Worst Food Critics In The World

How do you cook for the world's worst food critics?

Basically, these critics don't like to eat. They don't like meat like beef, pork and even chicken. They don't like seafood other than the occasional fish and prawns. They like some type of vegetables, but not all. They only like to eat white rice and white rice. Maybe accompanied by Marmite. They also like chicken eggs but not quail or duck eggs. What they really, really like are doughnuts, cheese cakes, junk foods and whatever that are not suitable to be served as main dish.

Either a mother with no cooking experience or a Michelin 5 stars chef will not be able to meet their demand. You can say that either they are too demanding or they don't have any demands at all that you don't have any idea what is the right food to cook for them.

Mealtimes are really a hassle, whether these food critics are eating at home or eating out. When they go out to eat, they couldn't decide on which food outlets to go to because there are too few places that meet their taste palates. In the rare cases where they find their favourite haunt, they will need to decide and look for the food that are not rejected by their sensitive stomachs. If the food and the outlet meet their criteria, they will then always go back to the same place to have the same food over and over again until they are bored and ready to look for a new place to eat.

Eating at home is a different story. By eating at home, the critics avoid the hassle of having to think where and what to eat. The food would be laid in front of them during mealtimes. The only hassle and stress fall on the food preparer. Is the preparer making the food ready on the right time? If the timing is wrong, she will have a hard time convincing the critics that it is indeed meal time.

The next task for the preparer is to ensure that the food prepared is of balanced nutrients. And the most difficult part is to ensure the critics like the food or at least willing to eat the food without much fuss. If the food do not suit the critics, they will either complain or totally ignore the food, which will need to be swallowed by the preparer. Bear in mind that the critics may like certain food today and loath them tomorrow. Sometimes the preparer tried in vain to prepare something new which somehow are rejected by the critics when the food are served. At that time, the preparer need to go back to the drawing board to try again.

What a food preparer to do when faced with this type of situation? A less strong person would break down and give up on the toughest job as a food preparer. To be stronger, the food preparer need to take it a day at a time. Keep reminding oneself that it's not the food prepared by her that is not good. Don't take it too personally. Just do her best and prepare the food that she like. At least, if the critics don't like the food, it's their lost. And the food preparer will get to eat the food that she likes!

So, here we go again. Another tough day with the world's worst food critics. Good luck!

Chauffeur Mom

I have been enjoying the life of a non-commuting mom. I just need to cross the road to send the boys to school for the past 2 years. I did not need to send the boys to any tuition or extra curricular classes. No time was wasted on the road, ensnared in the traffic jams. Nor any time wasted waiting for the boys to finish their lessons. Until this week, that is.

W started tuition last week. We arranged with our Korean neighbour to car-pool. Life was easy during the first week. I just needed to prepare W for the day, and off he goes. My lazy life started before 9 for me, albeit feeling a bit lonely without his presence in the morning.

This week is different. It is my turn to send the boys. I tried the route last week. It took me 15 minutes to reach the teacher's house so I assumed the short drive would be a breeze. To my horror of horrors, the first day of the week greeted me with a massive traffic jam of more than an hour for such a short trip! I panicked and the boys were about half an hour late for their tuition.

From now onwards, I'm sending the boys to their tuition class an hour earlier. It does not matter that the trip took 15 minutes or 75 minutes. At least, I am sure that they will be there on time if not early. And they enjoy playing at the teacher's house before the class starts anyway.

This is the beginning of a life of being a chauffeur....

Quietly Growing Up

Sometimes it is hard to imagine that my boys were born 7 and 8 years ago. The first years of their lives were filled with dramatic physical and mental growth. The physical growth was very obvious in the first two years when they grew from dependent infants, to crawling babies, to walking toddlers, and then to running boys.

As they reached the primary school years though, we stopped to notice their physical growth. It seems like they are no longer growing as fast as they should, until we found out that their pants are getting shorter. Even the mental growth is not much noticed, as conversation with the boys become more intelligent day by day, and we start to take their intelligence for granted.

This makes me a bit worried about my boys. Are they growing up alright? Will they be independent children? Is their mother pampering them too much? Will they be able to help around the house and manage themselves well, especially after the baby is born, when mommy no longer have the time to fuss over them? Well, as the baby is getting bigger in my tummy, with me getting lazier, out of sudden, the boys go through another spurt of growth. That of independence.

X wakes up in the morning with a mental alarm clock in his head, sometimes even before I have a chance to make his breakfast. He even learns to make his own breakfast. This is a great surprise to mummy. And W is determined to improve his studies, asking me to send him to tuition everyday of the week until he finishes school. This come from someone who enjoy relaxing in front of the TV in the mornings before going to school.

Over the weekend, the boys were so motivated to get the new Prince of Persia Lego that they agreed to help mommy with the houseworks. And suddenly, we realized that they are able to make the bed, fold clothes, take the clothes from the dryer, wash the dishes, clean the table and floor after dinner and other mundane houseworks that mommy has been doing day in and day out. With great determination, I decide to keep some of them as the boys' permanent chores, as I would need to train them to help me when the baby arrives.

And you can't help feeling that they are really growing up when they start to have their own stand and principle and try to negotiate with their parents regarding anything and everything that they can think of. Today, X, who is going through a new spurt of physical growth recently, wants to negotiate with mommy and daddy to increase his pocket money by 2 folds! Knowing mommy's weakness, he is claiming that he gets hungry during recess and after school before mommy fetch him. So, he reasons that he would need the increment to buy food plus an extra to save. He even assures mommy that he is not trying to cheat mommy's money to increase his own savings!

Well, the discussion is being pushed to tonight, to include daddy and little brother, as we are a democratic family. Hmm, seems like I need to polish up my negotiation skills from now onwards....

Farewell and Welcome!

Seems like it just happened yesterday. Four of us taking an overnight train to meet and welcome you into our family. It was an exciting day for all of us and driving you home for the next 4 hours was a joy. Even though the joy was tainted by your butt being hit by a small stone and you bore that mark for the rest of the time you were with us.

Throughout the last four years, you have been with us through thick and thin. You helped us move to our new house, joined us in joy and pain, went through birth and death with us and never let us down when we needed to rush to the doctor's, when the boys were sick. You have been more than a part of the family as you joined the boys' journey through their pre-school years.

Today, as our family is growing bigger, we have to let you go reluctantly. The last four-hour drive to send you away was slow and enjoyed to the fullest. With a heavy heart, we are trading you with a larger seating capacity car.

The only souvenir that we have from you is the ashtray taken from you. This is in the hope that your owner will not smoke when driving you. May you have a wonderful new owner as we continue our journey of life with our new ride.

Goodbye Civic, Hello Freed!

Anxious Anxious

It has been an anxious morning for me. It was the very first time I really drove my new car. How did I handle it? Okay? Am I gentle enough with the car? Could I take care of this car? As we reached our destination, which was about 10 minutes(!) away, I was face with another form of anxiety.

W was going to a tuition class for the first time in his entire life! How would it be like? Both mother and child were as anxious as you can imagine. It was an entirely new different world. W was reluctant to go into the house, even with his friend coaxing him.

After dad left, and when the teacher arrived, we were forced to go into the house to discuss with teacher about the tuition class. We talked for about quarter of an hour and W decided to stay in the living room, out of the way of all the children. The mommy and child talk didn't help much until a phone call to daddy made all the difference.

We transferred to the tuition room with W and mommy sitting at the corner, observing how the class went. Hmm, felt like we were being punished by the teacher at the corner of the class. When the teacher went for a toilet break, mommy took the opportunity to accompany W to sit with his friend and had a look at his tuition book.

It was a good opportunity! As teacher came back into the room, mommy was banished to the corner of the room again while W joined the rest of the class. At first he was cautious and didn't response much. As the morning came to an end, he was his own self again. Talking and laughing loudly. Even yawning loudly!

Mommy retreated into the living room during the break to allow W and his teacher more freedom. And to my great surprise, at the end of the session, W wanted to join the tuition classes every day of the week instead of twice a week.

I would say it was a successful end to an anxious morning!

Two Firsts In a Day, Again!

Today has been a happy and sad day for me. In my entire life, I experienced two firsts in the same day. My first facial treatment and my first weight problem. Me? Weight problem? Never heard of that, until today, that is!

This morning, as I waited for my boys to finish their iCamp session, I braved myself to try a facial treatment at a famous beauty salon. Imagine how much the price will be when the toilet papers that they use are more expensive than those at your home!

All in all, I had a wonderful albeit expensive facial treatment. Being treated by a pair of gentle hands made me ashamed of my own rough hands, though. I was even floating on air when my mother commented that my skin actually glows today!

Then all the glows drained out to become a pale, bloodless skin. This happened immediately after I stepped on the weighing scale in my mother's room. The reading confirmed what I suspected all along. And this is what I fear....

I'm having a weight problem for the first time in my entire life! I'm gaining too much weight. I'm supposed to gain a total of 10kg throughout the pregnancy, with a maximum of 1.5kg this month. But I have already chalked up at least 4kg! How am I supposed to limit my weight gain to 6kg for the rest of the pregnancy? What should I do? As far as I'm concerned, I'm not eating that much to warrant such a weight gain? Where did all the weight go to? Am I carrying a twin after all? It seems that my tummy is way too big for 17 weeks. What am I going to do next?

Aargh! I'm going crazy thinking of the weight that I'm carrying. Can't wait till Monday to ask the doctor's advice on my diet. Boys, please help me to control what and how much I eat. I don't want to be a fatty bom bom!

License To Trade

My faint interest in the stock market started when I was in secondary school. Occasionally, I would glanced at the stock market page when I read the newspapers. Checking out the stock market in general, looking at the exchange rates as well as the price of gold. That was about 20 years ago. Nothing heavy, except browsing and sometimes not even understanding what the figures meant. Just that you could either make or lose money out of the stock market. As I went to tertiary education and subsequently joined the workforce, my interest fickle on and off according to my mood.


Now, once more, as I ponder how to increase my net worth without much toiling and working hard, I turn to the stock market for inspiration. Someone once told me that too much cash sitting around may not mean a good thing. Hmm, how should I make my hard-earned money work harder for me?

I have considered a few options like savings accounts, fixed deposits, gold account, property, unit trusts, and stock market. I am still learning and looking for more information about all these investment vehicles. I have been doing the same things for the past few years, even though I don't have any spare cash to invest. I read and read and read, until I itch to try my hands in all these investments vehicles. At least they are more interesting than pure accounting.

I have tried savings account, fixed deposits and unit trusts. At the moment, I dare not say that my financial management skill is up to mark. I am still at the learning stage. Should I add investment in the stock market as part of my learning portfolio? What if I lose instead of make more money? After all, at the end of the day, investing in stock market is still a form of gambling. No matter how much information you have.

After much pondering and procrastination, I finally made the move to open a trading account today, without the financing facility, though. At least, I make sure I don't borrow to invest. With this license to trade on hand now, I am not sure how long it will take me to decide to take the next step to start dribbling in the stock market.

One day, one week, one month, one year, or one lifetime?

That's Fast!

The baby was due to be born on 23 June 2010. Mild contractions started in the morning after the weekly check-up. The doctor said that the baby was not ready to be born yet.

By noon, the contractions were felt about every 10 minutes. Aunt was summoned to counter check if it is really contractions. This can't be! We still have a week to go. The mother is not ready. She still need to attend a full-moon party, a father's day dinner and taking the two older children to watch Toy Story 3.

After much confirmation from aunt that it were indeed contractions, the mother immediately set to hand over her office works to her colleagues before going home, after office hours, to take a quick shower and dinner. All these were done amidst shorter and more painful contractions.

Uncle helped to drive mother to hospital to check if indeed the baby was really ready to be borne. Mother was checked into hospital while uncle went home to have his dinner. After dinner, uncle called the hospital to check the mother's status and was in total shocked to hear that the baby was borne within two hours of reaching the hospital! Are you sure? Is it the same mother and baby that we were talking about?

Indeed, the baby is too anxious to meet most of our relatives this weekend. Somehow he knows that everyone will be here for the full-moon party. So, he took the opportunity to present himself as well! Clever you.

I pray to God that I may also have such express delivery. May you grow up to be a healthy boy!

iCamp 14 June to 18 June 2010

When we were children, camping meant going to jungle with a group of boy scouts or girl guides. Nowadays, camping has taken a different meaning. Today, my boys went to iCamp. Their very first out-of-school activity. It's a computer-related camp, set in the concrete jungle of a shopping centre.

It was a first separation between mother and boys other than them going to school and grandma's house. In my opinion, mother has the separation anxiety instead of the boys. Imagine my reaction when W asked me to leave them alone at the iCamp, instead of accompanying them till the session starts! The image of them clinging to their mom while crying and screaming immediately melted away. It really showed that my boys are indeed growing up.

Mother is reduced to roaming around the shopping centre while waiting for the children to finish their 3 hour session. Sometimes a peek or two at the boys were met with no response. Glad that the boys were enjoying their iCamp.

Looking forward to the rest of the week!

World Cup 2010

Seems like 11 June 2010 is a first for more than one thing. Other than the tooth filling, it is also the first time my boys are aware of the World Cup. We were all excited as early as the opening ceremony. The excitement builded up when the match between South Africa and Mexico started. The boys supported South Africa since it is the host, so dad decided to support Mexico and mom said that it would be a draw.

Mexico had most of the ball possession during the first half of the match. The boys were very anxious that Mexico will score the first goal. Shoutings can be heard, especially when there were near goals. This was despite the fact that we were approaching midnight. Well, we reached a goalless half-time. The boys were reluctant to leave the TV set even though we explained that 15 minutes are for everyone to have a break.

The second half started with not much fanfare and it made mom almost fall asleep. The boys went all excited again when South Africa scored an unexpected goal from a somewhat boring game. From that minute onwards, the game picked up and it was dad's turn to be anxious as we approached full-time. Then, Mexico equalized the score and dad was hopeful that Mexico would finally win the match.

However, we reached the end of the match with mom as the winner as both country scored one goal each. The boys were reluctant to go to sleep and wanted to watch the match between France and Uruguay. After much persuasion, they resolved to wake up two hours later to catch the live match.

They ended up waking up at 830am to catch the rerun of the match. And both boys were as excited as when they watched the first match. They watched the whole match and recorded the score on the poster that we put up. Tonight, we are going to watch the match between South Korea and Greece together with our Korean friend. And, for today's activity, they are playing football in the bedroom instead of fighting crime.

We hope that the interest in football will last beyond World Cup and beyond their childhood. Go, boys, go!

X's First Dental Fillings

We went to the boys' semi-annual dental check-up today. I was feeling a bit tensed as W was quite reluctant to let the dentist have a look at his teeth. X came to the rescue when he willingly sat on the dentist's chair without even raising an eyebrow. This is a real encouragement to little brother.

W was peering through the dentist's shoulder throughout his brother's check-up, checking out any negative reaction from his brother whenever the dentist poke strange tools into his brother's mouth. X's cool demeanor really made W wanted to sit on the dentist's chair as well.

While the dentist brushed X's teeth and took out germs from his teeth, I keep telling W that we need the dentist to clean our teeth for us and take out any bad germs so that we can keep our teeth till we are old. Why am I not surprise that this round X need a filling on his teeth? It will be his first tooth filling ever.

As it turned out, W's teeth need not any filling or scaling. The dentist just need to use a cotton gauze to clean his two front teeth. Hope the scaling and filling will be a good lesson for the boys to take good care of their teeth from now onwards.

And just when I wanted to go for a snack after the dentist visit, the boys vow not to eat junk food (which is good) and any other food (horror of horrors!) other than the three main meals!!!! Am I going to far in encouraging them to take good care of their teeth??

Influence Of TV

TVs are everywhere. Nowadays, we even have LCD, LED and 3D TVs. Not to mention those that are HDs ready and IPTV. With so many TVs and choices around us, we can't help ourselves but to watch them at least once a day. Both adults and children are glued to the TV no matter what it is showing. We have to be wise in making choices of the program that we watch, because like it or not, whatever we watch will influence us in a way or other.

The current generation start watching TV when they are only a few months old. Parents/guardians get to choose the program that the children watch, be it adult program or children program. Toddlers are familiar with characters like Chuggington, Thomas, Big Bird, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, while those of Ben Ten, Spiderman, Superman, Teen Titans are more popular with pre-schoolers. Our daily lives revolve around those characters. Children wants clothes, bags, stationeries, cutleries and toys relating to their favourite characters. Adults have to be familiar with those characters in order to communicate well with the children.

What happen to reading books? Are they out of fashion already? Well, in order to keep up with what is on TV, publishers need to publish books/comics that are adapted from TV or movies. This will ensure brisk sales of the books. Some even have the cheek to publish books that do not add value to children. Most important criteria is to publish books that sell!

How about our classics? Books by famous authors that were read by generations? Authors like Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl? Whenever we go to bookshop, our boys will ignore endless call for them to even have a glance at books written by all these authors. They will immediately search for the latest books that are adapted from the latest movies, like Shrek and Prince of Persia. The only thing that stop them from buying is their father's condition of buying a book not of comic nature.

At the end of the day, it is up to the parents to control what the children watch or read. At the very most, parents need to teach and guide their children to make wise choices when watching TV or reading books. I'm glad that my boys are starting to learn to choose books outside of the TV circle, even though they are not classics. Books like Geronimo Stilton and Mr. Midnight sure are a step away from TV related books. The only setback is I need to read them too because they want to discuss their readings. Hmm, guess my reading list is growing longer....

Mother Or Monster

I'm a list person. I list out everything I want to do, every food I want to cook, everything I plan to buy, every book I want to read, every activity I plan to do with the boys during the school holiday. Even though I have moved away from the physical list, I'm still very much a list person in my mind.

For this school holiday, I have planned the activities that I want to do with the boys, down to the very hour. AND I don't like change. At least, I need a twenty-four hour notice. Being faced with rejection and change of plan first thing in the morning on the first day of the holidays plunge me into a foul mood. I need time to adjust and plan a new schedule for the next two days. It doesn't help that I'm being criticized of my predicament due to my own non-initiative to confirm the plan.

The woman who planned to be a wonderful mother during the two weeks of school holidays turn to a monster who growls at her children for the smallest things that they have done or have not done. "Fold blanket! Drink water! Why you spill the water?! Drink your milk!" Comments of over-reaction belted out to me was met with more contempt and the cloud of mood turns darker.

After some food managed to fill the stomach, the brain began to think more rationally. Hmm, it's okay. We'll just swap our plan for today and tomorrow. Relax, darling. The children won't notice anything missing from their activities list.

And thus, as the change in plan has been accepted with a willing heart, the green monster once again turn back into a wonderful mother! I hope....

The Morning is Mine!

I am a morning person. I don't wake up in the wee hours of the morning but I like my mornings, especially Sunday mornings. I like to spend it alone, when no one in the household is awake yet. And I'm very jealous if any of the boys wake up before me. It robs me of my tranquil morning. Somehow I NEED to be the first one to be awake!

I need to spend the morning alone, having my own breakfast, reading my book, doing my needlework or any other nonsensical activities that I enjoy, even though I do the same things day in and day out. Somehow, doing them on Sunday mornings, alone, give a different meaning to my ritual of life. Anyone who spoil my Sunday mornings by being loud and intruding my lonesome world will spoil my whole Sunday and make me moody throughout the day, which will affect the whole family, even if all of us has an enjoyable day out.

This morning, the jealousy almost creep into me when X woke up before me. Thank God that just after breakfast with X and W, both boys went to play at their friend's house. Aah! What peaceful morning, spending it reading, doing my cross-stitch and listening to classical music. When the boys were back from their morning lung exercise, I have spent my quiet time in my own way and more than welcome to have them back.

This is what I called a perfect Sunday morning!

Triplets

We have heard it before. Children are angels. Children make our world goes round. Children bring joy to our lives. Sometimes the statements are true, especially when the children are asleep. What happen when they are awake?

We, full-time mothers still can manage a single child when they are fully awake and active, especially when they are babies. Even as they grow older, we'll realize that a single child living alone with his parents are more quiet and less active at home, compared to those with siblings simply because they don't have any partner in crime.

Well, to be fair, my boys, who are only 13 months apart, are quite manageable most of the time. They become overly active and overly loud only after drinking Pepsi or Coke! At other times, their super active activities are limited to their bedroom when they fight crimes with invisible enemies, pretending they are in Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones, or even Transformers. That's okay with the parents, except that their jumping from the double-decker bed onto the floor has disturbed our downstairs neighbour.

Things go out of control though, when a friend, who is of the same age, join the two boys, and all hell breaks lose! The activities are not only limited to the bedroom, but they ran and jump all over the house. Jumping has taken a new meaning, with sofa, bed, table, etc. as jumping platforms. The children's screaming while fighting crimes are mixed with the parents' shouting for the them to stop. The madhouse of chaos even wear the father out. A father who is normally without any anger thread in his blood. Any threats shouted at the children fall on deaf ear.

I'm so glad that these kind of activities only happen once or twice a week. It will be a blessing when it is our children's turn to go the friend's house. We will have an hour of peace and quiet to spend as a couple.

Two weeks of school holidays are coming though. More friends and chaos are expected during the holidays. I thought school holidays are meant for mothers and children to take a break from all the stress. Seems like mothers will have more stress during the holidays, except for not having to wake up early.

Just be glad though that I only have two boys of the same age category and not three. Else, it will be a mad, mad house day in and day out. Don't even dare to think of that at any moment. It is a total nightmare.

My sister will be giving birth to a baby soon and her 3 boys will be in the same age category. Hopefully her house will not be a madhouse when her boys reach primary school age. Good luck, sis!

Sweets!

Is it a dream? If it is, it must be a sweet dream. A sweet, sweet dream. Wait! It's not a dream. The message that I received at 2.30am while I was having a nightmare was real enough to keep me awake for the next hour.

Thanks M, for the encouraging words. Not sure if my writing skills is as good as it used to be, but you are right. Immediately after receiving your message, new ideas for today's blog begin to form in my mind until I had insomnia! Couldn't wait to switch on my PC to blog again. Hope it will be a lasting addiction, hehe!

The critics in me told myself I will give up if there is negative comment from my first reader. Thank God that the comments were positive, positive and positive! This really gets me up and going, man.

Tried to ask X to read my blog but seems like he is more interested in his cartoon at the moment. Hmm, will try again later. Shouldn't it be interesting if mummy is writing a story on the internet? Guess what type of story interest him? Scary stories?

The End of Procrastination

The idea of writing a blog has been hatched eons ago. Being the lady of leisure, the idea has been mulled over and over until it has been pure laziness that has prevented me from starting this blog. And yet nothing can drive me to even try blogging. Until a day when the mulling started again, and dear hubby commented that it's not that I can can't do it, just that I'm lazy! Hmm, being a person who can't take criticism very well, I immediately proceeded to look into blogging. Guess it's a good motivation point to get started!

But hey! What do I have to blog about? I have been out of the rat race for ages. I'm a stay at home mom with 2 boys and a loving husband. What I do everyday revolves around my 3 boys and lazing around the house.

What I can blog about are my boys and my leisurely time around the house, learning to cook, doing needlework, reading and lazing around (again). And since I'm expecting a new baby in November 2010, most probably I'll talk about him/her a lot. Boys, don't be jealous, ok! I'll talk about you guys a lot too.

That's it for my very first blog. Enjoy!