Modified Si Shen soup (四神汤)

Alicia hasn't been eating so well lately - ok, she picked up a bit since Saturday - so I decided to make this si shen soup. It is well-known for improving appetite and is commonly given to children with poor appetites. I think the main herb that does this is fu ling as research has shown that it strengthens the body, improves body weight and improves appetite. I wouldn't encourage parents with big babies/toddlers or babies/toddlers with an already hearty appetite to serve up this soup to your darlings as si shen soup is probably the equivalent of the Western appetizer.

Alicia guzzled down this 100ml of soup at one go last night! :D

The 四神:

Ingredients:

• 5g huai shan (淮山)
• 10g dried foxnuts (qian shi) (芡实)
• 20g fu ling (茯苓)
• 40g dried lotus seed (lian zi) (莲子)
• 250g pork rib
• 6 chicken thigh bones
• 1 soup pot of water

For added taste I added these ingredients:

• 4 dried figs (无花果）
• 3 candied dates (金丝蜜枣)
• 1 big red apple (cut into quarters)

Method:

1. Rinse the chinese herbs.
2. Blanch the ribs and bones.
3. Place all the ingredients into the soup pot and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer on low heat for 3 hours.
5. Sieve the soup and serve only the soup.

No-frills steamed egg

This is a simple home-cooked dish and as the title indicates, it's truly no-frills! :D

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 200ml stock
• 1 bunch scallions (sliced)
• 2 shallots (slice thinly)
• 1/2tsp salt
• ground white pepper
• light soy sauce

Method:

1. Beat the eggs and mix them together with the stock.
2. Add salt and ground white pepper.
3. Sieve the egg mixture twice to get a smooth fluid.
4. Steam the egg mixture on low heat (for about 8min or so), and stand close by to watch the steaming process so that the egg will definitely be smooth.
5. Heat some oil and fry the shallots.
6. Pour a little light soy sauce, the shallot oil and shallots over the steamed egg.
7. Sprinkle the scallions over the dish.

For toddler's consumption:

• Serve steamed egg without the shallots and scallions if your tot is not fond of them.

Chicken midwings stew

I didn't have much time to take a proper photo of the dish as I was trying to watch over the rest of the food I was cooking on the stove. This will just have to do...

Anyway, we love chicken wings - so does Alicia - so it's no surprise that chicken wings make their appearance quite a bit on our table! :)

Chicken midwings stew

Ingredients:

• 12 mid wings
• 1/2 small red pepper (dice)
• 3 baby corn (cut into chunks)
• 2 handfuls frozen mixed veggies
• 2 cloves garlic (sliced and lightly smashed)
• 2 shallots (chunked)
• 2 slices ginger
• 2 bunches scallions (cut into 1.5-2" length)

Seasoning:

• 2-3T oyster sauce
• 1T dark soy sauce
• 1-1.5T brown sugar

Marinate the wings with:

• oyster sauce
• Lee Kum Kee chicken marinade
• sesame oil
• ground black pepper
• brown sugar

Method:

1. Heat some oil in a wok. Fry the baby corn, mixed veggies and diced red pepper till cooked. Remove from wok.
2. Brown the chicken wings on both sides then remove from wok.
3. Heat some oil in the wok and fry the ginger and scallions.
4. Add the shallots and garlic. Fry till fragrant.
5. Add the chicken wings and fry for a short while.
6. Add the seasoning and enough water to cover the wings.
7. Bring the water to a boil then simmer for 40 minutes, stirring now and then for even cooking.
8. Add the veggies in in the last 10min.
9. Add some cornflour solution to further thicken the gravy if necessary.
10. Dish and serve.

For toddler's consumption:

• If the tot can handle eating the meat from the chicken wing on her own, there is nothing much to do! :)
• Remove the meat from the chicken wing if the tot is unable to eat it on her own.
• Cut the baby corn into smaller pieces.

Julia Gabriel PlayClub (Term 2 Week 2)

Alicia was so restless in class, moving here and there in class... but she didn't wander away from the activities. Instead she kept going up to her teachers to ask them for hugs and just to sit on their laps...

For teaching of the letter 'g', the instructors gave the children one big grape each to eat during English story time. When the children had gone to wash their hands, Alicia went up to the instructor and told him "more, more!". Hahahaha.... but she didn't get more because it was time for Chinese story time...

As for swimming that day, she refused to enter the tub at first and by the time she agreed to do so, it started to drizzle so she hardly got to play much. Once out of the tub, she wanted to go to the playground to play but she was wet and had to get changed so she threw a terrible tantrum when I brought her back to class to be changed. Sigh. I wonder if she's already reaching the terrible twos coz she's been extra naughty recently...

Anyway, here's her art for the day: