The Lazy Stay-at-Home Mommy

Either my hubby is seriously deprived of the carrot cake (Chai tao kway or 菜头粿, and not this sweet Western carrot cake) or he is a easily contented person. According to him, this simple carrot cake bento is one of the best lunch I’ve made for him. LOL. Hmm… or is he implying that the food i normally made for him… sucks?

For the past few years, I have always used radish (daikon) to make my carrot cake. Since I was in experimental mood, I replaced the radish with shredded carrots this time. Comparing with the daikon cake, I don’t find there is much difference in taste except that the steamed cake made with carrots is slightly sweeter and the texture is a little firmer than the daikon cake.

Anyway, here’s the carrot cake recipe that I have been using.
This recipe can also be used for steamed yam cake or steamed pumpkin cake. Just replaced the carrots/radish with cubed yam or pumpkin.

Ingredients :-
Group A : 1200ml water
350g rice flour
20g tapioca flour

Group B : 2tsp minced garlic
50g (or 2 sticks) Chinese sausage, finely chopped.
50g dried shrimps, soaked and finely chopped
150g carrots -peeled and shedded

Seasoning : salt, soya sauce, pepper, chicken stock granules (optional) to taste – make it slightly more salty than u normally like becos the mixture in A has no seasoning.

Steps :
1. Grease the baking tin and prepare a pot of boiling water for steaming.
2. Combine Ingredients A and mix well.
3. Heat 1 Tsp oil in wok and stir fry dried shrimps until fragrant, then add minced chinese sausage and garlic and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Add shredded radish (or diced yam) and seasoning. Stir fry briefly.
5. Add Ingredient A and stir constantly until you feel that the mixture is thickening (or glue-like).
6. Pour mixture into baking tin and steam over high heat fopr about 40mins.
7. Remove and let cool.

There are many ways of eating the carrot cake. For this bento, I just fried the carrot cake with chopped preserved radish, minced garlic, eggs, and Chinese fish sauce. I hope to try the black version, called the char kway one day. If I’m successful, I will share with you the recipe.

Tags: Bento & lunchbox notes, cooking/recipes // Comments Off

This post brought to you by Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

Remember I posted earlier about the perfect Spring break getaway would be to Branson, MO and how I wish I could stay in the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel and to spend some time visiting the beautiful underground wonderland, the Talking Rocks Cavern and the Silver Dollar City?

Well, there is another reason to go!! The Village People is coming to Branson, Missouri on May 13th!!!

I’m pretty sure most of you have heard of The Village People or at least heard of their songs like “In the Navy”, “YMCA” and “Macho Man”. I especially like the song, YMCA,  because the tune and lyrics is so catchy and it brings back many fond memories of my teenage years for me. To this day whenever I hear the YMCA song on the radio or TV, I will turn the volume up a level and sing along and dance the crazy “YMCA” dance! LOL! What about you? What is your favorite The Village People’s song?

Right now, Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing is running a special Hilton Promenade Village People Concert Package that includes two 70’s Supershow tickets –featuring Village People, Maxine Nightingale & Janice-Marie and one-night stay at the beautiful Hilton Promenade, starting at $219.00 for two people. Here you will enjoy your comfortable room which is conveniently located. You can also enjoy a plush Hilton Serenity collection bed, which includes a pillowed topped mattress, down comforter and luxurious 250 thread count triple sheets. So, book your package today!

Before I end this post, I would like to share my favorite The Village People’s song, YMCA with you! Enjoy!

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Made this simple bento for the girl to celebrate the first day of Spring a few weeks ago.

If I remember correctly, instead of having a warm sunny weather, it was a flurry snow day. Oh well… nothing should really surprise me already when comes to New England weather. If it can snow on April Fools’ Day, it can certainly snow on the first day of Spring. *shrug*

Content:
Lunch box: A flower-shaped egg omelette and cheese sandwich, kiwi and blackberries
Snack box: string cheese, kiwi, blackberries and Japanese fruit jellies.

Total time to make this bento: 15mins

Tags: Bento & lunchbox notes // Comments Off

This post brought to you by Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

Argh! The unpredictable New England weather!

Another northeastern storm is already heading our way, bringing 4-10” of snowfall on April Fool’s day.  Seriously, I’m so sick of the lingering cold weather. I really can’t wait for April Spring break to come faster so that we can take a short vacation to somewhere. Somewhere like scenic Branson, Missouri.

Being a family who loves scenic views, Scenic Branson is the perfect spring break destination. With two young children, maybe spending sometime at the Silver Dollar City, a family friendly theme park with the timeless appeal of crafts and a dedication to preserving 1880s Ozarks culture, would be a good idea.

Right now, Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel and Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing are offering tempting packages that include two adult tickets and two children’s tickets (ages 4 to 11) for two full days of fun at Silvery Dollar City. It also includes a $25 food and beverage voucher for Level 2 Steakhouse located on the second floor of the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. This two-night, three-day package starts at $455.00 plus tax. It’s just another way Hilton is making family fun even more affordable.

Besides the excitement of Silver Dollar City, Branson has ongoing events for everyone’s enjoyment this spring like the exciting Charlie Daniels Band, 3rd Annual Missouri Food and Wine Festival, Bluegrass and BBQ, shows galore and much more. With so much to offer, this exciting vacation community is the social scene for spring!

If we do visit Branson this Spring, besides the Silver Dollar City, I would like to spend some time visiting the beautiful underground wonderland, the Talking Rocks Cavern, which is just minutes away from Silver Dollar City. This amazing cave is uniquely decorated with thousands of beautiful natural living crystal of many different kinds, colors, and textures growing closely together! I’m sure it is gonna be a fun and educational trip for the whole family.

If you’ve been to Branson, let me know what are your favorite things to do there so we don’t miss anything.

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This is an impromptu craft that I made last Friday, while watching “The Knight Night” movie with my DH. Yes, I can’t stop myself from multitasking!! Even when I’m watching a movie, I just can’t sit there and not do something! -_-” Sometimes I really wonder if I have the adult ADD… LOL.

Anyway, here is what inspired me to create my own silhouette craft…

the “Jazz it up” silhouette sculpture that we got many years ago from an auction event, which I am waiting for DH to hang it back on the wall above the piano for almost a year now. -_-”

Back to the craft…

There must be 1001 ways of creating silhouettes but for this Lazy Stay-at-Home mom, the “low-tech” method using just the very basic tools is good enough.

Ok… let me show you how I created mine… the “low tech” way.

First, I took a picture of the our side profiles and then download the images onto my computer. I changed the photos into black & white pictures, using Picasa (u can use other tools too, tuned the photos a little using the light, highlight & shadow options.

Then I took a piece of white A4 paper, placed it over my computer screen, simply trace over the outside of the profiles creating the silhouettes and cut them out…

Next, traced along the profile of white silhouettes onto a piece of black paper, cut the black silhouettes out and then glue them on a white card stock paper.

Since I have quite a few old picture frames with prints that I no longer like and it is such a waste to let them sit in the basement and collect dust, I decided to give them a new lease of life by re-using them.

With just a pair of pliers and screw driver, I performed the “surgery”…

And finally, pop the silhouettes into the frames. That’s it!!

Instant art that is full of meaning! Yeah!

Tags: art & craft // 2 Comments »

Technically, I mean.
The weather here in New England is still quite cold, around 30+F (<10deg C). Well… at least the snow is dwindling away and the receding snow has made it possible to see the ground again and that is a wonderful sight! I really can’t wait to start working on my vegetable garden!!!

Actually for the past two months, I have been feeling really depressed. The stress from everyday life has zapped away all my energy and bring negativity to our life. I think I need to learn how to give up control over something, try not to do it all and just focus more on myself and my well being.

For a start, I want to tackle the mess of my house. I really do think that the state of my house is a reflection of the state of my mind. Right now it looks like tornado has just landed -_-” and so I really have to kick start my spring cleaning. Of course, I have to be really careful not to make myself overly tired while doing it. As such, I’m tackling one room at a time, starting with the easiest – the piano room!

Here’s a before and after picture…

Not too bad, right?

Hopefully, by decluttering the house, it will help to declutter my mind too.

After figuring out that I also need to find some “quiet” activity or hobby to help me to occupy and calm my “active” mind, I started sewing. My first project is a simple ski neck wrap that I made for the girl.

She looks good with that wrap, right?

Because I felt quite good sewing this ski wrap, I went out to get myself a new sewing machine…

Oops… Not sure if you can tell… I actually haven’t set the sewing machine up yet. Must find time to do it soon!

Oh… another thing that I also really want to do for myself is to start exercising and keep fit. Remember a few months ago I mentioned that I started my exercise regimen? Well… it only lasted for… *drum roll* 3 days. Oops. I only wish it is as easy as the HCG Diet program. I heard this HCG fat and weight loss program allows one to lose 1-2pounds per day without exercising!! This HCG Diet sounds too good to be true, right?

Anyway, I really want to start over again and this time I will try my very best to stick to my exercise plan! So… Aja Aja, Fighting to me!!!

Tags: personal // 3 Comments »

I have always been looking for Chinese homeschool teaching resources that I could use to teach my children and here are some that I’ve found and hope you will find them useful as well.

For Preschool-Kindergarten level:

1. Chinese For Kids (Link)
- includes lesson plans, downloadable reading materials and activities worksheets.

2. Early Learning – Chinese (Link)
- I like their printable Animals, Numbers and bilingual Alphabets coloring page.

3. Free Chinese flash cards (Link)

4. Chinese-tools.com (Link)
- Online lessons with audio, including reading, vocabulary, examples and exercises.

For elementary level:

1. Overseas Chinese Language and Culture Education Online (Link)
- Learn Chinese from this interactive site. Includes online textbook, additional reading materials, exercises.

2. EduMall from MOE Sg (Link)
- Learn Chinese from this interactive site. Includes online textbook, additional reading materials, exercises.

3. Interactive Pinyin (Link)
- Recommended for Pinyin Practice.

4. Activity Builder: Practical Chinese Reader Vocabulary (Link)
-Grab and match pinyin/characters with characters on the bottom.

Others – Chinese tools:
English to Chinese (Pinyin) Dictionary (Link)

Chinese Pronunciation tool (Link)
- Paste a chinese text and get the pinyin pronounciation of all the characters.

Pinyin Editor (Link)

Actually there are more, but I guess this list will do for now.
If I have the time, I may also share the Chinese iPad/iPhone apps that we like.
Ok… Got to get back to my spring cleaning!

Tags: CL-homeschool, Education, hanyupinyin, links // 2 Comments »

Bento content: Sushi (hot dog, spinach, carrot) arranged in Shamrock pattern, Quail Eggs leprechaun. Kiwi, Strawberries, cookies.

I have been watching the news closely over the past week with sadness and anxiety as Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and its resulting tsunami. There is really nothing much I can do to help, other than to donate and sending some positive vibes to Japan.

I am urging you to please consider donating to one of the relief organizations listed below.
Really, no amount is too small, every amount helps!
With the current catastrophic crisis, Japan needs our help more than ever.

For those who wish to donate using your Paypal account, please go to :
Donate with Paypal

Relief Organizations:
American Red Cross

Save the Children

GlobalGiving

Salvation Army

International Medical Corps

U.S. Fund for UNICEF

AmeriCares

Tags: Bento & lunchbox notes // 2 Comments »

I have been packing lunch almost every weekdays since early 2003. At that time, packing lunch for DH and I seemed like the right thing to do (still holds true till now) because western food just can’t satisfy our Asian palate and it is more economical, convenient and most importantly, healthier for DH to bring homecooked food to work.

Since DH isn’t a big fan of Japanese food and partly also because I actually prefer to eat warm food for lunch, our usual stable food is actually more towards Southeast Asian-style. I know I may have given you the impression that I often make Japanese-inspired bento for my family because almost all the bento photos that I have posted so far seems to suggest that. However, the truth is I probably only make sushi or even sandwich bento once a week.

Anyway, the following bento photos will give you an idea what we usually have for lunch. As you probably can tell, we are big fans of Mr. Bento food jar!!

#15: Tomato sauce Sardine fish, stir-fry broccoli and rice

#16: Braised pork meat, Ham and Yuchoy egg omlette and rice

#17: Stir-fry broccoli and cauliflower, packed with tomato sauce tilapia fish fillet and pieces of roast duck (both were leftovers from chinese takeout), sunny side up egg and rice.

#18: Fried Bee Hoon

Tags: Bento & lunchbox notes // 4 Comments »

I’m having one of those “mommy burnt out” moments today. All I want to do is nothing but mindless web browsing and blogs hopping.

Anyway, while browsing around, I found several good Chinese homeschooling resources sites (which I will compile and share with you later when I feel much better) and some interesting freebies on “All Free Samples”, a site that lists tons of online freebies, free samples by mail, and other free product offers.

What I like about this site is that it acts like a one-stop directory and you can browse all the freebies by categories such as baby, beauty products, cars & automotive, drinks & beverages etc.

Just to share with you the freebies that caught my eyes today on “All Free Samples”…

1. Free deluxe sample of sephora Collection 7-in-1 Full Action Mascara (Link)

According to the coupon, you just need to visit any Sephora’s store inside a JC Penneys with this coupon in your hand, and you can get a free deluxe sample of sephora Collection 7-in-1 Full Action Mascara. The coupon is good through April 7th.

PS: If you are interested in beauty products and would love to try some free samples of make up, I recommend you to check out the link first.

2. Free coffee samples from Nescafe (Link)

Just check out Nescafe on Facebook and you will get to treat yourself to a free sample of Taster’s Choice instant coffees! This is good in the US only, and while supplies last.

3. Free Kids’ Pop-Up Art Projects (Link)
Interesting pop up art project printables that you can use to keep kids busy.

* This is a sponsored post.*

Tags: personal // 3 Comments »