Thanks to a friend, we had our first roast chicken for this year last Saturday. The taste is better than the roast chicken that I roasted last year. My friend and I ate straight from the baking tray coz we were left with the breast meat. The children took the thigh part and the wings away. Lazy to grab a plate, we just dig in and dip our meat into the gravy left on the tray. Fingers licking good. 
It is Jamie Oliver’s recipe which you can get from this link http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/roast-chicken-with-lemon-rosemary-ro.
Happy Roasting!
Look! Hubby even cook Sweet and Sour Fish for dinner.
I just sat on the chair beside him and tell him the ingredients, how to prepare them and how to cook the dish. All because he made me more sick. 
I love BBQ Invitations and I just received one yesterday. 
It is going to be my brother’s only son 2nd birthday. Since that handsome lil boy is his only son, I am sure it is going to be a grand BBQ birthday party. Hoping to see crabs and XXL prawns on the grill that night. 
I hope this time I can really enjoy the food being served. During previous birthday parties, I was not able too because I was carrying my newborn. This time around, my no more newborn will be cruising around in her walker and this mommy can really take time to enjoy every bite of the BBQ-ed serving.
Have any of you tried the Nyonya Braised Duck which we call it Sey Ark? I tried Goggling for it in a few different spelling like Sek Ak, Say Ark, Sek Ark and Sey Ak but no recipe for the Nyonya Braised Duck appears. My BIL the Chef, also tried the same but he couldn’t find any recipe online. So what he did was, when he was here, he bought a duck and some pork belly and get my MIL to help him cook the Sey Ark (Ark = Duck in Chinese). He and his 3rd daughter jotted down the recipe and how to cook the Sey Ark.
Then come my part, I placed the recipe online at my Simple Recipe blog.
Click on the picture for the recipe.
We had a sinful breakfast today. Char Tar Kuay with Chocolate Fondue. We also had a cup of Hot Lemon Tea to balance it up. If I am not breast feeding, the most I will take is a small bite. So fattening yet so satisfying. Love taste of the warm creamy chocolate on a crispy Char Tar Kuay. Sedap, I tell you.
There are many ways to embarrass your parents, with or without their presence. Just Google it. This is what my girls (8yo n 7yo) did to embarrass us. It happened on Monday at her school canteen.
It is recess time. My 7yo daughter do not feel like eating. Obviously she did not bring along her purse with her to the canteen. So she told her sister that she does not want to eat and does not have any money with her to buy food. My 8yo insisted that everyone must eat during recess time. So she brought her 7yo sister to see one of the teachers and told her that my 7yo does not have money to buy food. So, the teacher told the canteen lady to let my 7yo eat on credit! Isn’t that embarrassing to the parents? I wonder what went on the teacher’s mind. That I did not give pocket money to my 7yo? That I am too poor to provide pocket money for both my girls?
Here’s the conversation we had in the car on the way back from school.
Me: What did you eat in school just now?
8yo: Chicken Rice
Me: Clarissa?
8yo: She told me she does not have money.
Me: Cannot be. I gave her some money. (reach for the purse in her school back to check. confirm, there’s money in it)
7yo: I don’t want to eat but Jie Jie forced me to eat.
8yo: Yalar, it recess time. Everyone must eat.
Me: So, you shared your Chicken Rice with your sister?
8yo: No. I brought her to see the teacher. The teacher say something to the canteen lady and Clarissa must pay tomorrow.
Me : LOL!
My 8yo meant well. She has no intention of embarrassing us. My 8yo is just like her daddy. When it is meal time, whether you are hungry or not, you have to eat, whether you feel like eating or not. My 7yo is just like me. We only eat when we feel hungry and sometimes, we just don’t feel like eating.
Now is Tau Sar Pau phase! Hot steamy buns with sweet, creamy and smooth bean paste filling. We have been making Tau Sar Pau since last week. And we still have not get enough of it. Looks like we will be making steamed buns until we got bored eating them.
Last night, we allowed our children to play with the pau dough. They had so much fun rolling, pulling and twisting the pau dough. And here is the result of their effort of making steamed bun. This time we have 2 types of steamed buns; one with the red bean paste and another with sausages.
Last week, we celebrated my youngest son 2nd birthday. Yup! My cutie pie finally turn 2yo! And he is still not talking yet. But he is picking up fast. It is like all of a sudden, he decided that he wants to talk so he has been echoing us very often now. On his birthday, we did not hold any birthday party for him but we had fun making and decorating his birthday cake. This is the first time I make buttercream frosting on my own.
My 3 older kids helped me with the batter.
Then decorating them.
Here is the end result. Not bad huh?
Here is my 2yo pretending to be in awe at his birthday cake.
Next month, there will be another cake to make and decorate. My eldest will turn 8yo next month and she wants us to bake a chocolate cake with chocolate topping and decorations; all chocolate.
Check this out! This is my paternal grandparent’s grave. Last week, my dad and his siblings celebrated Cheng Beng which is also known as the New Year for the Dead. You see the varieties of food that was being offered to them. Even during Chinese New Year we do not have that much food. Those are my grandparent’s favorite food and fruits. Hmmmm…I don’t see any Aiskrim Soda in that dark brown bottle and Cadbury Chocolate this time around. They are my grandma’s favorite. They used to offer that to her every year; I wonder why.
Cheng Beng is also a yearly “party” and family gathering for my dad’s family. Everyone will be at the same place at the same time; not even during CNY. After the prayer, they will feast on those food.
Guest post written by Renee Holden
For my kids, I like to patch chicken salad sandwiches for their school lunches. Now that they’re hooked on it, I can’t get them to eat any other kind of sandwiches! But buying that store bought chicken salad at the local deli or even a chain grocery store can get pretty expensive after a while. So I decided that if my kids are hooked on the stuff, I better find a better way to get it and one that’s also less expensive.
I went online to find some directions on how to make some chicken salad on my own, which I’ve never attempted before. When I was online looking for that stuff, I came across the website Clear-Internet.com and looked through it a little bit. I showed it to my husband and we agreed on ordering a package from it for our home internet service.
I did find a recipe for chicken salad and fixed a whole bunch of it at once. Luckily it will keep a week, so this is perfect for their school lunches!
