First time @ this

I found a 'treasure' in A Daily Obsession (check out my link). She posts most interesting recipes which look very, very easy to do.

I'm lousy at cooking Chinese. I admit that!! That's mum's territory. Ha! But now that I've found A Daily Obsession, On a Bento frenzy is trying out Chinese cooking.

I tried out her recipe for soy sauce chicken today. Admittedly, I didn't have all the ingredients, didn't understand that Sichuan peppercorns were Sichuan peppercorns and CANNOT use Sabah peppercorns! Okay, okay and I thought dark soy sauce was thick black sauce. So....I varied a little, ermm...maybe improvised a little by leaving out the tangerine peel...Oops!

Well, the 'mutilated chicken' looked okay for a first timer right? He! He! He! The final product was delicious. Everyone enjoyed the chicken including daughter number 3. She's a very, very fussy eater and hates anything 'different' from her regular meal of soup, fish or pork and rice. She ate the whole drumstick! Awesome!

Thank you Terri! If this variation tastes so good the original recipe with all the ingredients I missed out must be out of this world! Mmmmm....so good.

My new stash!

Got bored of my Bento boxes. Went on a shopping spree! "He! He!" Managed to get two new Bentos, two new containers, three sets of cutlery. I love the colors!!












These cocktail sausage molds are for a friend. She 'tumpang' me to buy for her.

I love the molds! Now, my kids are trilled at the shapes and designs of their cocktail sausages.
"Happy, happy".

Melody - our latest addition

Everybody, please meet Melody our latest addition. Mum's a Lab and dad's a Schnauzer. Currently the belle of the house!

~ Emo ~

Last night, hubs and I went for dinner at a friend's place. Another mutual friend was sharing that she had attended a funeral of a young 9 year old girl the previous day. She was the daughter of an old office colleague.

My heart took a somersault when I heard that. The little girl died of Leukemia. I may not have known her personally but I mourn not only for her but for her mother too.

Apparently 9 months ago, the little girl injured and broke her knee while crouching. That was the beginning of the nightmare that was to come. The fevers came and the broken knee wouldn't heel (the symptoms), the doctors diagnosed Leukemia and it just took her over with such overwhelming force that she never had a chance.

I have an 8 year old girl whom I love dearly. Some days, she drives me up the wall with her antics and I come down quite hard with the discipline. However when I hear of stories like the one my friend shared, my heart is pained and I just want to hold on to her and hug her and not let her go.

But I have a God! And in my fear and insecurity, I pray that He continues to shower his grace and protection on this family of His.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Bento #8

This morning I had to prepare extra food because Daughter number 1 is staying back for Choir practice. She is the new 'Choir Conductor' of her school choir.

The left Bento contains fried rice, in the middle Bento are blanched broccoli and cauliflower laden with Kewpie mayo and Parmesan cheese. The right Bento contains a hard boiled egg from the "Lou Han Kao" drink that mum boiled. Sharing that Bento is my children's favourite potato salad.



In front of the Bento, you see a round container of cottage cheese dip and under it, a pack of Japanese crackers I got from Cold Storage in BSC.
See the bag? It's a 'green' bag I bought at one of those Organic shops in Singapore. The blue bag contains the bottle of "lou han kao" (leong cha).