Groundhog Night

Everynight for the past 2 weeks or more, a similar scene has been occuring at bedtime. My 3.5 yr old has established a routine of reading a book before he sleeps. Which is a good thing, except he only wants me to read him ONE book - "Spongbob Goes To The Doctor". And it has to be me reading it. One night I sent his Dad as a replacement but apparently it doesn't count. After enjoying his dad's narration, XX came back to me and wouldn't go to bed until I read it to him again!

That's something about children that I cannot comprehend and remain very amazed with. Once they like something, they will do it over and over again until they get tired of it. Some of the boys favourite shows are Transformers and Spongebob cartoons. Even though they have watched it many times before, each time it's playing, their eyes will be glued to the television like they're watching it for the first time.

XX is particularly fond of this Spongebob book which we had bought years ago for KK. After so many nights of reading, he can continue many of the sentences as I read. And everynight, at the exact same page, he will point to the same pictures and make the same comments or ask the same questions. Eveytime I give him the same answer to that particular question, which is "I don't know". But that doesn't deter him. Next night, he'll ask it again regardless.

Honestly, I'm very bored with reading that same book over and over again. But whenever I suggest no reading that night or to read another book, I'm met with violent objections coupled with desperate pleadings from my dear son. Seeing his enthusiasm (and he remains very much engrossed as I'm reading) and so as not to dampen his love of reading books, I suppressed my own boredom and go through the whole ritual of reciting the words. Sometimes, Hubby tries to cheat XX by skipping parts but he didn't get away with it as XX knows it! Haha!

Mother's Day

Last Sunday was Mother's Day. And the first thing I had to do on Mother's Day was to apologise to my son. He was upset with me for letting out his 'secret' the night before.

KK had pulled me aside to tell me a 'secret' as I was about to get into my friend's car to go for dinner. This friend of mine was driving a Toyota Kluger and KK had sat inside there once. His so-called 'secret' was to tell me about a hidden armrest in the backseat! I smiled, waved goodbye and as I got into the car, turned to tell my friends what he said. He heard me and as I closed the door said, "I heard that!" I didn't think much of it anymore but the next morning, upon waking up, KK showed me he was pretty upset about it. So there I was in my pyjamas, humbly saying sorry and trying to regain my son's trust. Even though I didn't consider it to be anything secretive, I admit it was my mistake for failing to respect my young son's feelings.

This event made me realised that my child has grown up. No longer a little tot who doesn't know what the adults are talking about, KK is now listening to our conversations, getting aware of his surroundings and he cares about how others perceive him. So he can get pretty sensitive if we are laughing at him. He knows the meaning of the word "embarrassed" and uses it when he doesn't want to do something. Previously we can share openly anecdotes about him with our friends, I now have to keep in mind his feelings if he's around us.

Luckily, I got off the hook easily with extra kisses and KK got up to help his dad prepare a Mother's Day breakfast for me. In the end, his dad did most of the work and KK got some scolding as he was more interested in eating the bacon that was fried. But he did butter one toast and arranged the food on the plate. So much for making me feel special.

The other highlight of this year's Mother's Day was a celebratory dinner at Crown on the eve with 11 other Singapore mothers. I had formed this group called "Singapore Mothers in Melbourne" on Facebook last year and slowly the members had grown to about 20 plus. Some of us already know each other and have been meeting regularly. This year, I decided to organise a dinner, just for the ladies, to celebrate Mother's Day. 12 Singapore mothers attended. We dressed up nicely, left our children at home and abandoned our motherly duties for one night. It was naughty but fun. I got to know some of the moms for the first time and everyone had a good time exchanging stories and taking photographs over buffet dinner.

The partying over, we reserved the actual day itself for our family. No matter what, Mother's Day is only meaningful with the presence of our children and husbands. Without their support and love, there will be no purpose and laughter in our lives. So while I celebrate my motherhood, I want to take this time to thank my children and husband for everything that they've given me - the role, the joys, the trials, the laughters and the responsibilities.

Happy Belated Mother's Day, especially to my mom, without whom I won't be in this world, and to all of you out there!

Chillies

We had inherited this two chilli plants, together in a pot of rockets, from our friend Simon V when he left Melbourne. They started to bear flowers and fruits but the chillies remained green for months! I thought it'll never happen, but they are finally turning red! One day, after we returned from Sydney, I saw the tip of one fellow looking orangy. Now there are just a few more to go before all 13 chillies are ready for harvest! Wonder if they'll be hot?

Freshly Laundered

I love hanging out the laundry now. It's strange. I used to hate hanging out the laundry for my mom. The bamboo poles were so heavy laden with wet clothes, I could hardly lift them up. And when she asked me to put them outside, I trembled with fear of dropping the whole pole down nine floors or worse, falling off myself. Even up till now, I still shudder at that thought and kept advising my parents, especially now that they're older, to just hang the laundry inside.

When I got married and had my own HDB place, I NEVER hang my laundry outside.I find it dries just as well indoors and there's no hassle of watching out for the rain. It's cleaner too as you never know what your neighbours upstairs will throw out of the window onto your clothes! When I moved into a condominium later, the situation was different. There was no provision for hanging up laundry in the little utility area and I can't even install bamboo pole hooks up on the false ceiling. I cannot believe it, surely not all people living in condominiums use dryers! So for 4 years, we lived with hanging out laundry on foldable racks, one of which even had to be in the dining room due to the limited space behind.

Then when we moved to our first home in Melbourne, we found a laundry line set up in the garage. It was cool. No need to worry about the weather and due to the dry atmosphere, it dried well. However because it was so convenient and so discreet, we often forget and can hang our clothes out there for days!

In this current place, we don't have a closed up garage anymore. I now have to watch the timing and weather when I do my laundry and am 'forced' to use the outdoor laundry rack. Strangely, the additional constraints of the chore were overwritten by the joy I felt hanging up our fresh laundry under the sun and see them flapping like flags in the wind. The laundry rack actually spins so if the wind is blowing, the rows of colourful linens will rotate slowly like a carousel. It's quite a beautiful sight. I actually enjoyed the process so much that I looked forward to the 'beep' at the end of the wash cycle and hoped Hubby doesn't beat me to get the laundry! On a good day, the laundry dries up within 1 hour. Yesterday was one of those fine days. I got out a picnic mat and had a lovely time with XX hanging around the garden watching the laundry and weeding. After lunch however, the dark clouds gathered and as the first drops of rain came, I hurried to collect the last pieces of linen to safety.

Xiao Long Baos

That day we ate the Xiao Long Baos (Shanghainese Dumplings) in Sydney's Ding Tai Fung is the day I made up my mind to make my own. These dainty XLBs cost about $1.50 each and my elder son can eat as many as 10-15 by himself. I figured out it makes a lot of "cents" to DIY.


Previously I'd made XLBs before but I always used store bought dumpling skins instead. Yes, I was lazy. Making and rolling out each individual dough skin seemed so daunting. Regardless, my XLB fan of a son enjoyed it thoroughly but I know they're no good. The skin is too thick and it hardens quickly after taking out from the steamer. This time, I'm persuaded to attempt making the skin from scratch. I know it'll be a lot of work.

Uncooked Xiao Long Baos

Being my first attempt, my skills were really lousy. I had problems getting them to roll out into a perfect circular shape. I also tried to make the side thinner to make it easier to wrap. Later, I realised that I need to roll the sides little by little, turning the little disc of dough as I go. Traditionally, there's supposed to be 18 folds but initially I could only do about 13. Subsequently, after about 30 XLBs, I finally managed 17 folds.

Steamed Xiao Long Baos

Well, it didn't turn out so bad afterall but it sure was time consuming. The dough is nice to knead and it can be made to stretch very thin, with skill. When steamed, it looked a little translucent, which is very authentic! I made about 37 XLBs from that batch, of which KK ate about 30%. He was really delighted and enjoyed it so much. Even XX loved them. The thinner skin sure makes a difference, it doesn't feel as starchy and heavy as previously. It's definitely worth the effort.

One of my 'masterpiece'

Here's the blog where I adapted the recipe from: http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/2008/10/xiao-long-bao.html