Our finicky teenage chef doesn’t like her school canteen’s food. So she preps her own food everyday. This week she made these for her lunch box:
Jumeok-bap or rice ball or Korean style onigiri. It’s cooked rice mixed with boiled kombu, sweet corn kernels, seaweed and soy sauce and rolled into balls. You can use any ingredient that you fancy to mix with the rice.
Salad (pesticide-free) with avocado and cheese.
Mashed green peas and ham with cartoon shaped pasta
Avocado and egg rice rolls
I always tell this girl that if she doesn’t get a highly paid job or a rich husband in future, she will find it extremely hard to live a life with humble and simple food. Blame it on her dad who’s spoilt them with good food all their lives ð
Our fridge was stuffed with leftover turkey, roast lamb, ham and Christmas desserts after our Christmas dinner. For the following week after Christmas, we tried to finish up all the leftovers and have only recently finished the homemade ham and super decadent homemade chocolate brownie. I ate 90% of the chocolate brownie ðĪŠ
With a creative and talented teenage chef at home whose cooking centers on healthy dishes, we had the privilege to feast on new dishes this holiday season.
I have a few hours of free time on hand today as Maria is here to help me out. I only have time to update my blogs whenever Maria is here. So thankful that Maria can still come into our home ð
I was going through my Google Photos and realized that I have not posted these photos yet. So here goes!
This week Sherilyn is staying home for remote learning. She went to school last week. Next week will be the last week that Sherilyn attends physical classes in school before the year end school holidays begin.
I’ve been clocking in only 5-6 hours of shut-eye for the last two weeks, including Saturdays and Sundays. I was up early on both weekends as Alycia had to leave the house by 7 a.m. for the van driver from the driving school to fetch her to the driving academy in Puchong. She’s been attending driving lessons on Saturdays and Sundays the past two weeks. After 16 hours of lessons on the road (4 hours for each session), she’s now scheduled to sit for a trial exam this Thursday. Honestly, I’m not sure if 16 hours is sufficient. I’ve not sat in with her in my car for practice lessons as it’s technically not legal for her to be driving around without a driver’s license. I can only ð that Alycia will pass the test in just one sitting. If she flunks, more money will fly out of my wallet for extra driving lessons. And losing more sleep as well ðĨą
Just a little update on Alycia’s foundation program at Sunway College. Life in college is much more hectic than life in a Chinese independent high school. Chinese-style education is said to be one of the toughest institutions to be in and students from Chinese schools are always under pressure to be the best of the best. I’m somewhat thankful that she attended Chinese schools for 11 years and thus, has been conditioned for heavy load in homework and regular tests.
There are lots of projects, assignments, presentations and tests in college. Alycia sat for her first exam two months into the course. On some days when it’s her turn to be in college, she would only reach home after 7pm.
Alycia takes Grab to college on some days and on other days, her former classmate who stays in our hood who also goes to the same college, gives her a ride to and fro.
With the school holidays around the corner, Sherilyn is already planning to sell her best seller items to earn some money. Today she made strawberry milk for us and her friends to try. Next, she will work out the cost and price tag for the strawberry milk. She also intends to sell kimchi, tarts and other signature items. This girl has big plans for herself.
Chef S made crispy chicken sandwich with homemade Japanese tartar sauce for dinner yesterday. This is both a time-consuming and messy dinner to prep as it involves deep-frying the chicken breast (coated with panko crumbs) and making the Japanese tartar sauce.
Chef S started prepping the chicken a day earlier by brining the chicken breast. Brining keeps the chicken meat incredibly moist while adding an excellent flavour. It’s a bit more labour intensive than a simple spice rub, but it’s worth the effort for that extra special chicken dinner. Brining is basically soaking meat in a salt water solution, but the flavour doesn’t stop at just salt. And even though breast meat was used, the meat wasn’t dry at all.
This is quite a labor-intensive meal and both Chef S and Cass worked together to dish out a pretty impressive and yummy dinner for us.
Our teenage chef whipped up Spanish Paella for dinner early this week. It’s loaded with fish, prawns and homemade sausages. For the grain, she used Japanese rice. It tastes as good as the one that we had at the farmers’ market in Auckland years ago
For the leftover Paella, Sherilyn baked it the next day. She sauteed a handful of chopped big onions with a can of green peas and topped with mozzarella cheese before popping it into the oven.
Sherilyn dished out a Korean boiled pork (Bossam) platter with sides of egg rolls, spicy radish salad, Napa cabbage kimchi and Ssamjang dipping sauce for an online contest organized by Green N Fresh. She made everything herself.
It took Sherilyn 2 days to assemble her submission – 1 day for the napa cabbage kimchi and another day for the Bossam, egg rolls and spicy radish salad.
A day after I received Sherilyn’s vaccination date (1st dose) via my MySejahtera app, Cass received hers via her MySejahtera app. I’m impressed with how efficient the minister in charged of Covid vax is in arranging vax for everyone in our country, including non-Malaysians and illegals.
This means I’m going to be very busy next week with all 3 girls receiving their vaccines one day after another, 3 days straight!
Monday ÂŽ Sherilyn’s first dose at Axiata Arena at 12 noon
Tuesday ÂŽ Alycia’s 2nd dose at PPUM at 10am
WednesdayÂŽ Cassandra’s 1st dose at Axiata Arena at 1.15pm
I need lots of luck and prayers that everything will go smoothly. I don’t want to be stuck at the youth PPV for hours as there will be mass students including their parents at the PPV. I’m worried of the crowd and Covid risk.
Sherilyn’s entire class will be at the vax centre on the same date and time and so is Cass’s class the next day. I pray that the girls will experience not much to no side effects after their jabs ð
Yesterday I finally received a vaccination appointment for Sherilyn via my MySejahtera app. Earlier this week her school sent out the application and consent forms to the parents. Within 2 days we received the vaccination date, which is next Monday. All her classmates have been given the same date and time as well.
After Sherilyn’s first dose on Monday, the following day will be Alycia’s second dose. I foresee that the wait will be pretty long on Monday as there will be many students at the PPV. I dread going to the PPV so many times. After next week, I will have another 3 more trips to the vax centre for Sherilyn’s 2nd dose and for Cass’ turn, which is still under process by her school.
On another note, both Sherilyn and Cass will most likely remain at home for remote learning until the end of this year. They have only gone to school for two weeks this year and for about 3 or 4 months last year. As I’ve mentioned before, online learning is not effective for my girls. I can’t wait for them to return to school for proper learning once again.
Alycia will finally be stepping into campus next month! I’m so happy and excited for her! The driving academy has also Whatsapped me to collect her L license and once this is done, she will be able to start her driving lessons, yes!
Focaccia bread art The Focaccia bread art is her first try at it and it turned out superb – crispy on the outside and super pillowy on the inside. A light and fluffy bread with garlic and olive oil littered with some token bits of herbs blanketed with scallions, red onions and tomatoes. Just love the vibrant colors. Not very complicated to make as the kneading was done by the TMX6, just a handful of simple ingredients and everybody loves it! It’s so delish it can be eaten on its own ð
I can confidently list her Focacia bread art for sale! Who’s interested? Â ð
These are the delectables cooked by Sherilyn on Sunday and Monday.
Sunday – Ratatouille.
Monday – grilled chicken and baked smashed potatoes. Both dishes were decadent. If you like French fries, try making baked smashed potatoes. They’re healthier (and crispy too) and so much more yummier. Littered with herbs, black pepper, olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt, the potatoes are really addictive.
When the chicken thighs were in the oven, the sides of the baking paper touched the hot inner walls of the oven and there was fire in the oven! I was out and when I came back, Sherilyn nonchalantly told me that she had to clean up the ashes in the kitchen coz she almost burnt down the kitchen ðē. I have been telling her repeatedly to be extra careful of the sides of the baking paper touching the inner oven walls but ð
Sherilyn grasps every opportunity that she has in between online classes and dance & guitar classes to cook. When one has a burning passion in cooking (and of course eating!), one will not find it stressful to slog for hours in the kitchen to churn out comforting food for the tummy. I notice this in many of my friends who love to cook, including my mom. These ladies are all busy yet they can squeeze out time to cook and bake everyday. Some even indulge in midnight baking. Unfortunately I don’t have this trait yet and I don’t think I will ever sacrifice my beauty sleep to bake ðĨą ðī. Oh well many years down the road when I don’t have that much on my plate anymore, I think I’m going to spend my free time cooking and baking healthy foods. I’m waiting for this day to come ðĪĪ
It’s such a waste that this budding chef doesn’t want to be in the culinary / F&B industry in future. She’s got such amazing talent and creativity. Instead, she wants to study something that’s science related. I’ll see..
Sherilyn has been busy with back to back online classes, tuition, online guitar classes and dance classes & practice for an online dance competition, thus has not been cooking and baking as much as she’d like to. Yesterday she managed to squeeze out some time to prep Sukiyaki. She even made the Sukiyaki sauce from scratch as we ran out of Mirin. It was yums!
Today, our 18-yo who does not fit in well in the kitchen was in a rare mood to try out a new recipe – shredded potato meat-free and flour-free pizza! Like a fish out of water, she created quite a mess in the kitchen, but the saving grace is the pizza was delish and chomped down in a jiffy! ð It’s not my kind of meal though as it’s high in cheese (bad for my fibroid and cholesterol!) so I ate chopped raw kale, a hard-boiled egg and sourdough bread with nut butter.
Lately Sherilyn has not been cooking and baking as much as she used to. She’s been busy with dance rehearsals and online classes as the new school term has just commenced. She now sleeps at 10pm and wakes up at 6am to do her dance practice and feed Haru before taking a quick shower and off to online classes. She’s been rehearsing for an online dance competition with cash prizes for the winners. Our dancing queen is a sucker for dance competitions. Actually she loves taking part in all sorts of competitions and contests since her pre-school years.
Though Sherilyn hasn’t been trying out new recipes lately, she still does simple cooking several times a week. She’s not the type who would eat bread or toast with butter and jam or biscuits for breakfast. Alycia and I always lament that Sherilyn’s got a ‘high class’ palate and can’t lead a simple and humble life. While Alycia, Cass and I have no complaints with a slice or two of Gardenia or Massimo bread for breakfast or lunch, this girl with a royal papillae has to crank up the stove to dish out some fancy-schmancy dish with a touch of aesthetic on her food ð
Yesterday she prepped Gilgeori Toast (Korean Street Toast With Cabbage and Egg) for brunch. I was busy and forgot to snap a photo of the toast. It looks something like the one below:
My third chemical and pesticide-free veggie box from Farm To Home Delivery arrived! I always look forward to our weekly veggie box and the mil is even more excited that I am ð
In case you’re wondering if we managed to finish so much veggies in a week, yes we did! Thus, it’s a breeze to order online from Farm To Home Delivery. You can choose to pay monthly, quarterly and 6-monthly and don’t have to worry about buying vegetables anymore for the rest of the month(s). I select our favorite veggies online and the veggie box will be delivered to me weekly. It’s so easy, fuss-free and safer than going to the market and supermarket in light of the surging Covid cases and the veggies are pesticide and chemical free. Win-win for us.
This week, besides stir-frying and blanching the green veggies, our in-house chef served the veggies to us in a variety of appetizing ways.
We used the radish for making pork bone soup, Napa cabbage for ‘luo hon jai’ and had boiled + grilled sweet potatoes for lunch earlier this week. I’m looking forward to receiving my next veggie box from Farm To Home Delivery next week!
Stay safe and stay at home my dear friends. We must break the chain of infection and infectivity rate from further surging. Today’s cases surpassed 8k!! If we don’t do our part by staying safe at home, the cases will even surpass 10k by next month!