Sunday 24 January 2016

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Millet & Banana Pancake without Sugar


This recipe makes about 7-8 pancakes of 18cm in diameter.

Ingredients:
- 2 large bananas mashed
- 90g or ½ cup millet flour (I like to grind my own)
- 60g or ½ cup graham wheat flour*
- 240ml or 1 cup low-fat fresh milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 tsp wheatgerm (optional)
- 1 tsp to 1 TBS brewer's yeast (optional)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp sea salt (optional)*

* If I am making for J, to make it even healthier, I sometimes use only ¼ wheat flour and ¼ millet flour for the portion here instead and skip the sugar and salt. However, if i am making for guests, i stick to the wheat flour, because it is easier to handle the batter when cooking it on the pan and I keep the sugar and salt.

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together.

2. Heat pan until hot (Its temperature is just right when a few drops of cold water dropped on the pan will jump and sizzle. If the pan is not sufficiently hot, the water will lie there and boil. If it is too hot, the water will evaporate instantly).

3. Add a little oil just enough to spread a thin layer on the pan by rubbing it with a piece of kitchen roll when making the first piece of pancake.

4. Turn to medium-low heat (no. 7 on my stove) and pour in a ladle of mixture just enough to spread it to cover the whole circumference of the pan.

5. Cook until the surface of the pancake is filled with bubbles and the underside has turned slightly brown (about 45 secs to 1 min). Raise the edge of the pancake with the wooden spatula to test if it is firm and brown.

6. Flip over and cook the other side for 30 secs more. DO NOT flip again or the pancake will be tough.

Storage:
Cool them completely before freezing. Freeze them in freezer bags between sheets of waxed paper for 3 months. To re-heat, place frozen pancakes single layer on a baking sheet in a 190°C oven for 7-10 mins. or microwave each pancake for 20 secs.

Nutritional Value:
Millet is tasty, with a mildly sweet, nut-like flavor and contains a myriad of beneficial nutrients. It is nearly 15% protein, contains high amounts of fiber, B-complex vitamins including niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin, the essential amino acid methionine, lecithin, and some vitamin E. It has the highest protein level of any cereal and is also excellent for potassium, phosphorous, iron and magnesium.

The seeds are also rich in phytochemicals, including Phytic acid, which is believed to lower cholesterol, and Phytate, which is associated with reduced cancer risk.

Millet is gluten-free and is not an acid forming food so is soothing and easy to digest. In fact, it is considered to be one of the least allergenic and most digestible grains available and it is a warming grain so will help to heat the body in cold or rainy seasons and climates.
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Additional Comments:
This is a hybrid of the flourless banana pancakes and the millet pancakes.

References:
Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron

Saturday 2 January 2016

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Super Family Night


I planned to have a Family Retreat today, but we were so tired that we only woke up at 10.30am. After brunch and school time, it was already 3pm. Daddy FECS and our Little FECS went to play football, so that I could prepare the dinner. They got back home and we had dinner at 5pm. We only started at 7pm after dinner and clean-up. So what was to be a full-day Family Retreat became a Super Family Night instead. Things don't always go perfectly as planned.

This is the programme/agenda I have planned for our Family Retreat/Super Family Night. It was very ambitious, and we only managed to accomplish half of them. Well, better than nothing.


We brought out our kid's size tea set and made honey lemonade as "tea" for our Little FECS. We cut some melon and persimmon fruit to go along. So it was all ready :-)


Review family calendar

Just after going through the first agenda point on reviewing our Family Calendar... and look what happen:

Daddy FECS got so sleepy that he ended up on the carpet, dozing off... so much for all my effort of trying to plan a family retreat and getting all on-board... the one that supposed to set an example for the child went off...!!!

I didn't know whether to cry or laugh... well, actually I laughed a lot... and our Little FECS couldn't stop laughing. He knew how much Mommy is holding up expectations for this Super Family Night, and it was just comical to get such a start... well, comical to say the least!

We laughed and laughed. Our Little FECS rang the bell to woke Daddy FECS up... to no effect. I decided to go and clean up the teapot, plates and fruit bowls that we had finished. I came back and we still couldn't get Daddy FECS to wake up. Just as I was getting a little disappointed and giving up our plan of a Super Family Night, Daddy FECS got up and we continued our very "fun and exciting" Super Family Night - fun and exciting at least to me. Thank God for this recovery. But that meant that time had passed quite a bit.

Share one thing we are thankful for the past year

I encouraged each one of us to share one thing to be thankful for the year that is past. Daddy FECS thought of one than one, in fact many. Our Little FECS could barely think of an example. I wrote all the things our family is thankful for in the journal... that last 6 months of work assignment went well for mommy, that it had been a good year for Daddy FECS at work, that our Little FECS adjustment to school went very well, that the memorial service for my father this year went very well, etc.

Share one regret for the past year and burn it

I then encouraged each of us to write down one regret for the year that past, that we were remorseful over and wanting to do better. Daddy FECS was a little skeptical, as he thought that it was very negative to do so. But no one is perfect, and there will always be room for improvement, and we should not be afraid to list our failure.

I started by sharing mine: I should not burst out when I am angry. I should not react, but response appropriately, when I am angry. This is something I am really remorseful about. I totally had a emotional melt-down, when I was so upset with Mr. FECS or our Little FECS just a few days ago. My reaction was completely wrong, and I was so ashamed. I have come to God on my knees in repentance. I  know I couldn't do it in my own strength, but we serve a great, compassionate and merciful God. He has forgiven me... my sin especially in this area, and released me with the freedom to try again. I am truly thankful to God. It is at times like that that the gospel of Jesus Christ illuminated to me and spoke to my heart of God's love and forgiveness. I found myself getting a deeper understanding of the gospel and why I have accepted Christ as the Lord and Master of my life. Tears of gratefulness just rolled down my cheeks... (not during tonight at our Super Family Night, but during my solitude time with God).

Our Little FECS got what I am sharing about by asking each of us to share one regret, and he began to share his. He said that for the new year, he wanted to play more with mommy and that he would try not to do things that make mommy upset and angry. Seeing our Little FECS getting into the momentum of sharing his regrets, Daddy FECS began to join in. He said that for the new year, he hope to spend less time browsing the internet and more time exercising.

We then burn the slips of paper with our regrets. We didn't have a fireplace, thus we burned them in a ceramic pot. Daddy FECS helped me with it. Initially, we tried to burn them at the balcony, but the wind was too strong. We ended up doing it under the suction of the stove. We put off the smoke with water.



Review family traditions for the past year and plan for this year

We then reviewed our Family Traditions for the last year and plan for this year. One of the activities I brought up was walkathon/marathon. Daddy FECS preferred to just go for a walk, without joining others. Our Little FECS gave a lesson to Daddy FECS on the Danish value of "fælleskab" (meaning community) and I took a video of it. I remembered that when I was a child, my mum used to take part in such events, and she had inspired me, but we have parked it for now, and will see if we will join a walkathon/marathon this year. 

Short lesson

Then we had a short lesson on family crest. Our Little FECS was very eager to design our family crest. He immediately went to take out a piece of paper and started drawing. He said that the star on top represent God. The two dots are God's eyes watching over us. The cross below represent Christ. 


After discussion, we have adopted the following motto as what our family stands for in our family crest: Encouragement, Cooperation, Respect and Grace.


Then our Little FECS played a piece for us - Bethlehem and Christmas Delight that he had practised for his piano lesson.


Browse family albums

We browsed through family photo albums with pictures before our Little FECS was born (we took a course in sushi-making and visited Japan) and the baby pictures of our Little FECS. Our Little FECS said that he looked very funny as a baby.


Super Family Sleep-In

We didn't manage to go through more program in the agenda and it was time for bed. After brushing teeth, we made a cave/blanket fort with bed sheet. Here was how it looked like. I read a small Bible story for our Little FECS and it was lights-off and it was already 11.30pm, way too late for our Little FECS.


That was how our Family Retreat/Super Family Night started and ended - as you can see, not perfect, and off to a bad start, but still very memorable for me. I thank God that it went well, even though it was very delayed and I didn't get to do all the things I planned to do. 

Friday 1 January 2016

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Annual Spring Cleaning



I realize that picture perfect posts can sometimes give a false picture that our lives are always sweet and rosy, in order and without any struggles... and often this is also what we feel about other people's posts.

Here is a picture of our everyday lives... a potpourri of both the fun and the mundane...

We didn't manage to do a thorough spring cleaning before Christmas. Today is a public holiday. Mr. FECS really have a desire to do a spring cleaning. So we used it do clean up the store room under the staircase. I woke up late around 10.15am, after staying up late for the New Year Eve yesterday. We had brunch. Mr. FECS made freshly baked buns. Then we did Chinese and piano, before we began our spring cleaning. We tried to make a competition to see who can find the most pile to stuff to give away or throw away, but that wasn't that successful. J did clean his little cabinet that he used for storing the crafts he made in school. We didn't have the time to make dinner, so we just made tomato soup with the Philip soup-maker and some bread with smoked salmon, lettuce and spinach... still rather healthy and nutritious, I hope.


Soon Our Little FECS (6Y8M27D) got bored, so I tried to occupied him with Lego and others:



We decided to work on the messy store room. We emptied out the store room into the living room. Here is a picture of our living room just as we started our spring cleaning. Amazing how it can fill the whole living room!!! We talked about moving to a bigger house, but we are trying to restraint ourselves. If we have a bigger house with a basement, most likely, we will just dump stuff that we don't use in the basement. It will be a very expensive "rubbish dump." It is better to just throw/give away all these stuff that take up space. And if we have a basement to clean up, it will certainly take us longer.




Here is how our storeroom looked like after being emptied out:


We started at 1pm, and we were done at 11.30pm - it took us almost a whole day to clean up. Here is how our storeroom looked like after cleaning up. It is amazing how the little storeroom under the staircase can contain!!! We really don't need to move to a big house with a basement for storage space. We just need to throw out or give away stuff that we don't use.






Here are the stuff we accumulated over the years to be given away:


It has been a very cosy day to spend our day, believe it or not. It is very relaxing just to be home, being together as a family, cleaning out stuff and feeling good after getting rid of all the clutter. We have made it our family tradition to do this. To be honest, I used to complain about using the whole precious day just on cleaning up, but I have come to appreciate it and see its value. And when Mr. FECS is happy, I find that I am very happy too. Thank God for a productive day. IT is nice to sit back and relax over a cup of tea, after all the cleaning and hard work, and things are spick and span. So this is the way we spent the first day of new year. Not very exciting to many others, but something we enjoy :-)

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