First days of solids.. yay!!

Yesterday was the first day Rafael started on solids, and as recommended, I mixed a little fortified iron- baby cereal with his milk. He took it on almost immediately, apparently interested with the bright-colored eating utensils, and he latched onto the spoon quite eagerly even though he didn't quite know how to eat yet... I found it very amusing... taking a picture was a pain though, while trying to feed him at the same time... but all mothers are multi-tasker, no? *grins*

No pictures, please!!

So, in short, he ended up eating, or more aptly, eating while 'blowing' about 7 teaspoons of his porridge-like cereal before he seemed contented, and within the next half hour, he fell asleep. You wouldn't believe that the nap that followed was almost...3 hours? he only yelled out for a nappy change in between, and was sleeping quite soundly until his next feed, which didn't happen until almost 5 hours later! - I was a little worried there...

No dramas and no fuss, his first day of eating solid (though he didn't do no.2 due to less quantity of food), was a breezy affair, I almost regretted not starting it earlier, he he heh.. but apparently it's better not to start too early if the bub has skin allergy or some sort; and my boy does have quite a sensitive skin.. he got eczema, followed by mild rash that seems to linger around most of the time, due to his excessive finger-eating habits. But his skin is getting better; I'd say we hardly ever touch the cortizone cream a few days after the eczema worsened. Then it took an upward turn for the better, thank God!

Anyway, him eating cereal got the planner in me quite excited, so I did up a whole month of menu planned for him, even going as far as scheduling when to buy certain variety of fruits and vegetables for him. Premature perhaps, but I couldn't help it... ^_^ 

While I was at it, I got my multi-steamer-blender for baby food, and it's not Avent's. (Avent's is very good, I hear, though the price tag is a little steep at around $280?) I ordered mine online, it's called Cherub baby, an Australian brand, and costs around $125. The brand itself doesn't really matter as long as it delivers, so, I'll see if this works well. At the moment, since I haven't got the multi-blender yet, I'll plan for easy to puree veggies & fruits. Banana, avocado, apple and pear are high on my list right now..

Crumbed stuffed squid

A's birthday celebration continued on the next day (the potluck dinner was on Friday, but the actual birthday fell on the Saturday). It was a mini feast with just us & A's mom. She cooked an awesome noodle dish and I managed to cook a few dishes and baked another cake. Lunch consisted of corn & crab meat soup, seafood noodle, braised spring vegetables and tofu, crumbed stuffed squid (A's favourite), and mini baked cheesecake decorated with fresh fruits. (I really was pushing myself for time this time around!!). Talking about over-eating... :P

Crumbed stuffed squid - serves 4

Ingredients

500 g medium sized squid tubes w/ tentacles intact (about 15 pcs)

3 cloves garlic

1/3 brown onion

1-2 stalks spring onion, chop finely

5 pcs large raw prawn

1 tbsp cooking wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 heaped tsp corn flour

1 large egg (for crumbing)

1 1/3 cup breadcrumbs

oil for frying

Method

1. Wash & take out the insides & tentacles. Soak the squid tubes with cooking wine for at least 15 mins in the fridge. Meanwhile, pre-heat a steamer.
2. Wash & peel prawn, process with squid's insides & tentacles along with garlic  &onion in a food processor.
3. Mix the processed prawn+squid with spring onion, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper & corn flour.
4. Take out the squid tubes from the fridge & drain completely. Fill with the stuffing.
5. Place stuffed squid into the pre-heated steamer for 5 minutes.
6. Whisk the egg & dip each squid into it before rolling them onto the bread crumbs. 
7. Heat frying pan with enough oil to cover the squid. Deep fry for a minute or until golden brown.

I found that it is better to double crumb the squid tubes so that the result is a more even golden brown pieces. Also, only deep fry the squid as close to serving time as possible so that they stay crispy. 

Potluck dinner & birthday boy

This weekend is a particularly busy one, as we're hosting a potluck dinner, which coincides with A's birthday. I wanted to bake him an x-box cake, since he's been wanting one, but the real thing is so costly, so I'd rather give him an artificial one.. ^^, and as if keeping it from him for a few days while I was at it wasn't tough enough, I had to work around Rafael's sleeping times (which, during the day, consist of a few short naps at best), But at the end, thankfully everything worked out well enough. I even got to choose a perfect hiding place for it. (the oven, obviously! hahaha)

The dinner itself was enjoyable. There were 11 of us gathering on our dining table, and since neither A and myself didn't have time to take out another table from the store room, everyone squeezed into this 6-8 seater table; though that didn't affect the appetite, it's winter after all so we were ravenous!

We had lots of food, and everyone's cooking were so yummy, I had trouble choosing what to try first :P. We had home made loh bak (our friend's family secret recipe, nice!!), stir fried seafood, crispy chicken wings, fish maw soup, szechuan soup (hot&sour), shiu mai, an attractive veggie dish, and a steamed pork dish. holey-canoley, we can barely fit the rice bowl in the middle of the table! I'll have to update the food photo later though...

When we came to the end of the dinner, I took out the cake for everyone to enjoy. (and accidentally broke the figurine's arm.. -_-...) Everyone sang a loud happy birthday and A cut the cake before he blew the candle! hahaha, I guess the birthday wish wasn't as effective then! I was glad A was surprised and everyone helped themselves to seconds and thirds. (really can't go wrong with chocolate cake! This was Milo chocolate cake - served with a little vanilla butter cream) At the end of the night, we had only three pieces left; great stuff! I was afraid there'll be lots of leftover...

the knife's inching to get to A,, creepy!!

Well, suffice to say that we went to sleep a fitful sleep with full stomach that night.. Thanks everyone for a great night!

Oxtail Soup

For somebody who enjoys eating (within reasonable limits, I suppose), oxtail soup has long been one of my favourites. I remember my grandma used to make a really delicious oxtail soup, very rich and filling. One bowl and you'll be hooked. My grandma passed on years ago, but even now I could still recall the taste of her cooking (that's just how good she was..)

The second person who makes the best oxtail soup? my mom, of course. Hers isn't as rich as my grandma's used to be (she used first quality rombutter - Dutch's term for butter), but still very delicious nonetheless. I think I can replicate her version, but these days I choose to tone down on the flavours a little. Too tasty sometimes isn't that good for your body (it desensitize your taste buds, for one)

So here goes my take on oxtail soup. Make sure to choose fresh oxtail as it affects the melt-in-the mouth factor. I like to choose the smallest pieces, plus they take less time to cook! They say slow cooking is the new trend. Let's embrace it!! ^_^

Oxtail soup

Oxtail Soup - serves 3

Ingredients

500 g oxtail (1 sml tray- approx 8-10 small & medium pcs)
1 large stalk of celery, cut into 3 parts
1 large carrot, peeled & chop thickly
2 medium potatoes (royal blue is best), peeled, chop thickly
6 candle nuts
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 medium brown onion, slice 1/2 cm thick
approx 3 L water
1 heaped tsp unsalted butter * optional
salt to taste

Method

Prepare the oxtail:

1. Wash the oxtail thoroughly, place in deep pan & cover with cold water. Boil on high heat for 10-15 minutes until scum surfaces. Throw away the water and rinse the oxtail. 
2. Cover the rinsed oxtail with fresh cold water, and boil on small heat. Throw in the candle nuts as well. - simmer for 1 hour.

1. Wash & cut all the veggies, soak the potato in cold water.
2. *optional: sautee the onion pieces with butter until tender & fragrant. Set aside. Otherwise, leave the onion raw.
3. After an hour, sprinkle a generous pinch of nutmeg & white pepper. Toss in the sauteed/raw onion & celery. Simmer for another hour. Water may be added as needed.
4. Once the meat is tender (takes approx 2-2.5 hours with small/medium oxtail pcs), add the carrot, then potato in the last 20 minutes of cooking.
5. Season to taste with salt. Scoop the soup into a bowl and sprinkle with fried shallots & chopped up celery leaves. 

If you like richer soup, do sautee the onion and add more candle nuts. They act as meat tenderizer, and will make the soup creamier. I used to put the potatoes in with the onions & celery so by the time the soup is ready, most of the potato have dissolved into the soup. Royal blue potato is superior than Nadine, I feel, it is not starchy and leaves a smooth, clean feeling when you savour them.

This is another winter staple at our house. My husband, A, loves it and he always leaves perfectly clean oxtail bones (he loves munching on the tendons), so if I slow-cook this for about 3 hours, the meat will be about to fall off-the bone, tender and has melt-in-the mouth texture - which is why it is so yummy!

6 month today

Time flies, I suppose.. When I checked the calendar this morning, I barely noticed that Rafael turns 6 months -young today! half a year! Amidst all the bottle washing and laundry, I guess dates and times are often forgotten. Looking at him now, I can hardly believe he was once weighed less than 2 kgs. Now he is a hefty 7-something kgs, and my arms are begging me to put him down in his cot for as long as possible. *LOL*

At six months he is now nibbling on his fingers like they're some kind of rare delicacy that needs to be thoroughly enjoyed. Oh, and anything else we give to him he'd put into his mouth now. Dribbles, smiles and laughter would follow suit. Sometimes when we play with him, he laughs so hard that he starts hiccuping, even then he can't stop laughing.. it's just so funny ^_^

He especially loves playing 'roller-coaster', where I  prop him up on my lap and swing on a rocking chair as fast as the chair allows (I hope this won't shorten my rocking chair's lifespan!!), jumping jelly-beans, flying high above our shoulders and peek-a-boos. Notice I make up my own terms here? :P I really can't wait to bring him out to jet-ski, ride a roller-coaster, or ride a horse. But I guess I gotta wait for a long, long time still.. heh, my other half freaked out each time I bring this topic up.

Well, I'm looking forward to his turning 1 year old, at least then I can prepare a birthday party and bake a cake for him. That's plenty of adrenaline rush for now.. heheheh

Gourmet Pizza

I've been meaning to make my own pizza dough but kept putting it off, until last night when my other half & I (and Rafael, of course), went grocery shopping and I spotted ingredients that are great for pizza-making. Mushrooms, baby rocket leaves, camembert cheese, to name a few. So, here  I am, kneading pizza dough away - coincidentally it's tuesday (cheap pizza days)

It's great now, by the way, since we've taken baby box out in the kitchen for Rafael to lie down and play in so I can work around the kitchen and don't have to run like a maniac to the nursery each time he cries/ wants attention.

Kneading, raised dough, final dough

Back to the pizza dough, it's actually very easy to make your own and more economical too... and with the topping, it's so much fun to play around with all sorts of ingredients. I'm a firm believer of  the 'anything-goes' on top of pizza.. be it savoury/ sweet, it would still taste good :)

El Savadore

Pizza base - makes 2 medium (squarish) size

250 g bread flour

7 g dry yeast

1/2 tsp salt

2 T olive oil (EVOO for best flavour)

125 ml lukewarm water (approx)

1. Mix the flour, yeast & salt; make well in the centre. Pour in the oil, then add water gradually, while working the dough, until the dough is pliable and smooth. - make sure it's not too dry.
2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a further 10-15 mins by hand, until it is more elastic and smooth.
3. Knead into a ball, rub a little olive oil, cover with clean & damp tea towel. Set aside in a warm place for approx. 1 hour until it doubles in size.
4. On a lightly floured surface, flatten the dough, knead gently for 2 mins before rolling it out thinly as pizza base. You can prick the dough with fork at this stage if you like.

Now, the fun part is dressing the dough base before baking. This time, I choose these ingredients for a little bit of an Italian flavour. I shall call this.. erm.. "El Savadore"..? ^_~

Now, all we need is to turn on the oven to 200C (fan-forced) and throw the ingredients artistically on top of the dough, then bake 'em for approx 20 mins. Delizioso!

the topping

El Savadore

3 T instant pasta sauce - tomato & herbs

2 Elmar's beech smoked sausages

handful of mushrooms, peel the skin, chop thickly

1/2 small wheel of camembert cheese, cut into wedges

25 g kent pumpkin, peel, chop & blanch in hot water for a few mins

2 handfuls of baby rocket leaves, wash & strain

before baking

Lumpia Basah

Or literally .. wet 'spring roll'? This type of snack can easily be found at nearly all food stalls in Indonesia, and for a very cheap price too.. (as little as Rp 1500.. and 1 AUD is probably Rp 9500-ish? go figure) Too bad over here I have to make it from scratch and with the time taken to slice all the ingredients into fine bits & pieces, the price should now increase to $2 a piece, at least, hahaha...

Lumpia basah

Okay, so for this version of lumpia basah, I don't use bean sprout. I know a lot of people use them, but it's just one of my many idiosyncrasies. Heh, big word, that. Instead, I use bamboo shoot, though you have to boil it for a few times to get rid of the pungent, piss-like *excuse the rudeness* odour. Do buy whole bamboo shoot for a more superior taste, but you can also use whole peeled portions that are available at your local Oriental market. Try not to cheat and buy the already sliced ones as they are usually mixed with some older, tough & stringy pieces.

the filling's ingredients - with soy sauce in the middle :)

Lumpia Basah - serves 4

Ingredients :

Filling

1 medium sized carrot, julienned

1 cup finely sliced young bamboo shoot

4 medium garlic cloves, chop finely

12 pieces peeled raw prawns, chop

2 pcs chicken thigh, chop finely

3 stalks spring onion, chop finely

3 Tbsp Lee Kum Kee premium soy sauce

2 1/2 Tbsp kecap "Bango" *dark, sweet soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chicken powder * optional

3/4 tsp white pepper

150cc (approx) chicken stock

Method:

1. Heat a wok with 3 tbsp oil. Toss garlic until fragrant. Add chicken and once it starts to brown, add prawns, carrot, bamboo shoot and spring onion last.
2. Stirring ocassionally, season with soy sauce, pepper, & chicken powder. 
3. Turn down the heat to medium, pour in chicken stock slowly. Continue cooking until the sauce is reduced and almost completely drained. 
4. *add salt to taste.

Skin

6 soup spoons of plain flour

2 medium eggs @ 50g approx

1/2 tsp salt

approx. 400 cc water

this is what I mean by soup spoon

Method

1. Mix flour with egg; pour water in gradually, and add salt last, whisking with a egg beater/ stirring with a wooden spoon all the while
2. Strain the batter to get rid of any lumps & egg whites.
3. Heat frying pan greased with a little oil (oil spray works best), and pour a ladle-full of batter, swirling it quickly to cover the pan (like making crepe - it's exactly the same method)
4.  Continue greasing the pan for each crepe until the batter is used up.

*use a medium-sized (18-20cm) non-stick shallow frying pan with a little grease for best result.

The filling

Assembling it is easy, just take about a table spoon of filling and set it out a little off-centre on the crepe, and start rolling. After that, all that's left is to enjoy 'em. Finally! These little morsels are best eaten warm with a dab of hoisin sauce. (actually they have a sauce similar to hoisin sauce in taste, but I'm just too lazy to even consider making some... ^_~). Selamat makan!