Cook with Love

For those of you who have been following my adventures as a parent, you would have known that I actually learn to cook after my wife had given birth to Ryan (now 5 years old) during her confinement months. What got me started were two confinement recipe cook books and I remembered faithfully following the ingredients in those recipe books to the letter.

Over the last 5 years I have developed a passion for cooking and coupled with my passion for photography, I am obsessed with the thought of making sure that my food looks delicious and tempting to start with. I love to cook but I must admit that I DO NOT have the discipline required to be a good cook. I, for one would and could never remember or even bother to record the types of ingredients and their measurement that I used to whipped out a dish. Hence, I always have problems trying to tell or teach others how to prepare a dish that I have just cooked because I could hardly remember what I had just dumped into the pot nor how much I have used.....

I get bored cooking the same dish over and over again because there is no challenge and above all, nothing interesting to photograph. I am always game for a change. Anything visually stunning excites me and hence, my wife always know that I would order something visually attractive whenever we go out to dine, not bothering whether the food is going to be delicious or not. Yes..I am a sucker for good looking food. That is because I am curious to see how exactly these professional chefs laid out their creation.

 This is one example where I ordered this dish earlier from a Yunnan restaurant. I have always had challenges on how to plate an eggplant dish and since my mother in law adores eggplant, I got tired of cooking the same egg plant dish over and over again. So, when I saw this dish at the restaurant, I ordered it immediately and over the next few days, I went out to buy me some eggplants and attempted my version. The result was oven grilled eggplant, stuffed with stirred fried eggplant with minced pork meat and Chinese mushrooms and red chillies with Chinese cooking wine of course, topped with chopped chives and Chinese parsley leaves. My wife said that this is even better than that at the Yunnan restaurant ! I am a happy man!

To me, cooking is an adventure. Gone are the days when I would follow a cook book by the letter (although I still do when I run out of ideas to cook). Most of time, I would just buy something that I fancy, conjured up the taste I thought I wanted as outcome and picture the dish being presented in my mind. Other times, I would just open my refrigerator, and plan what I wanted to cook based on what I still have left in the fridge.

 This is a dish where I roughly know what I wanted to cook yet had never attempt before nor do I have a recipe for it. I wanted to cook a mussel dish in premium soup (something rather popular back home in Malaysia in restaurant like LaLa Cheong) yet I have absolutely no idea what the ingredients are. Cooking is an adventure and being innovative and creative. I roughly knew what taste I would want my dish to come out as and I made used of some of the ingredients that I have left in the fridge, such as some left over lemon grass and lemon. The final product was mussels cooked in thick spicy and sour lemon grass soup with lots of black pepper and red chillies to provide the extra kick I needed. To thicken the sauce, I add some corn flour and whipping cream for colour. I am not even sure whether I am using all the right ingredients to get what I want but I got WHAT I have set out to prepare. Verdict: My mother in law whacked every single mussel that is left and even kept the left over soup for her next lunch!

I am not one who could cook every meal because once cooking becomes a daily chore, I will loose interest and the desire to cook. I see cooking as a escape from my mundane daily routine, something that I could exercise my creativity and at the end of the day, a sense of achievement and satisfaction with a nicely taken picture of that creation.

 This is one dish that I have been cooking almost two to three times a week for Ryan since he absolutely adores salmon. The only thing that keeps me interested with this dish hence, was to see what other sauce I could use to accompany this dish or how else can I better present this dish. Here, I made a horseradish sauce based on a recipe I found on the internet (Thank God for internet!)

Above all, I think I cook with a sense of love for the those that I am cooking for, wanting them to enjoy the same journey that I have taken in preparing them, when they feast upon the food before them.

 One of my wife's favorite is scallops and I have always been on a look out on different ways to prepare a good scallop dish. I used to bake scallops with Japanese mushrooms and Japanese mayo but I have got bored preparing that dish. I wanted something different and instead baked these lovely scallops that we found at the wet market near our place in Beijing, simply with some Chinese cooking wine, sea salt, black pepper and minced garlic topped with finely chopped chives for color. If you cook with love for the one you love, you would constantly think how to better yourself with fresh ideas to surprise them and in the process, learned something new.

Prior to this, I always thought that cooking is something beyond me. But if I can cook (and only started to do so when I was 45), so can you, as long as you cook with LOVE for the very ones that you LOVE.

Am I a good cook? I seriously do not think so but one thing I do know, I can cook, I love to cook and I love to cook for the ones I love. Bon appetit!

Stolen but Proud

Recently in May this year, a Facebook friend from Hong Kong messaged me all of all sudden and said that she had seen Ryan and me in one of their newspaper! No way!

There were only two occasions that I was ever on the newspaper and that was work related years ago and I do not recall going for any particular photo shoot or event with Ryan that has any such publicity, all the more that we have been in Beijing since November 2012.

So, I asked her whether she was certain that it was us. She said she was dead certain because she has seen that picture before on my Facebook. She was kind enough to take a picture of that particular page of the newspaper and emailed to me.

 Can you spot us in the article above?

Yes. That picture was definitely us when I was having my first 9 hole golfing experience with Ryan when we were holidaying at Club Med Bali in 2011. I remembered posting that picture in my Facebook and writing a post in my blog then about our trip with that picture.

 Our first 9 holes of par 3 together as father and son at Club Med Bali in 2011

Someone sitting behind a desk in Hong Kong with the assignment to write an article about Club Med must have been surfing for pictures and stumbled upon us because I definitely could not recall anyone giving me a call for approval to use that picture.

My first reaction was of anger because our privacy has been infringed in a way and that the picture was used without getting our prior consent. I wanted to know which newspaper it was and wanted to write in to demand for an explanation. After a moment to calm down, on second thought, since no reference was made to who we were and was just a random picture included as one of the many activities that one could do at Club Med, I felt that minimal harm has been caused.

Putting up such pictures in the first place in my blog or Facebook for example will automatically opens up the risk or opportunities for others to gain access and in this case, used one of such pictures although without prior approval.

Looking back, I am rather proud that our father and son's first golfing experience had impressed someone enough to `use' it to capture the wholesome family experience that one could gain at Club Med. We certainly did enjoyed ourselves.

So, yes..the picture were `stolen' but I am proud that someone saw it worthy to be `stolen'....

Charmed Lives

I remembered my first photograph taken with me riding on a horse. It was taken in Batu Maung, Penang, one of those rare family holidays with my parents made during Hari Raya. I still remembered staying at the then Merlin in Penang, with our room overlooking the sea. I remembered being overly excited with the soft drinks in the mini bar that I spilled the Fanta Grape I had all over the carpet and got a good scolding from my dad for it.

I remembered playing some arcade games (which I rarely had the chance to do since my parents are extremely strict when it comes to parenting) while my parents were chatting away with their friends.

And of course, there was this opportunity to sit on a horse to have my picture taken. I remembered distinctly two such black and white pictures. One was me sitting on the horse while another was with my mother standing besides me. I have been trying to locate those two pictures but to no avail. It is probably in one of the boxes we left behind in Malaysia.

Anyway, when I looked at this two pictures of Ryan and Chenya sitting on the horse, taken at the Kangxi Grassland, it reminded me so much of mine, especially the one of Ryan. The only difference is that mine was in black and white and taken by the beach and his was taken in color and in the vast grasslands of Kangxi in China.

Ryan is definitely leading a life much much better than I do in my childhood. I get to ride my first horse when I was in my primary school and he got his first ride when he was only five. He has been to so many places that I could only dream about when I was his age (in fact, I don't even think I know that those places exist in the first place, like the malay idiom "Seperti katak in bawah tempurung.")

And if you think that Ryan is having a good life, I think Chenya would probably surpass that very soon. She got her first taste of horse ride when she was only 2 and had her first aeroplane ride even before 2. I remembered taking my first flight to Perth when I was closed to 25!!

I am sure if we had our way and if things worked as planned, Ryan could be well be riding a horse on the vast grasslands in Inner Mongolia next summer, something that the daddy of his has to do it as part of his bucket list.

What charmed lives these two had and I wish that when they read this post sometime in the future, probably in my absence, that they will know how fortunate they are and to value all these experiences that we are trying to give them as much as we possibly could.

Breakfast with Minnie Mouse

Disneyland is famous because of her STARS! Yes. There would be no Disneyland if there was no MICKEY MOUSE to start it all years ago. What is Disneyland without the lovable Minnie Mouse, the amusing yet irritating Donald Duck, the pretty Daisy Duck, the ever faithful Pluto and of course the forever goofing around Goofy!

 Pluto got hold of Mommy and Ryan ...

Ryan goofing around with who else ....GOOFY!

Over the years of course, we grew up with the seven dwarfs (Can you name all seven??), the charming Snow White and her wicked step mother. Then there was Dumbo the flying elephant and the ever youthful Peter Pan and his arch enemy, the sinister Captain Hook. Of course there was the tiny Thinkerbell.

 Ryan managed to `cornered' Captain Hook as he made his round from table to table

We grew up with so many fairy tales in our childhood and they all live happily ever after. Never mind if that is far from the reality that we lived in but these are the very stories that formed our childhood dreams. As a boy, we dreamt of being that hero, while the girls dreamt of being Snow White, being swept off their feet one fine day by their Prince Charming riding on his white stallion. 

As more Disney's movies rolled out over the years, we have Shimba and the wise baboon Rafiki from the Lion King, the characters from Madagascar and Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

 Ryan with Rafiki, the baboon from Lion King

On nights that we were lonely, how many of us secretly wished for a visit from the ever doting Fairy God Mother, who would take away our tears and make all our wishes come true.

 Ryan getting his hug from the Fairy Godmother ..

Therefore, it is not surprising that a visit to Disneyland would NEVER be complete without hugging one of your favorite characters.

How about having your breakfast with them as they drop by one at a time, giving you a hug and taking time for you to pose for a picture with them.

 With the bouncing and ever joyful Tyger from Winnie the Pooh.

Ryan even got the Big Bad Wolf to practice Chinese Kungfu with him ..

With Pinocchio, the mischievous puppet that always wanted to be a boy

Yes, we did exactly that. We had a breakfast with Minnie and her Friends at the Park Inn within the theme park. Although the price for that buffet breakfast was rather expensive, at USD35.99 (RM120) per person, but it presents the opportunity for the little ones to hug and interact with the different Disney characters that drop by. Expensive it might seemed, but if you are thinking of doing this, you got to ensure that you make your reservation as early as possible because the restaurant is constantly packed to the brim.

 Even mommy can not resist the temptation and the chance to realise her childhood dream, having her picture taken with Minnie Mouse ...

 Getting a hug from Dale, one half of the ever joyful to watch chipmunks, Chip and Dale

This probably has to be one of the most expensive buffet breakfast we had but judging from the smiles, grins and laughter we all had, especially from Ryan, I must also said that this is also one of the HAPPIEST breakfast we had.

And of course, how can Ryan leave Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth without having his picture taken with the that one iconic STAR who had started it all, MICKEY MOUSE himself.

 And he is, the main STAR of Disneyland, MICKEY MOUSE himself in person and this is the icing of the cake as far as the trip to Disneyland is concerned ...

Ryan is already asking when he is going back to see his `friends' and Chenya is asking when she is going to "Ikneeland" to see "mikey moose".

I am foreseeing another trip to the happiest place of earth somewhere in the horizon and honestly, this daddy is looking forward to, to once again walk through her magical gates and be transformed and transported yet again .....

Halloween in Disneyland

We were travelling quite a fair bit last year and with our relocation to Beijing, I have had little time to update my blog then. On checking, I actually discovered that I did not update much of Ryan’s first trip to USA, especially his trip to the happiest place on earth – DISNEYLAND.

 Disneyland at Anaheim, LA was decked with Halloween decorations when we visited last year

So, here I am, just to add that post into this journal, both for myself (to refresh my fading memories as I grow older) and for him to relive his childhood fun when he grows older too.

Before this trip, the furthest we have brought Ryan out of the country was to Beijing. Hence, we were initially apprehensive as to how he would cope with this 20 over hour flight. He quickly put our apprehension to rest, when he excitedly settled down quickly on the plane with the in-flight games, movies, his iPad and chatting up the air stewardess!

Our first stop was in Seattle where mommy has to attend to her business meetings while daddy was left with the job to keep him occupied. More of that in the next few posts.

But he was eagerly waiting for, was the trip to DISNEYLAND, the place where every kid dream of, not to mention many adults too, including yours truly.

 Bright orange pumpkins were everywhere, truly reflecting the spirit and atmosphere of Halloween

When we were there, Halloween was just around the corner and DISNEYLAND went full steam to capture the spirit a Halloween. The entire Disneyland at Anaheim, LA was decorated to reflect Halloween. The sight of bright orange carved pumpkins was EVERYWHERE! It was simply amazing. They even had a special Halloween night where guests were encouraged to go in their full Halloween costumes. We did not opt for that because, firstly, it was held on the first day that we arrived and secondly, it was rather expensive and we gathered that it would be so overly crowded that it would not be worthwhile paying that amount to fight with the rest for the rides.

 The main street in Disneyland, Anaheim, LA

But we had fun nevertheless, soaking in the Halloween atmosphere, on all the three days were there. Yes! We were there for three days and to Ryan, it is still NOT ENOUGH. Who could blame him, when DISNEYLAND has been branded as THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH and if you immersed yourself in all the fun and activities, she actually is.

 Standing in front of the icon of Disneyland, Walt Disney and his star creation, Mickey Mouse against the backdrop of the Magical Castle.

Posing in front of the GIANT Pumpkin Mickey Mouse, at the start of MAIN STREET USA

There is simply a special MAGIC in the air the moment you entered through her gates and you are transformed magically into this fantasy kingdom where cartoon characters that I grew up with comes alive! YES YES YES! There was Goofy, Minnie and Donald. And out of nowhere, apparently, CHIP and DALE popped up to say hello. And of course the STAR of the kingdom, MICKEY MOUSE himself.

 His best Halloween ever !

More pictures of that in the next post. For now, my dear son, you must be one lucky boy. I have to wait 49 years before I could see my dream coming true and there you were, cuddling Mickey Mouse at the age of 4!

Ice Sledging

At the twinkling of an eye, autumn in Beijing is almost over and winter is fast approaching. The hot summer days of 36 to 40 degrees are giving way to much cooler temperatures now. Cold to be exact. As I write this, the temperature outside at 9:30 in morning is standing at 14 degrees and expected to plummet to only 11 degrees tonight.

Time flew past when we looked back, doesn’t it. It has been almost a year now since we shifted over to Beijing. As winter approaches and as I look back at my previous blog at http://babynme2008.blogspot.com, I realised that I had not updated much about our very first winter. Part of the main reason was that I was having so many issues with my paid VPN here to get connected to blogspot (which is blocked by the great firewall of China). When I could log in, I just could not update a new post for several months until the problem suddenly went away when I wrote in several complaints.

Although most of the pictures had been uploaded in my Facebook, I thought I would update some of those outings that we had during that period of `blog silence’ since I wanted both Chenya and Ryan to be able to read about the fun we had together as a family when they were young.

 During the cold bitter winter, the entire lake at Houhai turned into one giant skating and ice sledging ring where many, despite the freezing temperatures, came out to have fun.

One of the very memorable outings of course was having fun on a completely frozen lake at Houhai.

The central of Beijing is dominated by several lakes near the Forbidden City. They are the Houhai, Beihai and Jianhai. For most part of the year, these lakes are beautiful places to hire a boat and spent a leisurely weekend, boating. Comes winter and the lake will be totally frozen and turned into one giant skating ring!

Last winter, we managed to make our way there in sub zero temperatures during a weekend. Since, none of us have no experience in ice skating, we opted for the very crude ice sledge ride. I called it crude because it is simply just wooden planks they called chairs affixed on simple sledges with two sharp iron rods to help you push your way through the icy ring. Crude BUT fun!
 

We rented two and had so much fun sliding all over the lake with the tune of “Dashing through the snow (frozen lake),” ringing in our heads and at the same time, enjoying seeing others slipping and falling all over the place. It is no fun slipping and falling on solid ice. It can be rather dangerous, painful and definitely wet and cold.

Mommy wanted a picture taken with her daughter.

We ended up freezing, cold and wet. Ryan’s and Chenya’s nose were running faster than a 100 meters sprint because of the cold, despite the many layers of thick clothing they had. But WE HAVE FUN!

Ryan having his very FIRST cotton candy and enjoying the moment ....

 

I just can’t wait for this year’s winter where we will probably get out for another round and I am sure that Chenya will enjoy this even more now since she is already 2 years old.

Mid Autumn Festival in Beijing

This would be our very first Mid Autumn festival away from home back in Malaysia. When we were back home, mid autumn festival were celebrated with my in laws and my youngest sister. After dinner, we would gather at our car porch, tabled laid with all sort of biscuits, cookies and the most important of all, moon cakes of every variety and fillings.

Lanterns will be hung across the car porch while the children will have a ‘FUNstatic’ time playing with their individual lanterns and candles of course. Lanterns back home comes in different shapes and sizes and Ryan’s favorite of course was his ‘Ultraman’.

However, we have much difficulty trying to lay our hands on some decent lanterns here in Beijing. We simply could not find them anywhere. We thought that we did not know where to search and hence we have been asking every local we came across, from the waitresses at Jamaica Blue, our daily morning coffee hang out to the illegal taxi drivers whom have became our friends over the last nine months.

One of these taxi drivers said he knew of a possible mall where we could get some and took us there last Saturday morning. We spent over an hour there before we came across this ONE store that has some in stock. They were nice and inexpensive, approximately RMB10 each. We bought six. Now that we have our lanterns, the next item to hunt for were the candles and that we have to buy from another store (and the only one who carries them) for RMB20 for 8 pieces per pack.

Finally, we have our lantern and our candles. Then we realised that we do not have any stick to tie the lantern to. We asked our driver friend if he knew where we could buy some. To our pleasant surprise, he drove us around on the way home and stopped by the road side, where he saw some broken branches, got down and stripped some sturdy ones for us.

With that solved, we were ready for the night. We got our Ayi to cook some noodles for the night and we have invited Coleen and her son, Slevin who is also Ryan’s best friend and neighbour to join us that night. It will be their first taste of celebrating mid autumn festival. Being Americans who have stayed in China for the last 6 years, they have heard about it but never really experienced it.

To complement the fried noodles, I made some simple appetizers for the night, mango salsa, oven baked crispy potato skin with mash potato and minced beef, and oven grilled crispy thinly sliced French loaf with minced beef dip.

 Mango Salsa, a combination of ripe mangoes, red capsicum and chopped mint leaves with lemon zest and lemon juice.

Oven Baked Crispy Potato Skin with mash potato and minced beef filling.

Oven grilled thinly sliced French Loaf with Minced Beef dip

Our newly employed Liew Ayi’s birthday falls on the following week. In keeping with our tradition and practice, where we have always celebrated our helper’s birthday back home, we bought a small birthday cake for her but kept it as a surprise. When we brought it out and sang her the birthday song, I can tell that she was pleasantly shocked.

 The children helping Liew Ayi to blow off the candle on her birthday cake.

To complete the night, we lit our lanterns and walked around the park within our apartment’s compound with Zoewe, our toy poodle happily tagging along. To our amazement, we made several heads turned when we walked past them with our colourful lanterns and some even stopped to take pictures of us with their mobile phones.

We are unsure of our future plans next year and whether we would still be in Beijing for the next mid autumn festival but for now, this year’s mid autumn festival was indeed something different from the previous years and an interesting chapter in our adventures in China.