I have Moved

I have moved to http://www.4malmal.com

Going To School

and you get to wear high heel boots when you don’t have to chase after your 4 year old in his roller scooter !

Parisien Chestnuts

We had a picnic under this tree the other day

We didn’t realise what tree it was until we saw these…

and thanks to Malcolm’s library session, we learned that these are chestnuts!

and I have never really seen a chestnut with its shell. This is actually the inner shell. There is another outer spiny shell which split open before these were dispersed onto the ground.

and it was only then, a sudden realisation that Chestnuts = Gau Luk (in hokkein)

YES! my favourite nuts used for braised pork (Lou Bak) and my rice dumplings (Bak Zhang) !

the one that I had so much problem finding when we were in the States but now, they were littered everywhere! In the parks, along the streets, all over PARIS!

HOW COULD I HAVE MISS IT !

and how could I not collect some home for cooking ?!

SO WE DID!

We brought a handful back. Washed them and tossed them into the oven.

I felt so smart and pleased thinking that we could soon get to enjoy our homemade Gau Luk just like those sold at pasar malem stalls back home.

My sense of nostalgia was interrupted by a loud boom from the kitchen.

One of the nuts EXPLODED.

We took a bite of the flaky cooked chestnut and

EWWWWW….EEEEKS ! They tasted terribly BITTER AND SOUR!

We had to wash and gargle our mouths with water for several times and chew a mint to get rid of the after taste.

Till now, it is still a mystery why those chestnuts tasted so horrible and I am just glad we didn’t end up with some kind of food poisoning !

Note : We found out that the nuts need to be pierced through before putting into the over to prevent explosion.

Typical Day

Here’s what I do everyday with Mal in school …

7.40 am – I wake up, prepare breakfast

8.00 am – Malcolm and Hubby wake up for breakfast

8.20 am – Hubby /  Me walk Mal to school

8.30 am – Morning jog if weather is good

9.30 am – I have breakfast, morning bath, surf net, read book

11.20 am – Pick Malcolm for Lunch in his scooter.

11.45 am – Cook lunch

12.15 pm – Lunch with Malcolm

1.20 pm – Send Mal to school

1.30 pm – Grocery shopping / French lesson on Tues and Thurs

3.30 pm – Tea break, household chores / French lesson on Tues and Thurs

4.20 pm – pick Mal from school. Again with Mal in his scooter.

4.45 pm – prepare snack for Mal

5.00 pm – Malcolm time, chat, play, cycling

6.00 pm – prepare dinner

6.30 pm – Hubby comes back and play with Mal

6.45 pm – Dinner Time

7.45 pm – Bathtime, Wash up & quiet play time with Mal

8.30 pm – Bedtime stories for Mal

9.00 pm – Me and Hubby time

11.00 pm – zzzz

On Wednesday where there is no school for Mal, we go library in the morning.

I Love You

I was super tired yesterday and knocked out at 9 after reading bedtime stories to Mal.

This morning when I woke up, I found my sewing kit on the dining table and this…

A Mended Sweater.

Weekend Biking

I am ambitious and maybe a little unrealistic.

I bought a bicycle a little too heavy and too high for my boy.

I was eager for him to ditch those training wheels which he has been relying on since he was 2.

I can’t wait for him to go on 2 wheels

I can’t wait for him to ride over hurdles

and cross through muddy dirt tracks

and bring mama along for some off road biking fun !

Museli Cookies

We used to baked cookies more often when we were back home and when we were in the States. Things get tricky here when you have to figure out which is which and what is what, even for the most basic baking ingredient. It is like having a completely different metric system. Take for instant, instead of plain flour, self raising flour or cake flour, the flour is given a TYPE number which creates the whole confusion. NO NAME or whatsoever, just a NUMBER. Who  on earth will know what this number stands for, unless I am born and breed in this country, or maybe if I was born a french farmer’s daughter.

I finally got it figured out after reading David Lebovitz’s blog. And with my new old handheld mixer that I managed to squeeze inside my 20 kg baggage during my recent trip back to Singapore, we can now bake our own cookies, without breaking my arm, creaming the butter. They do sell handheld mixer here, but they cost me more than 20 EUR when I got mine at USD 5 !

We baked some museli cookies the other day and they tasted sooo good, we finished up the box within 2 days and thus we are baking it again this morning. Malcolm can’t wait. He is helping to get things ready in the kitchen while I type this!

If you are interested in getting your hands dirty, here is the recipe. ENJOY !

Ingredients
125g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup plain raising flour (I used TYPE 55 from Monoprix)
1 1/2 cup museli
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method
1. cream butter, essence, sugar and egg until light and fluffy
2. mix in flour and baking soda
3. stir in museli
4. roll mixture into a ball. Place on greased cookie sheet
5. repeat, allowing abt 4 cm between crisps
6. bake in 375 F oven for abt 15 minutes or until lightly browned

Bake 40

Friday Morning

Just came back from a good jog. It is cold but we have CLEAR BLUE SKY today and of course, I have to jog!

I need to breath,

I need to sweat,

I need to feel the cold morning air

planting icy cold kisses over my face.

I need to laugh

I need to sneer

I need to feel sad for busy commuters

working on such a beautiful day.

I need to catch the leaves

I need to hear them rustle

I need to savour every sight

before they are all gone.

I need to be out there

to try something new

and feel alive

for life is more than just another routine.

I need to vent

I need to rant

I need to write

to pour out my thoughts and get them out of my system.

And as I sit here on a Friday morning,

watching one of my favourite video

listening to one of my favourite song

over and over again.

I feel completely emotional

and totally inspired.

Auntie Mon,

Have you sky dived ?!

Afternoon Off

On Monday, my boy complained over lunch that school wasn’t fun. His teacher was not around, the class was splitted into smaller groups, they were told to join other classes. He was one of the 4 students who joined an older group.

I believed that he wasn’t enjoying and it bothered him enough to tell me. So, the only natural thing for me to do was, to grant him the afternoon off.

Instead, we baked.

We mix, we stir, we mould.

We did craft,

We cut, we paint, we glue

We gave his hair a much needed trim,

after loads of bargaining and negotiation.

and we ended the day with

a box full of yummlicious oatmeal cookies,

a french stealthy raptor ?

a much neater Malcolm

and a very shack out ME !

Avocado

I have never learned how to eat avocado. Firstly, it is not a common fruit in Singapore and secondly, coming from a typical asian family, nothing beats a bowl of warm fragrance white rice over stir fried dish. We need our savoury starchy staple and we like our food HOT, straight from the wok!

But things change a little recently after we came over to France. Avocado is a pretty common fruit here and is relatively cheap.  In an attempt to ‘eat healthy’,  I googled for some avocado recipe and realized that avocado is mostly used as dip, dressing and salad. Driven by desperation, I did some improvisation and came up with this VERY SIMPLE, SUPER EASY, almost BRAINLESS recipe. I swear I am never this crazy over cold raw food, except maybe for sashimi and I can’t help but to wonder why didn’t I try this when I was in the States when avocado was in abundance. It’s hard to believe that I actually enjoy eating this healthy!

Ingredient

1 avocado, skin peeled, mashed or sliced

1 can of sweet corn

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

and all you need to do is mixed the above ingredients together.

VOILA!

 

You can eat this with meat dish or simply on its own as avocado is considered a complete food which is high in minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, folate and is  very filling. More on nutritional fact of avocado.