No, No, NO!!

I'm wondering if some of what I've been saying to Sophie has rubbed off on her. Her favourite phrase of late:

" No, no, NO!!"

Would you like this book? No, no, NO!

How about this book? No, no, nooo!!


It's never just a simple no. It's always an enthusiastic triplet.


Do you want to eat? No, no, noooo!!

Do you want to go downstairs to the playground? No, no, NO!

Do you want to go for class?

NO. NO. NOOO!!


OK, I get it already, but you're still doing things my way, for now.

Library Haul

I'm reading waaaay too fast or too much, which explains the lack of posts on this site.

1. Absolutely Maybe - Lisa Yee
2. Switch - Carol Snow
3. David V. God - Mary E. Pearson
4. The Adoration Of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson

Library Haul

1. The Rule of Won - Stefan Petrucha
2. Heartsinger - Karlijn Stroffels
3. Girlwood - Claire Dean
4. Magic's Child - Justine Larbalestier
5. Something, Maybe - Elizabeth Scott
6. Bliss- Lauren Myracle

Retro

Orange polka dots! Looking mod and retro in class with orange balloons for a festive touch. The adults loved the retro smock. One enthusiastic little girl, however, thought Sophie's dress was full of orange stickers that the teacher was giving out. So she tugged on her dress and when she found the orange 'stickers' weren't coming off, raked a hand across Sophie's eyes and made the poor girl cry.

My poor dear's gonna have to stand up for herself more in the face of bullies and aggressive tots.

Geocaching

Who says you don't learn anything from reading fiction?

Thanks to Justina Chen Headley's North of Beautiful, I've discovered a totally new (to me) and exciting adventure called geocaching. I hope I'll get to participate soon and more later in this cool treasure hunt as the toddler grows up.

Wheeeeee! What fun!!

Library Haul

1. North of Beautiful - Justina Chen Headley
2. Instead of Three Wishes - Megan Whalen Turner
3. Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott
4. Magic or Madness - Justine Larbalestier
5. Magic Lessons - Justine Larbalestier
6. Frommer's Hong Kong
7. Rough Guide Directions: Hong Kong & Macau

The last two guides are for our last-minute, on the spur of the moment decision to head to Hong Kong for the long weekend coming up (Good Friday is a public holiday in S'pore and hubby's taking the Monday off). Wheeeeee!!!

Out, out, OUT!!

Finally! After months of intermittent ear drops and no shortage of complaining, I decided to once and for all, take Sophia to the GP, get a referral to the ENT specialist to suck out that huge, offending piece of ear wax that seemed to be lodged in her right ear permanently.

She cried, she struggled but it finally came out!! That sucker must've been about the size of a golf ball. Not that I asked to see it after it got dislodged. I was too happy that it was out in the first place.

No more nightly eardrops. I don't have to stifle the urge to shine that torch in her ear only to have to smother the itch to dig that piece of junk out. And then complain to the hubby about it existing in the first place and stopping him from digging it out himself to stop my whining.

I am patting myself thoroughly on the back as I went through the right channels too. Got the whole procedure covered by insurance! And got myself some meds for the irritating cough and phlegm while I was at it! For free!! Covered!

I should do this more often, go through the right channels, that is.

I'm Not Anthony Bourdain, But I Ain't Half Bad

I've been cooking up a storm lately. Just before leaving KL during one of our recent trips, we bought a stack of Periplus and Marshall Cavendish mini-cookbooks from Kino. Best investment we ever made. I've been diligently flipping through them and picking dishes to try out ever since.

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying out a dish or two but since Rizal left for Mumbai and Brussels on Sunday, I've stepped up on the dishes. Not all of them have been from the mini-cookbooks but almost all of them have been successful.

I've been making up several batches of Mushroom Rice Balls (kinoko no takikomi gohan), or what I refer to as my mushroom onigiri, which I picked out from another recipe book of mine. So far, Sophia likes that the best, mainly because it's rice and she loves rice and she also gets to hold it in her hands and eat it rather than mess about with the spoon. And to top it off, it's such an easy dish to make. Did I mention it's quite delicious? Well, it is.

When I came back from my biz trip to KL, I lugged home two huge packets of dried noodle. I'm not sure what kind they are but I know my mom uses them specifically for a type of braised noodle dish she makes. So of course, I call her on the phone before I give it a try and I must say that I'm not that bad a cook myself! The noodles turned out a little dryer and paler than mom's but other than that, tasted just as great. I'm a genius! Jona loved it, and so did the girl. She liked the noodles so much that she ate only the noodles and disregarded the prawns, bits of chicken, mushroom and vegetables in her bowl.

Yesterday we tried a walnut and mascarpone pasta from one of the mini-cookbooks, which turned out splendidly and which all of us really liked too. For dinner, I whipped out the Japanese mini-cookbook and we tried out the french beans with sesame sauce, which was an interesting dish and went well with our lotus soup.

Today I did up another batch of mushroom onigiri specifically for Sophia beause for dinner I was gonna cook Korean chap chae for Jona and me. Given Sophia's experience with the braised noodle, I didn't want to have her just picking at glass noodles and not eating the rest of the good stuff. I did a variation of the usual onigiri; since I'd already toasted sesame seeds for the chap chae, I decided to chuck some into the mushroom onigiri for added aroma and taste. And boy, did it make a difference! Sophia had two onigiri for dinner. Another success story chalked to my portfolio.

Cooking's been quite fun lately. But then again, that's only true, I think, because I have Jona to help clean up the mess after. Before she came, cooking was more a chore than anything else. Just the thought of cooking and then cleaning up could tire me out. Now at least I have the time, energy and interest to look through recipes and am bothered to try them out. Having another person to help eat all that stuff also helps too.

Cooking is simple if you have some extra hands in the kitchen to help prep and clean. What used to be a necessary chore turns out to be an adventure instead.

I'm Done!!

Here's how she announces that she's done doing her biz on the potty:

"Yeeeeeee-aaaaaaAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

It's her take on 'yay' and in imitation of what I say to here when she's done a good job sitting on the potty.

Library Haul

1. 11 Birthdays - Wendy Mass
2. House of Many Ways - Diana Wynne Jones
3. Audrey, Wait! - Robin Benway
4. Just One Wish - Janette Rallison