Babe

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minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 4 days old

Fusilli & Meatball

My mantra is "crumbs are my new best friends". Even more so now when minibeanie's feeding himself 2 out of 3 meals a day.

Since he almost never uses a spoon, typical Asian food such as rice or porridge hardly makes its way into his mouth. Hence I like pasta or mashed potato because they offer a convenient 'vehicle' for other bits of food such as meat and vegetables. He manages a fair bit with these foods so I'm not too worried he's not getting enough. Besides, he gets regular snacks like bread with cream cheese ("cheesy toast") and banana. And did I mention that having him feed himself frees up 1 hour of my time? What can you do in an hour? PLENTY.

Read more about self-feeding in this post.


minibeanie is 1 year, 5 months & 1 day old

Christmas 2008

We decided to have a Christmas Eve lunch due to minibeanie's feeding schedule. Might as well because he woke up from his nap past 3pm and the turkey was just about done then.

The 4.6kg turkey took about 3 hours - much less than the 3.5-4 hours suggested by conventional cooking wisdom. And I'm glad I listened to my instincts because it'd have meant a tough chewy bird had I cooked it longer. (hmm, of course a meat thermometer and the fail-safe test of cutting it to see if the juices run clear helped ;) The salmon from Ikea didn't work as Gravad Lax because they were cut into 2cm portions and came without their skin. Well, I'd 2 jars of pickled herring* in the fridge so those would do as the fish platter :)

Here are a series of pictures leading from decorating the tree in early December to the Christmas Eve lunch.

My little helper...

... not

Christmas Stollen

Lots of puns surrounding this one ("It's stollen". "Oh no, who stole it?"). This Dresden stollen is buttery and laden with golden and dark raisins, currants, slivered almonds, candied orange peel & lemon zest. I would use less butter and more milk the next year though!

Christmas pyramid

This cost a little bomb but as it would stay in the family as a Christmas tradition for years, I thought it would be worth it. It was handcrafted in Erzgebirge, a mountainous town in Germany. Christmas pyramids, or the unpronounceable "Weihnachtspyramide", use the rising heat currents from candles to turn the impellers and the platform below. This particular pyramid was of the Nativity scene; unfortunately, baby Jesus in a manger was at the other end. See the little devil at one end of the platform? I couldn't resist getting that piece ;D Of the many Erzgebirge sculptors, I liked Christian Ulbricht's style best :) For those in Singapore, there was a fantastic collection of Christmas pyramids & nutcrackers at Das Erzgebirgen Haus(?) in Raffles City.

The Spread

Finns celebrate Christmas on the Eve. On the table, we had turkey, traditional potato and carrot casseroles, 2 types of pickled herring and a selection of salami (that I bought from Singapore!) accompanied with Danish blue cheese & French camembert. minibeanie was eating a piece of camembert in the picture above.... which was amazing because even some grown-ups in Finland wouldn't touch camembert.

Time to open the presents!!

First taste of chocolate

I got a box of Belgian truffles from minibeanie's mummi (my MIL, if anyone is wondering) and guess if minibeanie threw a tiny tandrum when he wanted to have a bite as well... I guess I could strike chocolate off the list of 'Things to withhold from minibeanie until as late as possible."

To everyone, may you have a blessed Christmas!


*I have to thank Ikea for making a Scandinavian Christmas possible. Besides pickled herring, they have made it possible to buy cloudberry jam and Glögi. ...Actually, I do know the wife of the Ikea guy who runs Ikea in this region. minibeanie & their 15 month old son are playmates. I think I'll invite them over this Christmas.


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old

Kitchen challenges

How exasperating. Salmon is totally out of stock at the supermarket so I ended up with frozen salmon from Ikea Which came pre-cut into portions And de-skinned.... so totally unsuitable for making Gravad Lax. So I've learnt my lesson. Buy a whole fillet next year and freeze it ahead. That's the problem with stuff in Chengdu/China. You NEVER know when certain items will be out of stock. A French import manager at Carrefour told me that he won't know when milk for instance is coming in because that's the way logistics go over here :# A common saying among the expats here is, if you see something you like in the supermarket, grab it. Because you don't know when you'll next see it again!

The turkey was great. It came delivered on the day and in the condition I wanted. This butchery is run by a foreign couple but just to be sure (since this is China) I asked if it was gutted and beheaded :D It's no laughing matter. Many times I'd bought whole chickens from supermarkets and they always still had their heads and worse, their entire system of internal organs intact. It's like these chickens were meant for a biology dissecting class rather than for the oven. I digress. So, our Christmas turkey is "cleaned of its guts and head etc. It is prepared to Western standards" end quote ;)


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months & 4 weeks old

2 days to the EVE!

2 days to Christmas Eve! Where did the whole of December go??? It seemed like yesterday that I was looking forward to the Finnish Independence Day cum Christmas party on December 6. Then, I recalled rushing to make the dough for the Gingerbread men, baking them another day, making and freezing the Christmas casseroles, wrapping Christmas presents & mailing a couple of them out to the mothers east & west...... And I still haven't had time to make a Christmas Stollen which is a buttery bread with almonds & raisins sprinkled with icing sugar, the German answer to Italians' Panettone. Hmph!

Monday - buy salmon (hopefully, they'll have dill too!) to make Graavilohi/Gravad Lax, Finnish/Swedish salted salmon.

Tueday - a 4-5kg turkey to be delivered. Make the stuffing for the bird.

Wednesday - Roast the Big bird (don't let minibeanie hear that) for 4-5 hours.

Finally, sit down for a Christmas Eve dinner that can feed the whole school! And since there are only 2 adults and a little bean, it'll be a dinner followed by 3 lunches & 4 dinners :D Let's see how creative I can get with leftover turkey...


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks & 5 days old

Rendang for lunch

At 7 this morning, the babbling from the crib quickly degenerated into a crescendo of screeching. And so at 7:30, I made my way downstairs with minibeanie in toll. At least I think it was 7:30 because it was still pitch black outside; I'd slept barely 4 hours.

We had a party last night that began with lunch at 2pm and ended around midnight. We invited a couple of Hungarian friends over for mutton rendang, grilled lemongrass chicken and bread & butter pudding. minibeanie also had a friend over - 9-month old Viktoria. That's right. Finally, there was a representative of the fairer sex. Where are all the little girls??


Both children seemed to like each other. In fact, minibeanie even gave Viki his toy car, pointed out its parts to her & babbled in Babyish. Heh, I've a hunch somethings won't change even after 18 years ;)


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks & 4 days old

A Typical Day

Every evening when dada comes home at 7pm, it's crazy hour in the house. I'm glad someone is there to 'take over' because by 7, a) I'm usually cranky from hunger & tiredness; b) there's only this much running commentary I can give on making a meatloaf and c) I can't play ball or cars any longer :P

And if anyone wonders what minibeanie can be up to during the day, here's a typical example.

He loves playing in my larder. He takes out cans, jars, tupperware boxes, stacks them up, puts some away although more often than not, he leaves them strewn on the floor. Yes, there's a child-safety lock, but he loves to play there... So, as long as he's not hurting himself or breaking anything, I let him have his fun. One day, I filled a bowl with pasta destined for his lunch and guess what happened when I let him finger the twirly-whirly curious looking things?


Oh, and he has a really guilty look whenever he does something naughty. The most recent incident was yesterday when he was playing in the larder (again!). I turned round to check on him and lo and behold, he had that "opps" look. He had smashed 1 of my century eggs :D No biggie, I just need to cook it in an omelette or fry it with sliced green chillis Sichuan style.


minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old

Self Feeding

Like going without the night feed, having minibeanie feed himself seems like a milestone to me. With the exception of oat porridge for breakfast, he'd been feeding himself lunch and dinner. He's still a total klutz at using his spoon; most times, he just gives up with the spoon and uses his trusty 10 fingers to do the job anyway.

We have the routine down to a pat. He'd bring his plate and bib to the dining table while I bring the rest: placemat, cup & his food in a separate bowl. Then, we would sit him down in his highchair, he puts on the bib himself and I proceed to arrange his plate, cup and placement and aportion half of his food into his bowl. From then on, I could leave him and he'd let me know when he wants a refill of his plate. Then when he's done, we have an "all-done" signal, he raises both hands in the air. At this point, I usually give him his share of fruits to avoid having to wash his hands a second time and besides, he usually picks up a few more pieces of broccoli or mash potato together with his strawberry or mandarin bits. Ha! cunning me...

Then, when he has his fill of fruits, we proceed to wash the grimy boy not just his hands & mouth but often times, his hair, nose & forehead. And once or twice, his pants need to be changed as well. How does one get pasta everywhere??

The morning milk feed

Last Saturday, I decided to make banana pancakes for brekkie. I guess the boys liked it.

Someone has morning hair

Playmates

"Play is a toddler's work." That's how "What to Expect the Toddler Years" puts it. So, in between preparing meals, feeding & cleaning after minibeanie and time for myself, I try to arrange play dates with a couple of toddlers around minibeanie's age. Usually, it's one-on-one at someone's home but on Wednesday, I arranged for a play date at an indoor playground with 2 friends living in the same condominium.

As it was 1030 on a weekday, it was deserted - which was great! I bought a 10-visit card for RMB60 (6 euros/SGD12). Great value, I thought. Inside the playground were tunnels, slides, trampoline, a ball room, 'cars' etc... and of course, everything is padded for clumsy or over-active children.

minibeanie is an apprehensive child. Just like seeing strangers for the first time, he takes time to warm up to a new environment. He takes things in slowly but once he's at ease, he can go crazy. I can't remember how many times I've to put a delicate vase beyond his inquisitive fingers at a friend's home or to stop him from destroying a neighbour's DVD player. Nonetheless, he's not overly destructive for a 16-month-old. ...I think. Anyway, here at the playground, he's free to run and climb to his heart's content.

And as for minibeanie's playmates, they are 13-month old Ryuichi and 14-month old Rasmus, Japanese and Finnish respectively. Good-natured Ryuichi's always grinning ear to ear and stocky Rasmus (13kg!) is a barrel who's always rolling out of the playground and into the department store. :) Children do not play together at this age. Instead, they acknowledge each other coolly and very occasionally, their paths literally cross when they want the same toy or as in Ryuichi and minibeanie's case, their cars collide.


ps. Oh, I've a confession to make... it was so fun getting into the ball room to 'help' the kids onto the slide or to play with the balls. It was just like when I was 8 at Ikea's ball room again! :D

minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old

Busy bee

minibeanie has 2 finger puppets from our Silkair flights. One is a bee while the other is a Chinese man with a wide hat. We call the former, "Suzy the Busy Bee" while "Mr Tan" is the other moniker - a tongue-in-cheek reference to a friend who refers to himself as "Mr Tan of Boon Lay". Anyway, this is neither about the names we've christened minibeanie's toys or even about Suzy the Busy Bee...

December is a busy month. For the last week or so, I'd baked pumpkin pies for gatherings, tons of gingerbread cookies and vegetable casseroles that are traditional Finnish fare for the Christmas Eve dinner. And on top of everything, minibeanie is pushing his trolleys and cars into my feet, rearranging my larder and stacking the honey, baking powder & lentil boxes to form a precarious pyramid and generally making a mess.

He understands so much more now. All of a sudden, it appeared as if something clicked. He replies in the affirmative "Ugh" accompanied by a nod or every not so often, a shake of the head to indicate the negative. This afternoon I gave him his usual serving of fruit after lunch.

Do you like persimmon?

Ugh.

Do you like apple?
Ugh.
Do you like banana?
Ugh.
Do you like strawberry?
Ugh.
[ok.... maybe he's just saying "ugh" to everything I ask]
Do you like bugabuga?
....{silence}.......[he looked at me before continuing to shove persimmon bits into his mouth]
[Yaaaaayy! so he does understand me after all!]



minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months & 6 days old