A little transition

Long absent here, sorry!

Just in case if you're curious of where I've been, follow me over @ FB. I still able to find a little time here and there when I rock baby to sleep, while waiting for dishes to cook or while waiting to pick up kiddos.
https://www.facebook.com/O.Sammy
Do drop by to say 'Hello'! I would love to see you there!

Random pictures

I respect those who is able to teach. Inspiration.

On Christmas Day

We're back from our favourite duck meat koay teow soup at downtown. The route to shopping mall is crazy full with vehicles waiting to entering into the place. Very crowded, very merry. Penang is jam packed with tourists near and far. For the food, I guess, for the food.

With the little ones, I opt to stay put, back at home. I've done a lot of shopping before this day to avoid the crowd.

Nothing much to say, I would like to wish you and your loved ones a merry Christmas! May you and your home filled with joy and precious moments celebrating this special moments!

I never forget about my mango salad recipe, for you:-

You'll need:
2pc apple mango, skinned, shredded coursely
1pc shallot, minced
1pc avocado
1tsp sugar

Very simple, just mix all the ingredients together, refrigerate it for thirty minutes, then serve before main course.

In December

This year is the first time ever conducted tuition class till Christmas eve. Although I'm not really celebrating this day, but I do join in the fun with friends who are celebrating this day in this magical month of the year. Not very common as I prefer to give students at least half a month off in December before new schooling year starts. They needed rest and healthy leisure time away from classroom, revision time and unschool. Ever demanding parents which have declared themselves a month off in November which turn my teaching plan into chaos. I've had experienced that the parent would say "Thanks" only when her daughter scored ninety-eight in her test paper. Please don't forget that if you can't product an A, gone you, teacher. With an A or a hundred only could zip their mouth off. Period.

A mango dish

I'm not sure you like mango or not, but I'm still working and be creative with it. Don't waste the fruit, it's not only can be eaten raw. I prepared mango and avocado salad. And we like rice. So, that's our wholesome dinner, home-cooked, of course. If you are asking for the recipe, I don't have one to follow, that's my creation. *blink * blink. I'll prepare one for you, but give me some time.

Mango fish fillet

The mango tree is providing us lots of fruits, eh emm, at my mom's place, and she gave us some, more than we're able to finish it. Since there are plenty, and I like to incorporate fruit into dishes, I created this dish - Mango fish fillet. In this dish we don't use ripe, we want the fruit in half ripe condition with its flesh still hard and crispy in sourly taste. Mango and big onion are shredded coarsely and marinate it with some sugar and vinegar. Sprinkle it on the fried fish fillet in tomato sauce. Eat with rice. But mine really has lots of mango on it. It's appetizing, smell and taste good, with fresh fruit.

In awe of mothers

I'm very much inspired by mothers with a lot of babies or children, especially when reading Westerner blogger moms sharing their stories. Although it's challenging having a big families, but I could see the love, the cares they shower for them, and yet they're producing beautiful babies! Birth is amazing!! I'm definitely in awe of their sacrifices and contribution to the family. Their love is unimaginable! But in this country of ours, it's an unusual thing to have a family with many children, "Usually it's one or two, seldom to have three and it's more unlikely to have four or more.." gynae Dr. Tan quipped. I think he must be in awe of me. Hah...!
At this moment, my baby girl is liking her fingers very much, licking fingers whenever there's chance. : ))

She is here!

My daughter.
At this moment, classes all resume.
Went to gynae for follow up check up after child birth, doc says "You look good!", "THANK YOU, Doctor Tan!!!". I take it as a sincere heartfelt appraisal.

A weekend in Tanjong Tokong

My sister in law and family came over from Singapore, and we haven't met for almost five years. Time really flies. We had some good hanged out over the weekend, good local food, tasty local durians, shopping and buying of souvenirs with favourable exchange rate now, it's fun and exciting. Dinner with fried pork leg and sambal kangkong are their top favourites.

Oh, those pictures on top, one was my kids after school choir competition. The others were the event held - cycling. Many participants which come from everywhere. Ahh, Penang, it's a beautiful place.

To preserve rambutan

I keep letting the rambutan rot away without really have the chance to preserve it. To preserve 1kg of fresh rambutan, shelled the fruit we don't want the hairy fruit skin. Put it in a container, it can be either a plastic container or glass bottle container. Add and dissolve 3 tablespoons of salt into a cup of water. Pour the salty liquid into the fruit. Let it stay overnight in the fridge for a better taste. You can keep it in the fridge for up to a week.

Some cookies and rambutan

This is one of my favourite snacks in the morning, afternoon and night, yes, all time favourite in recent. Crispy cranberry cookies. When my husband see it, he says: "Oh these, I like it all these while!" Sorry hubby, I've almost forgotten what your favourite snack is... so sorry. Besides that, I need to have ready munch on healthy snacks for the always hungry growing young teens, as the big boy says every time: I'm starving......!!!...

Rambutan is in season now, it's always cheaper to eat fruits in season. Go get some for yourselves and perhaps I'll share with you how we preserve this fruit in the next posting.

Beauty

Yes, this is very true!

Cook for kids

Spaghetti in fresh tomato gravy, kids' liking. "I'll be the first one to finish this spaghetti!" - exclaimed Russell upon seeing his lunch. Just cook for kids, happy holidaying!

Mango mango

It happened to be the mango season right now and I have plenty of this fruit from my parents' mango tree. Besides from giving away to friends, we have a way to preserve it, to be enjoyed when watching TV or movies. An old doctor friend of mine says this: "Oh, we love mangoes. Especially my daughter. My whole family love mangoes!" And I decided to share this recipe if you want to try it out when you have plenty of this fruit.

This is apple mango 萍果芒 type, you have to skinned it, then sliced into small pieces as I did. Pour over some store bought sour plum powder 酸梅粉 and castor sugar over it. Gently stir and mix the mixture evenly over the mango. Keep in the fridge, eat the next day. You may savor this dessert at your convenient. Refreshing! Loved by old and young!

Happy food

I baked this for my friend Eannee - Walnut Banana Crumble Chocolate Cake.
Good things are meant to be shared, and no GST imposed. Happy food. Cheers!
Happy School Holidays!

Randomness

 Crepe seller in Shanghai, China

 Bloodbean soup in coconut milk and butter. Yum yum...

A gift from a student

Hope you are doing fine. 

A few random pictures of what I managed to take once in a while. 

Happy teacher's day to all my teacher-friends. Oppss... my Teacher's Day bake still not materialize. Maybe due to the high cost after GST, everything must cut cut cut further. Lesser gifts, lesser treats while we are adapting to it : P

A beginning of a new year

Please excuse my absent here for some time, but in real life I was overwhelming with eight to six classes to attend on every weekend, a whole week of practical training in school and the classes I have to conduct and teach. oh, it was a really full and busy year ending prior to a new beginning of a new year. But what I can be sure of is these are the things that I love, would like to do, still doing and will keep doing.

I get to meet and make many new friends, ideas are shared, and pass on what we want the learners to learn in new ways. The kids were asking :"Cikgu, boleh kami ambil benda dalam kotak tu?" ("Teacher can we take the things in the box?") I said: "Of course, ambillah, tapi, lepas guna kena letak dalam kotak balik, boleh?" ("Of course, please take it, but you have to put it back into the box after use, can?") Oh my gosh, I love to see children play and learn on their own using my teaching material in a non classroom setting. It's a very good habit for the learners and at the same time very motivating for me. This is what I want to see! It's a beautiful sight.

We have an extended of a week of school holidays due to the massive flood in some other states. Thus, it provides an extra time for me to sew new bags and cases for the kids right for them to use when school starts. I have one done, and intend to make a few more. I hope all of us would have a good start towards this new year and everything is a smooth sail, healthy and happy 2015!

Tootsy Blouse

Making craft is such a soothing therapy after weeks after weeks of busy schedule between weekend learning class, giving class to students and dealing with very demanding parent. Oh, no other words to describe my state of mind except, tiring.
I enjoy looking at what I've sewn, from scratch to something, from idea into realization. I stumbled upon 'Tootsy' which means darling, rose, sweet-heart. I think that is the word that couldn't fit it better. I decided to put Tootsy in vintage Japanese cotton fabric in Etsy. Please get it fast before I change my mind.

Hunky Dory

Hunky Dory in Japanese light weight cotton.

Taiping trees and a story to tell

These are the hundred years old tree along the street in near Taiping Lake.

Here's one unrelated incident I stumbled upon at the morning market a few days ago. In that drizzling morning, I went to the market as usual minus the umbrella still! As I ordered two packets of noodles to take away, a woman in her sixties standing just two person away from me was falling tumbling down to her side. We were shocked at the moment, and a few passerby were trying to help her get up spontaneously without a second thought. But she obviously is struggling to stand even though that's with help. Then a middle age man walked to them and asked the old lady to be sit on the floor first instead of standing up. Not long later, she confessed that it is the extra long umbrella held by a nearby woman in that crowded market that went on between her legs which caused her to drop. After more than five minutes or so after I've got my noodle packed, the poor old lady was still not able to stand up, I left to my car despite there are still crowds gathered in the place. I hope she is all well by now.

So, sometimes it's comfortable to use big umbrellas so as we're not getting wet at all, but please be mindful on the length of it. Perhaps it's length is really posing danger to other people around you. I always use those foldable umbrellas, when not in used, just chucked it in the green/shopping bag. No lengthy problem, to hooking problem ^_^

At the same time, there's a lesson learned - it's not necessarily right to get a person to stand up immediately, after falling down. horr...