. The avocado has creamy texture and there is no early preparation or cooking required. I just mashed the avocado and mixed with a little hot water to thin the texture because I took the avocado straight out from the fridge. Baby J doesn't like cold food or milk. There are some left over that will be used for the rest of the week. We only feed him once a day , during dinner hour because that's the only time I can do this motherly task.

He started to roll over from tummy to back a week ago and subsequently in the next few days he was rolling like mad. He can roll on both sides now. Baby J was very fussy yesterday. He kept waking up after we put him to bed at night, every freaking half/one hour and cried! It was very tiring as he also woke up twice through night (after 12 midnight) and very early this morning.


We love him.

Slap myself twice. *piak piak*

I feel like slapping myself. Since I am back to work, I am not efficient at all. I don't have much time to concentrate on my work. I know it's hard to explain to people what am I doing during the work hours that occupied much of my time. Anyway my heart isn't there. I don't have the energy to learn something new and venture into the adventurous journey of my new assignment although it's something that will boost my knowledge deeply on technical side. So, slap me twice.

Sometimes I feel I am too used in the comfort zone because I have been holding the same position and responsibilities for years. Now I am being assigned to very highly technical task, I just don't think I can handle it. At home, I am occupied with my little angel day and night. There is no room for work. I got to rush to run house chores whenever there is time.

Nowadays baby J is fussy with feeding. He doesn't like to drink milk anymore. I can only nurse him for 5 minutes and he will get very distracted with his environment. I cannot even smile or talk to him or else he will not drink anymore. I even tried weaning today. I got him rice cereal to mix with breast milk because a  friend told me not to wait until 6 months to introduce baby solid food. Her baby is diagnosed with lack of iron in his blood because he is exclusively breast fed. Mother's milk doesn't contain iron, based on his pediatrician's explanation. I bought a very cute and (expensive) weaning spoon for baby J. It costs me RM12 each because it is small and can fit baby J little cute mouth. However he only took like 3 LITTLE spoons and didn't want the rest. But I am glad that he knows how to swallow.

Baby J is also getting harder to fall asleep. He sleeps very little at day time due to this. He needs constant rocking and carrying for comfort. I really want my darling baby to sleep easily and no need any help to fall asleep. I tried letting him cry on bed but he just won't fall asleep. What I did is to make him tired with crying, carry him up and nurse him and he will sleep. I know this is not a good practice but I don't have choice, do I?

Good now, I have to go back to work because baby J will wake up very soon from his nap.

Baby J at almost 4 mo

Another few days to go and baby J will hit 4 months old. Time flies. At this time last year, baby J is still that little seed that just turned into small little zigot in my tummy. He is such a darling now. Baby J cannot roll over yet but he can lift up his head very firmly. He can hold his head for long and change his head to both sides with his legs and arms swinging. He is an active little baby and that makes us busy parents. Today is mother's day and this is my first time being a mother going though this memorable day. After making some fuss in the morning, my hubby gave in and took me out for lunch, or else I think I need to cook and go through this day like any other usual weekend. We had pork rib at Chicago Ribs!

Baby J is mumbling a lot and he started to make different kind of sounds. He is experimenting with different tones and seems fascinated with the ability to create the sounds. There is no change to his sleeping routine. He still require a lot of help to fall asleep, rocking, pacifying, suckling and all sorts of things. It took me averagely 2 hours to put him to sleep every might, which is quite exhausting if it's weekday. He smile to me when he sees me :)

Baby J is learning to grab things using both his hands. He is also drooling all the times. He put both his fists into his mouth and lately he started to only insert his thumb in. I am not sure if it's a good thing lol.

Baby J drinks 12 oz of milk at baby sitter place and sometimes up to 16 oz. I only can produce 12 oz or a little more than 12oz  everyday at work so it will concern me if my production cannot cope with his demand. I think probably baby sitter gives him too much as baby J is fussy and sometimes he just need soothing and not milk. I have to work hard to increase my supply like drinking a lot fluid, cook soup and take soy bean product. Surprisingly black bean and soy bean are two super ingredients that can increase my milk supply. They work like magic but the cons is that it only can last for a day or two so I need frequent boost.

Baby J at week 13

Sleep

I just mentioned that baby J can sleep with just waking up once through the night last week. However his sleep routine changed again after he had a slight fever during the past weekend. He now wakes twice through the night and becomes fussy before sleeping time. We need 2-3 hours in average to successfully putting him to bed and sleep without waking up within 15 minutes. He is just that too easy to get startled by any tiny noise like the sound of tick when we off the light or the sound of light pop when we sat on the bed. That's too sad to be true to say that he follows my gen on this big con, light sleeper.

Immunisation

Baby J has doubled his weigh compared to his 2nd month checkup. He had his 3 months immunisation today. So we have to monitor his temperature tonight because he might get fever from today's jab

Sleep deprive

That's me. Time is so precious. I don't have enough time to sleep and work. Especially work. Damn, I have problem to perform in my career this year. This is a "must" sacrifice, which I am willing to give to my baby. I am spending 1 hour in average on every day at work expressing milk and I don't have time to work at night. By the time I put baby J to bed and finished up the house chores, it's already 11pm and I am too tired to on the laptop. I have to sleep because I need to wake up for feeding hours later and wake up early to prepare to go to work. I need to wake up 1 hour earlier compared to 1/2 hour last time because I got to feed baby and sterilize all the feeding equipments like bottles, teat and pump and pack all the required things for baby sitter. Although I already did the packing the night before, some of the stuff can only be added in the morning itself.

Baby J at week 12

Sleeping

Baby J only wakes up once through the night starting from the first day mommy starts work. He understands and really hope mommy can rest more. But we still finding it hard to put him to sleep, which requires soothing/rocking.

Feeding

Baby J now take bottle at day time and only direct feed when I am off to work. I have been expressing milk at work diligently hoping to make enough milk for him at baby sitter's place. So far, the supply is sufficient but work hasn't pick up so well yet.

Baby sitter

Baby J has been staying there at day time for the 4th day today. He bathed twice a day and we will wipe his body at night before he goes to bed. I can't wait to go and pick him from baby sitter every single day. Miss him so much

This post is so short because I am really tired and sleepy. I only hope I have enough time to play with him every night.