Apple soup with Kernel Almonds

This soup can help to clear lungs, detoxifies and improves digestion.

Function of white fungus and Kernel Almonds, please click HERE

Ingredients:
1. 1 red apple
2. 1 green apple
3. 10g white fungus
4. 12g Kernel Almonds
5. Cane Sugar
6. 200 ml water

Method:
1. Peel the apples and remove cores.
2. Soak white fungus and removes the stem. Rinse and set aside.
3. Put all ingredients into stewing pot and stew for 2 hours.
4. Serve warm.

This is Xavier's tea time special for the day.

I actually went to consult a chinese sinseh @ Yu Guo today as I my throat kind of feels phlegmy and I just cannot cough out the phlegm. The bits that came out were yellowish and I believed, I'm super heaty inside me. Plus, I woke up with a swollen right eye for no apparent reason. I believed I could have caught the bug from both father and son, just that I'm still need to be in working condition to take care of the both of them.

Advice from the sinseh was to boil some apple soup just like the one above which I have made to help with the cough and phlegm or boil the apples with Fig Fruit, Chuan Bei and Kernel Almonds.

And also to boil some crysantheman, using the residue to apply on my swollen eye and I can drink the remaining water to cool down my internal heat.

Stirred Fried Broccoli with minced meat

The day before, Xavier had stirred fried broccoli with cheery tomato slices and minced meat with tomata paste to go with cous cous. I have added some minced prawns in it as well to gradually introduce seafood to him after 18 months.

I'm glad that Xavier eat almost everything. At least, I prepared a balanced diet for him without having to worry that he does not want greens. So long as the food is not hard to chew, he will practically just take anything we gave him.

Earlier had brought him down for a walk as he knows to how to tell us that he wants to go down for a walk by waving his hands frantically and walk to the door !

He had always loved to sit on the red benches available in the park. Here's Xavier with the big kor kor.

I'm like almost half dead to be grounded with him at home everyday. Mainly, to pass time, either I surf for soup recipes or I bring Xav down for walks, most of the time, I'm in the kitchen either washing my clothes or just cooking meals and soups.

Coming up next will be Apple soup with Kernel Almonds.

Anyway, a quick update on Xavier. He surprises us again. This time round, I showed him the word "SIT" and he read it out to me ! I taught him "Chin" recently. He could now showed me the following body parts correctly: head, hair, nose, ear, mouth, chin, tongue, fingers, hand, toes and legs.

I'm still trying to teach him elbow, eye, knees and ankle.

Lotus Roots with Solomonseal Rhizome Soup

These few days been busy with cooking soups for cough and nourish for all. Then again, got the recipe from Wokking mum but improvise on my own abit.

Lotus roots soup itself is actually good for teething babies. Anyway, lotus roots helps to release fatigue, improves imbalance of the nervous systems, menopause as well as insomnia.

This time round, I added in Solomonseal Rhizome known as Yu Zhu in Mandarin. It is said that it can heals cough, treats and relieves thirst, clears internal heat and dryness of mouth as well as sore throat.

This soup tastes good ! I used the soup to cook macaroni for Xavier and he gobbled down one big bowl with an additional bowl of soup and guess what ... he kept telling me "ni ni ni" (meaning nice when he takes his meals) through out his lunch.

Dear dear too, commented that the soup is nice when I used it to cook mee sua for his lunch. Poor him has been coughing till now after getting the bug from Xavier. By end of lunch, my soup was sold out !

(Pic to load later)

I changed the recipe slightly, here it goes:

Ingredients:
1. 5 pieces of pork ribs
2. 1 section of lotus roots, skinned & sliced
3. 1 carrot, skinned & sliced (Original recipe is 1/2 carrot)
4. 2 honey dates ( Originally is 1 piece dried octopus, cut into strips)
5. 4 red dated, seed removed
5. Wolfberries (optional)
6. Some Solomonseal Rhizome (Added by myself, you can omit if you do not want)
7. Salt for tasting

Method:
1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water.
2. In a new pot of water, add in the above ingredients except for salt.
3. Bring it to boil and turn down fire.
4. Continue to brew for 4-5 hours. ( I used pressure cooker, so I off fire after 30 mins and allow the pressure to drop)
5. Add salt for tasting.
6. Serve.

To have a clearer soup, always blanch the pork ribs before using it to make soup.It helps remove the blood scum from the pork/ chicken.

Steam Prawns with Chilli and Garlic

This is the second dish for the dinner. Garlic lovers will love this dish. This is tasty and light.

Ingredients:
1. 12 M-L prawns, devined and butterfly.
2. a pinch of salt
3. A dash of pepper
4. 1 tablespoon chinese cooking oil
5. 1 tablespoon Olive oil ( I used Canola Olive oil though)
6. 6 cloves of garlic, minced
7. 2 fresh chilli, chopped
8. A drizzle of sesame oil (Optional)

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients except for prawns and sesame oil.
2. Put the chilli and garlic mixture in the slit of the prawns.

3. Steam for 5 mins
4. Scoop sauce from the steam prawns and pour over the prawns.
5. Drizzle sesame oil and chopped spring onion if you like.

Results of the dishes, we both emptied out the plates ! Simple and easy to cook too !

Steam tofu with minced meat

Dear was saying he wants a simple dinner as his appetite is not so good after being sick for two weeks.

I cooked porridge with two other simple and light dishes for our dinner.

I got the recipes from wokking mum's blog. Pretty simple to prepare, not very oily, healthy enough to eat as it's all steam food.

Here's the steam tofu with minced meat. I added Xiao Bai Cai to go with the tofu.
Ingredients:
1. Tofu
2. Minced meat
3. Xiao Bai Cai

Seasoning for meat:
1. 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2. 1/4 teaspoon salt
3. 1/4 teaspoon sugar
4. A few drops of sesame oil
5. 1/2 tablespoon cornflour

Sauce:
1. 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (I replaced with teriyaki sauce as I discovered there is no oyster sauce at home !! But still taste nice.)
2. 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
3. 1/2 teaspoon sugar
4. 1/2 teaspoon oil
5. 200ml water
6. Cornflour mixture as thickener

Method:
1. Steam tofu on high heat for about 10-25 mins or until meat is cooked.
2. Drain water from tofu.
3. Combine ingredients for sauce except for thickener.
4. Bring to boil.
5. Slowly add in thickener and stir well.

Xiao Bai Cai:
1. Bring a pan of water to boil.
2. Blanch the veg and serve together with the tofu.

2 sick babies

Now taking care of two sick babies, one big baby and one small baby. Can guess it right, both father and son are sick ! I'm the last one standing though I don't feel well myself but thank god, my condition this time is not as serious as theirs. The big baby had went thrice to the doc within 2 weeks with the persistant cough that wouldn't go away.

The small baby, little Xavier had a prolonged cough and cold for about three weeks. Could have got it from his classmates who were spotted coughing quite badly when I brought Xavier to his class. Can't be prevented I guess, but how I wished that the parents can be more responsible in making sure that the kids are well enough to go back to school so as not to pass their bugs to other kids. Social responsibility seems to be lacking nowadays ... Shall not comment much on this.

Anyway, Xavier went to Dr Ong on last thursday for his cough and cold. I was told that by Sunday he should be well.
He was given Zyrtec Syrup, Polaramine syrup (To replace Actifed, since he is not getting any better despite the fact that he was given a full ) , Mucosolvan as well as Ventolin for his medication.

However, on tuesday, his phlegm remained as heavy and thick when he coughed. Feared that his bronchilotis might come back, to have a peace of mind, I brought him back to Dr Ong on Wednesday. And he told me xavier was wheezing slightly!

He had his neubaliser treatment at the clinic before going home. He also mentioned that Xavier should get well by sat latest sunday if not we would have to rent the neubaliser unit for his treatment at home should his condition worsen. He changed his medication back to the usual ones. Zyrtec drops this time round as it's more concentrated by 0.9% as compared to the syrup, Actifed Syrup, Ventolin, Flumucil Powder for his Phlegm and Singulair Sachet for his cough and wheezing.

Xavier is also to be grounded at home and stay away from school for two weeks to make sure he don't catch another bug again as this time round his airway could have got infected.

Xavier @ 18 months

Xavier, now an official toddler, is growing, gaining independence and is always full of energy and curiosity ! Sometimes, he can really trigger my "button" but am really, seriously trying very hard to hold back my temper.

Guess what he did ... ... He opened up the bottle of Ventolin and pour everything out onto the floor ! One thing for sure, he has grown taller. Alot of things are within his reach on the table. Thank god, he did not drink any of it.

Once, I prepared a cup of strawberries in his snack catcher and placed it on the table. I did not know that he could reach as it was pretty far in as I supposed it to be.

I was like .. ehhh .. no sound of Xavier ... and I caught him sitting quietly on the kitchen floor and his hands full of strawberries, happily eating away !!

He has got fantastic memory too ! I knows where is "Junior League" at Suntec. Whenever, I brought him there, no matter how, he will make his way into the shop and starts to dig in the toy box! Best part was, he dug out all the toy cars and trucks or simply toys with wheels !


He can even climb onto some rides by himself !! And will noramally stayed in there till he's satisifed ! Will try to load the pics should I have a chance to invade caca's computer again.

He knows how to play peek-a-boo with me too !

He will go and hide in my wardrobe and goes "chiak" when I call out to look for him !


Simply filled with loads of expressions too !

Can even pose when gnawing on his bread !

Shall send this in for father and son look alike contest if there is .. heee

Back to Xavier's developments. These are his new physical developments:

1. He is now able to walk up 3 steps up the stairs unassisted when I bring him for walk around the neighbourhood.
2. He is able to stack about 4-5 blocks on his own when I ask him " Xavier, shall we play stack stack"

Feeding:
1. Full straw feeding for milk and other drinks.
2. He prefers to self feed himself when I tends to be "slower". His hands will come grabbing at at the spoon, if I'm fast enough to put the spoon into his mouth, he will let go of his hands and wanted me to feed him instead. But he sures enjoy feeding himself when I bring him for tea, especially when I ordered a slice of cake, specially just for him.

Language: I'm not sure why... he simply just wouldn't want to call "mummy".
1. He attempts to call his daddy and had pronounced it quite accurately and had actually said "papa" after watching on tv how a girl in the show keep calling "papa".
2. He knows how to address his grandmother "ma ma" when asked. (To be frank, I'm a bit sore when he knows how to address his grandmother "ma ma" but the way of addressing is supposed to be for me, who is his mummy and has been taking such good care of him since birth !)

Not that I'm petty, but why teach him this way of addressing ! Isn't the way of addressing grandmother known as "nai nai" or "ah -mah" ?

Anyway, I'm happy on the other hand, because I make sure he addresses his grandmother and he knows how to do it. At least I did not fail here. I'm sure one day, he will call "mummy" when he is ready.

Anyway, in a way I feel special is because Xavier will only come and kiss me voluntarily in the whole household, not even the daddy. As what Jo told me, probably, he feels being "forced" to call me mummy, but he had preferences to each individual. Maybe he prefers to kiss me ! =)

Objects he recognises/words he understands when I tell him (Those in brackets are words that he can say but accuracy is not there yet)

1. Train (Trr-rain), Car (Car), Lights (Nye) and he will point to the lights, Star - (tar), Circles - (ker-cle), Carry - (Bao Bao), Water - (Ber), Up - (Up) and he goes "up"'ing when he is in the lift, Sit - (Sit) , Eat - (Eat), Change - (chain chain), Nice - (ni ni), Bus - (ba)

Sometimes for the objects he sees, he will say it out loud for me.

2. Wheels, Fan, Phone, Pram, Toy bear, Shoes, Ball, Flowers

Animals he recognises when I tell him
1. Bird (Xavier knows how to pronouce Bird when he sees one)
2. Cat (Makes a "eow" sound when he sees the cat)
3. Dog (Tries to bark like a dog by going "ooh ooh")
4. Tiger (Tries to pronounce "ger ger")
5. Lion (He will give a cute roar by going MMMMMMMM .... )

Body parts which he can point to me correctly:
1. Tummy (Will apply shower gel on his tummy when I ask him to during shower)
2. Head (Tap on his head)
3. Hair (Feel his hair)
4. Nose (Point to his nose)
5. Mouth (Point to his mouth)
6. Toes (Point to his toes)
7. Fingers (Wriggle his fingers)
8. Leg (Tap his leg)
9. Tongue (Sticks out his tongue)
10. Belly button (Lifts his shirt or mine and point !)

For flash cards, he recognises No. 2, 3,4 & 9. When I flashed the cards to him and he will start pointing to the body parts)

Songs that he recognises and will try to sing or add in the appropriate actitons:

1. Old macdonalds
When I sing old macdonalds to him and reach E.I.E.I.O, he will repeat after me using his own version ya !
E.I.E.I.O (yee ya yee ya yee ya)

2. Twinkle Twinkle little Star
Xavier will go "tar tar" to name the song when he hears it.

3. Ten little indians - Xavier goes imitating the actions of the red indian by making the "oooohhhh", using his fist rubbing against his mouth for the sound effect

4. Row Row Row your boat - I change the lyrics of this song to (Row, Row, Row your boat. Gently down the stream. If you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream ~ Arrrgh) After the song ended, Xavier will give a little scream ! Probably he understands what is scream. And surprising, he knows the difference wen I sang the song with the original lyrics (... ... Life is bout a dream), he doesn't scream at all.

5. If you're happy - Normally, he will do all the actions when the song is being played. So far he knew how to clap his hand, stamp his feet and swing his arms.

6. Shake your sillies - Will normally do all the actions up till the yawning part where he pretends to yawn by covering his mouth)

Best was, two days ago I tried to hum the tune of the songs above and he can name them with the actions or words he knew.

Actions/ reaction when I ask him simple questions or request him to do it:
1. When I finish singing a song to him, he will applaude for me !
2. When he is having his meal, I will ask "Xav, is the food nice ?", he will reply me ("ni ni" to indicate "nice nice".)
3. Give friend friend/ pooh bear a hug, Xavier will and hug them.
4. Did you wave "Hi" (He will then wave to the people he sees or whom he is being involved in a conversation)
5. Do you want to eat ? (He will reply me "Eat" and will run to the kitchen and say "sit"
6. Can you lie down, I need to change your diaper. ( He will auto lie down if we are out and changing in a changing room with the changing station)
7. TIME OUT RULE: I count to 1,2 ... He will end it with a 3 !
8. Dry your hands (Dun be surprised ! I taught him twice and he knew what to do and where to go after I washed his hands)
9. Take off your shirt (Normally I will assist him in taking out his arms from the arm hole, the rest he can do it himself)
10. Wear your shoes (He will walk over to the rack where his shoes are, sit down and tried to wear the shoes himself),
11. Stand up
12. Bend over (After he pooed in the potty, I be cleaning his butt, he will hold onto my thigh and bend over)
13. Sit down
14. Can you close your bottle and give it to me ? (He normally closes and pass it to me after finishing his sip)
15. Brush your teeth (When he sees the Darlie commercial, he will automatically try to brush his teeth with his fingers !!)
16. Comb your hair
17. Take off your shoes (After coming back from his walk, I will say sit down and take off your shoe, and he will sit down and pull open the velcro himself and take out his feet)
18. Roll the ball to me
19. Sit properly and stay (His legs will go postion back within the chair area and sit still)
20. Bubbles time (He will know it's Shower time)
21. No touch (He will not touch the things on the shelves when I bring him for shopping to prevent him from breaking anything.)
22. Clap your hands
23. Hold the chair (when I ask him to during shower)
24. Hold the bottle
25. Arms up
26. Turn around

Sign Language (Depending on mood):
Wave bye bye , Flying/blow kiss , Kiss/love mummy/bear bear, milk, Jump, Stamp your feet, Swing your arms. Now learning how to tell me "No more"

One funny thing was he is still yakking away on the phones and remote controls which he got hold off !

Wonder why there are not much pics ? Xavier has totally crushed and dismantle my one and only card reader !! Help !!! Wonder how m I going to load the pics until the Toshiba is back ... sob sob ...