Soya Sauce and Chicken

Soya sauce and chicken always reminds me of Mum's cooking and it comforts me a lot. So, being down with a chest infection and craving some love, I hauled ass and set about making a large batch of teriyaki chicken to eat with rice. Also, being sick means no going out with the girls for their dedicated 'Time with Mummy' days (Zoe has Tuesdays and Mia has Wednesdays) - so I had to replace the time I was comatose in bed with (and this is a big mistake of course, because the adult supervision zapped me out) baking instead.



Here's Zoe - chef cum marine biologist extraordinaire, making choc chip cookies.

I didn't bother with a recipe but here's how we made them:

1.5 cups flour (sifted) - use self-raising for a softer cookie - I personally like the gritty bite of a shortbread-type pastry better.
125gms butter
0.5 cup brown sugar (you may want to add up to 1 cup if you want a sweeter cookie, or switch to caster sugar, which is sweeter)
(Mix the above with fingers till you get a lovely crumble.)
Add in one medium to large egg.
(Continue mixing till you get a kneady dough.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
(Continue kneading the dough till it's all worked in)

Use a teaspoon to measure out dough into your palm. Roll into balls, pat them with love flat onto a greased cookie pan. Press as many chocolate chips as you want into each cookie. Bake till golden brown in an oven at about 180 degrees Celsius. (Depending on your oven, adjust as necessary with each batch). We made about 30 cookies or so and they all disappeared within the day!

Love comes in many forms and it doesn't have to be fancy.

And so when it was Mia's turn - we just made jello. No less loved - inhaled within two hours.

Oh - if you want my soy sauce chicken recipe.

I didn't have Japanese teriyaki sauce on hand, so I made a variation of it with south east asian soy sauces. It has a bit more tang if you ask me, which I like.

Grab a bowl and put in some light soy sauce, dark soy sauce. More light than dark. (As much as will cover the amount of chicken you plan to cook - I used chicken breast fillets). Add honey, or a teaspoon of sugar. Squeeze of lime. You could also add in a dash of Japanese bonito soup stock for a heavier body, but this is optional.
Pour it over the chicken, mix, and leave to marinate for about 10 minutes.

Put a generous dollop of butter into the frying pan (you can also use olive oil if you want a healthier option, but butter is more comforting) and then pan fry the chicken fillets. If you don't allow too much sauce into the pan, it will allow the existing sauce on the fillets from the marination to caramelise nicely, and keep the chicken from getting that poached look, we're aiming for a pan-friend look here. :) When all the fillets are cooked, remove from the pan, and pour into the pan any remaining sauce. Allow the sauce to cook and caramelise a little, then pour it over the top of the cooked fillets. mmmm...

This chicken tastes mighty good with rice and some stir-fried veg and sambal belacan. Eat with hands and feel the loooove!

I'm English!

This probably happens to most pre-school kids in Malaysia - it happened to me too - where you're in kindy and labels just don't matter. You don't think in terms of race or nationality but in terms of the language you speak most! Whenever Mia is asked if she's Chinese or Malay she always announces indignantly: I'm English! Duhh..?

Mum and I have tried repeatedly to teach Mia and Zoe Cantonese or Hokkien but all we get are sniggers. If Mum weren't multi-lingual, and stuck to her guns, the girls might be speaking a Chinese dialect or two by now. In fact that might be what we have to do! Or declare Sunday Chinese-speaking day...

Anyway here's Mia imitating a little Chinese girl who bullied her... P/S for those of you who don't speak Chinese - no it doesn't mean anything - it's what sounds like Chinese to Mia!



And here, she has another go - with her sister for more dramatic effect... You can tell she did pick up some of the intonations from Mum despite all that...



haiyaa......

Cadillac Baby

Once upon a two-year old... (Mia sings back-up while 5-year old Zoe sings Eddie Murphy's part...)

Where's the Ringgit?

Mia bugs me for RM25 so that she can collect her school picture (they take one every year). So she's bugging me and she's bugging me: Mummy! I need twenty five ringgit. Mummy! I need twenty five ringgit!

I take out my wallet to give her the money.

I take out a ten. "Ok, here's ten,"

I take out another ten. "...twenty,"

I take out a five. "...five - twenty five!"

And Mia says: "Ya, but where's the ringgit?"

Crafty Zoe

Zoe has a great artistic streak. She loves arts and crafts and is just naturally good with solutions and colour combos. I would work nights at Starbucks to put her through Art School... Here are some things she makes when she feigns illness in order to come with me to the office. Many of these art things are really just to get me off the computer and somewhere fun with her though...

Angel (front)

Angel (back) note the hair

she knows i want a vw beetle

and then... when you open the next piece...

A ghost...apparently...

a birdie with a regular looking tail...

...with a little message attached!

We Kutu-gether like Rama-lama-lama...

I am being terrorised by head lice. Thanks to the neighbours' kids - who ALL have it! Although I cannot be sure who gave what to whom. And so we've been to the pharmacy for head lice shampoo, and the RM2 shop to get those really fine-toothed Japanese combs. I've discovered that they're great for getting the live ones off the head - but the horror of having to get them off the comb to squish them with tissues is unnerving.

Anyway, I am personally bug-free for now, but (scratch scratch) for how long?

Auntie Zoe, waiting for her head lice shampoo to take-no-prisoners.

Knock Knock

Z: Knock knock
M: Who's there?
Z: Ba.
M: Ba Who?
Z: Babi! (Swine)

(Mia is insulted by this 'Babi' word for some reason and feels she needs to get back.)

M: Knock knock
Z: Who's there?
M: Sir.
Z: Sir who?
M: Sir-sema Babi! (Swine flu)

Mia got the Outstanding Achievement Award for her Pre-1 Red class at Tadika Hillview. Zoe did too! Mrs. Singh, the principal says that Zoe was the most often absent, but the best overall achiever. She says Mia's very hardworking. I guess that means, some of us are smart and some of us are... lalalalala!

I'd say that Mia's not lacking in that department. She's just less wily than her sister. I remember the time I asked her to get me some pantyliners from the bathroom cabinet. I asked for two and she brought me two, plus the entire pack. I said,"Mia, why did you bring me the entire pack? I only asked for two,"

She said, "Put here lah! Then senang (easy), if not you keep on - ask me to take, ask me to take! haiya...".

you've got to love that!