I Have MOVED

to my new website

Sorry for not replying.

Moving

I am in this HUGE mess now

I never thought moving will be so painful

I never thought migrating will be so tough

and I shall heed some good advice

and stop the procrastination

before the shit piles up

it is REALLY just like many things in life

I just hope that

with perseverance, determination and hard work

nothing is really impossible.

*fingers crossed*

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.

Coat Hunting

Autumn is here and the gloomy rainy weather is getting too cold for my liking. Being a true blue Singaporean, who is very used to my hot tropical weather throughout the year, I will choose humid sweaty heat over dry bone chilling cold ANYTIME. (except maybe when skiing)

With the change in weather, I am so desperately in need of a nice warm coat, not that I have none, just that being a typical woman, it is always good to have new clothes in your wardrobe to go with the season, and it just seem so IMPOSSIBLE to explain this simple logic to my other half.

As much as I love to have nice clothes in my wardrobe, I can be quite lazy when it comes to shopping, I used to 'steal' clothes from my sis's wardrobe as it was so much easier to choose from a narrow down selection where the 'sieving' through has been done. But gone were those days and my shopping companion. I am now left pretty much on my own to do the hunt as you can consider the duo in my household as inexistent when it comes to shopping.

So on Saturday, with my duo entertaining each other in the big mall, roller scootering and snacking, I spent a good 5 to 6 hours shopping, purely on coat hunting. I think I searched through every corner of the ZARA and MANGO boutiques, not once but twice! and I couldn't find anything worthy enough to dump my money. It was so frustrating to think that I had wasted so much time and energy. I ended up with some good summer clothing, more to appease myself and to console myself that it is not such a fruitless day after all.

In an attempt to continue the hunt, I google for 'winter coat' over the net and found that most of the online shopping sites were in the States and it is one of those things that I missed about the States, the SHOPPING!

I am so drooling over some of the winter coats from VS. Then again, with figures like theirs, I will look good even with a 10 bucks coat from the market stall!

Making Friends (at the Playground)

Malcolm is one of those few students in his class that doesn't take his lunch in school. Each day, I will pick him up for his 2 hours lunch and send him back thereafter. Our 2 hours break serves as a good break for him. We cook, we eat, we chat and we talked about what happens in school. It is something he looks forward to and also a little incentive for him to attend the full day school where everyone blabbers in a language he has yet to master. I can imagine the stress he is going through as not speaking the language makes even the simplest thing tough.

Making friends is one of those things that can either make or break his day.

I realized that dealing with rejection and learning to socialize with his peers are skills he needs to acquire even as early as his age. It is one of those things that he needs to figure out himself and I can only listen, encourage and hope that things will get better.

Just last week, he was troubled and saddened when he was rejected by his classmates at the playground and after 1 week of experimenting, he comes up with his new 'strategy' for making friends at the playground. So here it goes,

Step 1. Choose a tree

Step 2. Stand under the tree

Step 3. Wait for predator to approach

Step 4. Reject males, as they usually play fighting games

Step 5. Accept females, though he has no clues what they are talking

if Step 3 fails, repeat Step 1

When asked why he choose to wait for friends to approach him,

he replied, 'because it doesn't work if I ask them to play'

And so far, it is working.

Time Flies

My Boy,

THEN ...

NOW ...

Fairytales

I must confess that my 4 year old is lacking in fairytale nourishment and is not at all fairytale savvy. He doesn't know his Cinderella nor his Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. I guess I am partly responsible as to start off with, I don't subscribe to handsome princes, beautiful princesses and happily-ever-after. We all know the truth behind happily-ever-after and the last thing I want, is for him to grow up worrying about not being handsome enough and thinking that a beautiful face is all it takes.

My feeble attempt to interest him was of course in vain when coupled with the fact that he seemed to have a mind of his own when it comes to bedtime stories since he was young. There was a time when bedtime stories were solely Mickey Mouse and Friends from the Disney collection and NOTHING else. We eventually ended up with a full collection, all used , thanks to ebay and garage sales in the States.

Apart from airplanes and rockets, he loves Christopher Robin and his bear of very little brain who always seem to have his way of solving problems. He adores Stuart Little, the cross between a mouse and human which sometimes confuses me. He was smitten by Fern more than the spider in Charlotte's Web whom I think reminds him more of Mummy dearest with her caring way for Wilbur, the farm pig who has problem coming to term with the cruel reality of farm lives.

He wasn't so interested in Olivia though, the piglet who wears a tutu, which I thought the illustration by Ian was pretty refreshing. We ended up having a good laugh comparing who-comes-first, his heroes, Wilbur and Orville Wright or the 2 pigs.

Last week from the library, we came back with some easy readers, and I made, yet another attempt, ALL were fairytales. The stories were short and like what they were intended for, easy-to-read. So here's what happened and some of the lessons learned.

- He hid his face under the blanket when the evil witch tried to cook Hansel and Gretel over a pot of boiling water.

- He dislikes stories with villains and has yet learn how to appreciate scary stories.

- He learned that the Cat who wore Boots managed to get his way by telling lies, not once but many times.

- Wolves are intelligent and cunning and they usually do bad things.

- And if you do run into one and get into serious trouble, your dad can probably save you by cutting up the wolf like what Little Riding Hood's dad did.

I concluded that we haven't been missing out much all these while.

Autumn is Here

and as I jogged passed this each day, I could almost hear it screaming for my camera!

So today, after sending Mal to school,

I lugged my camera,

took a walk to the exact stretch of pathway

and did what I wanted to ...

Eating Fish

Malcolm loves to eat fish and has an impeccable ability to separate the bones from the fish. During lunch time yesterday, he decided to share with me how he did it.

Malcolm : 'Mummy, do you know how I eat fish ?'

Mummy : 'How ?'

Malcolm : 'I put the fish in my mouth,

roll it with my tongue and bite it with my teeth.

If the fish is lying horizontal,

I use the front teeth to bite

If the fish is lying vertical,

I use my side and back teeth to bite.

Certain teeth are good at certain things.

If I feel a bone, I will separate it with my tongue

and spit out the bone.'

I figured out that my 4 year old is more patient and careful when it comes to eating fish.

Curiosity - The Subconscious of a Child Speaks

In every little child I live

a natural habitat made for me

where I am fed with wonderful things

that are good for my soul and being.

Sight, Sound, Smell and Touch

are some of my favourite food

WHATs, WHYs, WHENs and HOWs

will make very special treats.

I love FUN PLAY

as they are staple for my growth

Lavish and fanciful are not the keys

Sadly these are what some believe.

Just like any other living things

I get sick when fed the wrong things

Worksheets, tests and exams

are STRESSES that kills my passion for things.

Some people believe

I am the creator of Natural Science and Mathematics

for I fuel the passionate desire to understand

to seek the truth in all things.

Every once in a few centuries

a miracle bestowed

often a genius who possesses me

the force behind thirst for knowledge and quest for truth.

Unfortunately, my life in modern education is short lived

for my growth is inadvertently stifled

my sacred existence is undermined

and I may only be heard, when the subconscious of a child speaks.

Note : 'There is such a thing as a passionate desire to understand, just as there is a passionate love for music. This passion is common with children, but is usually vanishes as they grow up. Without it, there would be no natural science and mathematics' ~ Albert Einstein

Ox, Cows and Bulls

A little background, I am born in the Year of Ox and the month of Bull and I always think of that as the reason for my affinity for cows, YES you heard it right. C-O-W-S! Brown, black, white, furry, hairy, polka dots, I LOVE them ALL ! although Malcolm seemed to have a rather low tolerance for their overpowering methane stench. He could smell them from afar and would scream for us to wind up the car window whenever we were nearing them. It wasn't long before he was taught the ingenious equation between Cow Dump and Beautiful Place when we made him walked alongside herds of grazing cattle while hiking in Switzerland.

And my recent close encounter with one of them, proves that maybe, this feeling might just be more than one sided.

A Day Off From School

The persistent virus has been causing my duo runny nose and phlegmy cough for the past week. A dose of antihistamine before bedtime not only numbed the sinus but the anus as well! Malcolm soiled his diaper in the middle of the night without even realizing it. And of course he was delighted when given a day off from school.

We ended up with this from our over flowing junk box. His version of 'Storm Chaser' which he decided to give to someone he missed at the library.

Nature Wonderland

We drove an hour or so out of Paris and found a nature wonderland.

A place with hiking trails marked with bright blue paint,

forest floor cushioned with fallen dried twigs

and baby pine cones

Natural mossy green carpet that look like this

An uprooted tree, which made a good train ride

and HUGE boulders with cavities

We tried climbing the really BIG ones

but I think the little ones suit me more

we saw Mr spider enjoying sumptuous lunch

and not-so-smart beetles which often ended up 'belly up'

We even spotted Mummy's favourite fruits

and mine too, sprouting here and there.

And before I left, these are some of the goodies I packed with me.

Lego Time

Airport

The REAL Athletes

This event, The North Face Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc took place during our recent trip to Chamonix
Thousands of ultra fit athletes from 3 different countries, Switzerland, France and Italy flocked to the town of Chamonix in the Mont Blanc Valley for these races.

Tour du Mont - Blanc - 166km - 9400m vertical ascent - 46 hours max - 2200 competitors
Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix - 98km - 5600m vertical ascent - 25 hours max - 1500 competitors
La Petite Trotte à Léon - 220km - 17000m vertical ascent - 100 hours max - 150 competitors

The vertical climb they conquer sound almost inhuman, the distance they covered makes a full 42 km marathon pales in comparison.

The athletes took days to run and the amount of endurance these athletes have to complete the race is beyond my imagination.

It makes me sad to compare the state of sports and athleticism in Singapore. Do we have such passionate people? Athletes willing to devote time and commitment to a tough discipline, a sport of immense difficulty.

When we were in Chamonix and Switzerland, the amount of sporting activities were astounding. And NO, they were NOT professionals. Most of them were just hobbyists or amateurs with a passion for something, be it rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering (2000 ppl attempt Mont Blanc every year), mountain biking, paragliding, or just plain running. With little or no real sporting interest whatsoever outside of schools, It is no wonder that we have to "import" foreign talent in order to win a Olympic medal because our psyche can produce none. Even little Switzerland has home grown Olympic medalists. Such is the pathetic state of sports in Singapore...

What do you all think of our "athletes"?

My First 7 days of School

Today is the 7th day of school for Malcolm and things have more or less settled down.

Other than having insomia for the 1st night and waking up an hour earlier on the 2nd day so that he could play with his Lego before leaving for school, the transition has been quite smooth.

On the 3rd day, he came home from school telling me that there were 23 students in his class.
On the 4th day, he let a Japanese girl in his class hold his hand.
On the 5th day he recounted 22 students in his class because the Japanese girl was absent.
On the 6th day he turned down a group of boys to play fighting and chose to play alone instead.

Today, he made 2 new friends and together with the Japanese girl and another boy, they played holding hands and running in circles. It was fun and easy cos he need not speak french playing the game. He also counted 53 Big and Small alphabets from A-Z in his class.

I think instead of listening to the teacher blabbers in French, he is most of the time lost in his own world of counting game.

Luxury of Time

Checkmate

SO I wasn't concentrating
I was tired
I was distracted
I was complacent
I lost my queen and bishop to careless move
AND my boy CHECKMATE me today!
I succumbed to his castle, horse and queen after defending my king for the longest time.
It was a shameful and prideful moment
What can I say, I think I just have to be more cautious before making my next move
and stop being such a bimbo when it comes to playing chess!

Boutique Diaper Bags

While browsing around with my new found 'free time', I stumbled upon Pink Lemonade Bags and fell head over heels with Caroline's vibrant coloured and lovely range of self designed and home made boutique diaper bags! How I wish I own one of these when Malcolm was little! Nevertheless this doesn't stop me from lusting over her gorgeous bags and I am going to try my luck to win one of them!
Hop over to her site if you are thinking of how to win. Contest ends this Friday.

Here are some of my personal favourite from her Etsy store

Monologue Of A Blog

I am 3 years old today

a little younger than my little master Sim

whom was really the reason behind me

and the source of inspiration ever since.

I was born as a journal

recording my little master's joy and laughter

milestones and growth

with photos, videos and what have you

I was more than a substitute

the perfect replacement

for written journal in diary book

really meant for days where dinosaurs rule.

There were times when other priorities reign

but I was glad I wasn't abandoned

for reasons apparent

which you will hear them very soon.

There was a time when I was a good break

from nappy changing and mundane chores

There was a time when I called for disciplinary act to

polish up horrendous grammar left stagnant since elementary school.

During times when distance separates

I helped bridge the gaps

During times when memory fails

I helped fill the holes.

I open the eyes to possibilities

and spread the wings for self exploration

I train the mind for self reflection

and pave the way to self discovery.

And on this very special day

if I have only one wish

I wish to grow side by side with little master Sim

till the day he discover, the goodness that lies in me.

Obligatoire

Summer is finally coming to an end and a new school term has formally started for Malcolm this week, or rather today, for his case. Thanks to his not so enthusiastic parents. It was only the first week of school and we had made 2 huge blunders.

First, Malcolm missed the first day of school. Monday was a public holiday and thus Tuesday was supposedly to be the first day of school. Somehow we kept thinking that his first day of school was on Wednesday, which was usually the rest day of the week but we couldn't care less to find out more. We ended up having to cook up a story explaining to the director why he missed school on Tuesday.

Second was when I picked him up from school during lunch time today, I was told then that I need to bring him back to class after lunch. You see, je peux pas parler francais, and the teacher don't really speak English. So there we were, a duck and a chicken trying to communicate. I figured out that school this term for him is a full day event and is obligatoire which means compulsory in French. I was told I need to speak to the director again if I decided not to bring him back after lunch.

I knew I couldn't bring him back after lunch. We hadn't tell him anything about being in school for the whole day, he is not mentally prepared and NEITHER AM I! Once again, to get him out of school for the afternoon class, I cooked up another story to have him excused.

I could sense his relief. I knew how happy he was and I knew that he would rather choose the 'boredom' of staying at home, hanging around with me than to be in school for the whole day! It is just too much, not just for him but for me. We have never been apart for this long.

So maybe this is it, after 4 1/2 years of being with Mummy for all his waking hours, my boy is now ready to venture into the big boy world. It kind of sadden me to think that I will only get to spend time with him for 2 hours during his lunch and subsequently another 4 hours when he comes back from school and before going to bed. That is like 1/2 the amount of time we used to spend together!

I know this day will come sooner or later and to many it had came much earlier. It may be a consolation to know but it doesn't make it easier, especially for a child, who has never really wander far and long away from Mummy dearest.

My Summer Holiday (Window Movie Maker)

As much as I love video editing, compiling and organising the videos we took into nice, sweet, memorable 'movie' for keepsake, this software that I am using, Windows Movie Maker is driving me NUTS! and thus this ranting

I hate it when the program hangs

I hate it when my unfinished work takes forever to load

I hate it when the video is all distorted and beyond recognition

because every frames lag so badly

I hate it when I get the big yellow EXCLAIMATION mark

which gives me unbelievable insane warning

I blame it on my dinosaur lappie

only to realise that I am not the only victim

I meddle with the paging file

I free up as much space as I can

I split up video frames

and even music too

But what a big mistake

to stress my rusty brain

dividing minutes into seconds

and seconds into the 100ths

I pull hair, I curse, I complain

I am sure it took a few years off my life

and finally I get to compile

I sit with fingers crossed

as well as toes too

1, 2, 3

BINGO!

It works!

I know it has to work

by hook or by crook

for all the woes and frustrations it has caused

happy ? maybe. satisfied ? yeah

but one thing for sure

to save my sanity

this shall be the LAST TIME

I lay hands on WMM !!!

and because it was quite a big file, the resolution of the video suffers when it gets uploaded to youtube. haiz!

Jog

The mountains and hikes seemed to inject me with new energy and new lungs. An hour jog round the park, 9 km. I sweat like a chicken and it felt ooooh soooo gooood.