Holiday DIY Projects - Cooking

 The holidays are a time of fun and activities, but with all the festivities, it can also create stress. Everyone seems to be running in different directions this holiday season. Cooking with the kids is a simple way to spend some time together and step away from the hectic season. Even with boys, they can benefit from learning some skills that will help them in life.  

Trying out the tangyuan at the Chinese Winter Solstice festival. 

It's a Chinese dessert made from glutinous rice flour. The boys have to roll them into balls before cooking.

Jin has a first time experience cooking dinner for the family on 30/12/2013. He has a tough time deciding on the menu. When he finally has the menu, the next challenge was to meet a budget of RM50. He has to do without the grilled chicken. A good hands on experience for him to create his own grocery shopping list and plan for a dinner for 6 people.

Preparation gotta start way before the actual cooking. From grocery shopping, cleaning, freezing and thawing and later marinating the chicken - there's no last minute prep boy!! He learnt to think a few steps ahead - just like chess....

He chose some expensive and not-in-season fruits like avocado and mango. Choosing the fruits and cutting them did not come easy. Despite claims from the vendor, the mango was toooooo sour!

 Preparing for salad and dressing was the easiest part!

Last minute check to the recipe instructions - was this not a bit too late? There's no 'Undo' key!!

An act of brotherly love - Brandon helping to set the table!

And now, dinner is served - roast chicken along with grilled vege and salad with avocado, mango and raisins.

We love the dessert most - 'vanilla ice-cream sandwich'! He saved some money cos the ice-cream was homemade by a kind auntie.

Now you see it, now it's gone! 
Jin went thru an intense period for this experience, and I'm sure he would remember the whole process. Unlike helping in food prep, he felt the responsibility to complete the whole dinner from scratch. Thank you Jin!!

The other boys also have their share of experience in food prep. Brandon was helping Auntie Mei Peng to sift the flour for the blueberry shortbread in Bukit Tinggi...

Helping kakak to wrap the wantan dumplings...

BBQ @ Bukit Tinggi on Christmas Eve

Now the fire is kindled.... the challenge is to maintain the zeal and passion!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Sungai Besar Fishing Town - 12 Jan 2014

Image
I have no clue where is Sg Besar before the trip.  I thot it couldn't be that far cos it's still in Selangor. Together with my boys, I went with my friends to their hometown.  It's a small, quiet fishing town, home to mostly TeoChew fishermen.  The drive  on a Sunday morning  was  very relaxing and a good getaway after a crazy week.  Very scenic driving on the west coast and we passed by many small villages, paddy fields, interesting roadside stands and some cottage industries. There're familiar names like the Kuala Selangor town, Sekinchan, Tg Karang, and some homestays eg Kampung Haji Dorani in Sabak Bernam. I was worried by then cos we've not even reached Sg Besar, and it's already 150km! After another 15 minutes, and we're there! It took us about 2 hours in total. Fishing boat coming back with bountiful catch! Spending time at the jetty to watch fishing boats back in late morning.     Locals looking for bargains and fresh produce
Read more