Heritage Education: Through Pretend Play - Making Danish Rice Pudding Risengrød

Age: From 2.5 years old

Materials:
1. 1 bowl of rice
2. 1 toy pot
3. 1 ladle or spoon
4. 1 toy stove

Additional Information:
Joshua saw me cooking Danish rice pudding risengrød recently, and this morning he got inspired and cooked it by himself on his own stove.

He asked me to help him to open the container, and then he poured the rice all himself into the pot and started cooking his risengrød. He was very good and did a good job. I did not have to worry that he would abuse the rice and mess up the whole place.

I look forward to the day he will be helping out to make risengrød in our kitchen, just like his cousin Casper.

J Summary (2Y9M11D) - A Sense of Humour & A Goodnight Kiss

We asked J if he would pray for the bedtime. He agreed. Then he said, "Dear God (pause) Amen". We broke into laughter. So that was his prayer! He laughed too. It seemed that he knew this would make us laugh. He is clearly developing a sense of humour.

J said that God and Jesus are above. I asked him how he knew. He said that the daycre teacher told him. I wondered what the concept of God is in a 2.5 years old brain and heart, but still I am amazed. I must continue to tell J about God, although I am sometimes sceptical that he could understnd. But maybe he could. God has put a need for Hi in our hearts, and maybe this can already be seen from 2.5 years old.

J refused to let me go, even though he had fallen asleep. Just as I was about to step out of the room, he woked up and and put his arms around me. Finally, he wanted to give me a kiss, before allowing me to get out of the room.

J can't wait to go to Singapore. It was a common topic of the day with how we would take the train, then the small plane, then the big plane to Singapore. J also talked about visiting China with Amy. That was rather surprising, as I don't recalled telling him about it. But I talked with my friend about sending J and Amy to China for holiday classes. And J said he would like to visit China. From here, I think that 2.5 years old, they could eavedrop on our conversation and remember them.

Re-citing Numbers

J could count up to 19 in mandarin, but not always consistent. He could not remember 20. But he is starting to count from 21 to 29. He told me that he could see the logic in the Chinese numbering, that it all starts from 1-9 all over again, each time we move to the next set of 10s. I am glad that he could see the logic, as I was wondering how I could best explain it to him.

For counting real objects, he could do so to 10 or sometimes more than 12 objects.

Lanuage Development

J continues to speak only mandarin to me. Now we cna have a conversation on his day at the daycare. He struggled to find the words, but he continued to try to formulate the sentences in mandarin.

J continues to speak Danish with Daddy. His Danish is improving thanks to the exposure at the daycare.

For English, wWhen Daddy speaks to him in English, J protested. After we explained that we would like to have English sessions, and not just alwasy Danish, J seemed to understand. He would replied in English, but often only yes or no in English.

Chinese Double-Boiled Carrots and Potato Soup with Pressure Cooker

Serves 1-2

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 mintues

Ingredients:
1. 1 chicken thigh or 2 drum sticks
2. 1/2 medium carrot or 1 small carrot sliced
3. 1 small potato sliced thin
4. 750 - 1000ml of water
5. 5 goji berries (optional)
6. 1/2 stalk spring onion chopped (optional for garnishing)

Materials:
1. 1 large heat-proof bowl
2. 1 metal stand
3. 1 plate or 1 piece of alumimun foil to cover the bowl
4. 1 large pressure cooker

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients a large bowl and prevent moisture loss by covering it with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of the pressure cooker fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water (at least 250ml of water to create steam). Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the large bowl in the pressure cooker. Then place all the ingredients in the bowl, fill the bowl up with water or soup base. Cover the bowl with a plate or alumimun foil to prevent moisture loss (optional). The bowl should sit on the metal stand.

4. Close the pressure cooker and bring it to pressure on high heat and cook at setting no. 2 (my stove fire at no. 5 - 5.5) for 5 minutes or under setting 1 (my stove fire at no. 4) for 15 minutes. (If you are not using pressure cooker, you can double-boil it for 1 hour under low heat).

5. Wait until the pressure cooker cool down on its own or cool under water and remove pressure cooker lid. Serve :-)

Clear Your Calendar Day

I love this great idea from Joy of Grace Full Mama - to have a day with nothing planned, but just spending time with loved ones doing whatever they like.

How to go about having such a "Clear Your Calendar" day? Here's Joy's idea how to free up time for such a day:

"
- Get up extra early to take care of household needs, like laundry and food prep.

- Plan far enough in advance so that grocery shopping, doctor’s appointments, and other important things do not need attending to.

- Make a simple lunch and enjoy it on a blanket in the living room.

- Prepare crafts and things ahead of time so that you can enjoy the day.

- Leave the TV off.

- Don’t go crazy with activities and entertainment, focus on relaxing and just being together.

- Just do it!! "

Being someone who trives on schedule and plan, it would be a challenge for me, but I will try and hopefully I survive without feeling lousy that a day is wasted without achieving anything. But first, I would need to find such a day :-)

Read her full post here.

Chinese Double-boiled Carrot and Chicken Soup Using Pressure Cooker

Serves 1-2

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 mintues

Ingredients:
1. 1 chicken thigh or 2 drum sticks
2. 1/2 medium carrot or 1 small carrot sliced
3. A handful of Chinese cabbage chopped
4. 750 - 1000ml of water
5. 5 goji berries (optional)
6. 1/2 stalk spring onion chopped  (optional for garnishing)

Materials:
1. 1 large heat-proof bowl
2. 1 metal stand
3. 1 plate or 1 piece of alumimun foil to cover the bowl
4. 1 large pressure cooker

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients a large bowl and prevent moisture loss by covering it with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of the pressure cooker fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water (at least 250ml of water to create steam). Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the large bowl in the pressure cooker. Then place all the ingredients in the bowl, fill the bowl up with water or soup base. Cover the bowl with a plate or alumimun foil to prevent moisture loss (optional). The bowl should sit on the metal stand.

4. Close the pressure cooker and bring it to pressure on high heat and cook at setting no. 2 (my stove fire at no. 5 - 5.5) for 5 minutes or under setting 1 (my stove fire at no. 4) for 15 minutes. (If you are not using pressure cooker, you can double-boil it for 1 hour under low heat).

5. Wait until the pressure cooker cool down on its own or cool under water and remove pressure cooker lid. Serve :-)

Additional Information:
Using the pressure cooker to double-boil Chinese tonic soup is a fantastic way to save time, and yet achieve the results of full flavoured soup with tender meat derived from Chinese double-boiling soup method :-)

How to Double-Boil Chinese Soup in the Shortest Time for the Busy Working Woman?

Using the pressure cooker to double-boil Chinese tonic soup is a fantastic way to save time :-)

Materials:
1. 1 large bowl
2. 1 metal stand
3. 1 plate to cover the bowl
4. 1 large pressure cooker

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients a large bowl and prevent moisture loss by covering it with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of the pressure cooker fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water (at least 250ml of water to create steam). Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the large bowl in the pressure cooker. Then place all the soup ingredients in the bowl, fill the bowl up with water or soup base. Cover the bowl with a plate or alumimun foil to prevent moisture loss (optional). The bowl should sit on the metal stand.

4. Close the pressure cooker and bring it to pressure on high heat and cook at setting no. 2 for 5 to 20 minutes, depending of the type of meat used in the soup.

5. Cool under water and remove pressure cooker lid. Serve :-)

Additional Information:
This is a brilliant method I learn from and an Italian's blog www.hippressurecooking.com. I am so happy to learn this. The result - Chinese double boil soup in a short time through an Italian's innovative method of cooking using pressure cooker. It is after all possible to make traditional Chinese double-boil tonic soup for a working mom living in this modern era. I will be experimenting with the recipe and share them in my blog.

I bought my WMF pressure cooker from Amazon and I have been very happy with it:

Baked Cauliflower "Souffle"/Blomkålssouffle

Serves 4

Preparation and Cooking Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1. 1 large cauliflower
2. 3 TBS butter or margarine
3. 4 ½ TBS plain flour
4. 400ml fresh skimmed milk
5. ¼ tsp thyme
6. Salt and white pepper
7. 3 TBS mayonnaise
8. 4 eggs
9. 2 egg whites (from previous day)
10. 3 TBS grated cheese
11. Sprinkle of ground nutmeg
11. Serve with sprinkle of cut spring onions or parsley (optional)

Directions:
1. Wash cauliflower, cut a bit of stalk off, place it in water - till the next day if possible
2. Cut cauliflowers into florets and cook until very tender in lightly salted water for approx. ½ hour.
3. Mash it lightly with a fork.
4. Heat butter on a saucepan and stir in wheat flour and gradually add in the milk.
5. Let the sauce boil gently for 10 minutes, stir occasionally and season with thyme, ground nutmeg, white pepper and a little salt.
6. Remove sauce from heat and stir in egg yolks one at a time.
7. Add the mashed cabbage and mayonnaise.
8. Beat all 6 egg whites very stiff and fold them into batter.
9. Fill it immediately in a very spacious, well-oiled gratinform with vertical sides. Fill the mold about. ⅔.
10. Sprinkle with cheese and put it immediately into the oven and bake at 200 ° C for approx. 30 - 45 minutes. Avoid opening the oven door during the first 20 minutes.
11. Serve soufflés immediately with spicy, touched butter.

Additional Information:
This dish expands in size in the oven. It is quite a time-consuming dish, but Florian told me that this is one of his favourite food as a child, so I would like to try to make it. This is the first time I am making it. I forgot to add ground nutmeg. I baked it in the oven for 35 minutes.

References:
http://www.madabc.dk/frontpage.aspx?id=0&plan=1&week=25&dbid=da8a4c82-17ba-4b94-8cf6-1bef24279c7c

http://www.opskriftdagbog.webbyen.dk/vishjemmeside_privat.asp?mode=top_frame&id=807030&side=&webside=4975628

Montessori Activity: Inserting Counters

Age: From 1.5 years old

Objective(s):
1. To train fine motor skills with regards to hand-eye coordination
2. To provide a fun way of teaching colours
3. To provide a fun way of counting
4. To teach sorting

Materials:
4 In a Line game

Directions:
1. Demonstrate to your child how to insert the counters one by one.
2. Encourage your child to try.

Cost:
10 DKK from Tiger

Additional Information:
My Significant Other told me that this is a game he enjoyed a lot, when he was a child. He was much older than J then.This game is good value for money. Although this game is for older kids, it grows with the child. For the young toddler, it can be used to train fine motor skills and teach sorting by colour. For the older toddler, it can be used to teach colours. For the preschooler, it can be used to teach counting. For the child, it is fun to play with another child to see who could have 4 in a line of the same colour.

J (2Y9M6D) tried it for the first time today and he played with it for 30 minutes, which is a long time. But he wasn't too keen to clean up by putting back the counters into the plastic bag. I had to be persistent. It was also too easy for him to insert in the counters. It would be more suited for toddlers 1.5 years old.

You can get 4-In-A-Row game from Amazon:

J sorting the counters into red and green

J having fun with Daddy

Creamy Danish Rice Pudding with Almonds/Risalamande

Recipe adapted from Ala

Serves 6

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. 1 cup or 180-200 g pudding rice (Grødris) (you can substitute it with sushi rice)
2. 1 liter of fresh skimmed milk
3. 200g almonds
4. 2 stalks of vanilla pods and use only the beans inside
5. 4 TBS sugar
6. 250 ml whipping Cream 38%
7. 250 ml water for steaming the rice

Directions:

1. Place a metal stand into the pressure cooker, add 250ml water and lower an empty heat-proof bowl into it.

2. Add rice and milk into the bowl.

3. Close the pressure cooker, turn on high heat till the pressure cooker reaches pressure steam under setting 2. Turn down heat (no. 5 on my stove) to maintain at setting 2 and steam for 20 minutes.

4. When the pressure cooker cools down, remove rice pudding from pressure cooker, and add milk to adjust to desired consistency.

5. When it is cool, cover rice pudding and place it in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until the next day.

6. Blanch almonds with boiling water and remove skin.

7. Take an almond from and chop the rest.

8. Add vanilla grains, sugar and ground almonds into the cold rice pudding.

9. Just before serving, whip the cream into a light foam using a hand-mixer and fold it gently into the porridge together with the chopped and whole almonds.

10. Serve with cherry sauce (optional) or frozen raspberries for a healthier alternative.

Additional Information:

This is a very traditional Danish Christmas dessert. The base is made from the risengrød, which is the Danish Rice Porridge or rice pudding. Thus, to make this dessert, you have to make the risengrød first. It is very delicious and I like it a lot, although with the cream and sugar, it is not exactly a healthy dish. The guest gets to serve a bowl and the person who finds the whole almond in his bowl gets a present.

It is very tedious to make, as it is not easy to cook rice with milk without burning the bottom. It requires frequent stiring and requires one to stand for a long time in the kitchen. Many Danes nowadays will buy store bought rice porridge. But one can make it from scratch and yet do away with the frequrent stiring by using the Chinese double-boiling method. It is the same concept as melting chocolate, using indirect heat source from double-boiling. Furthermore, if you double-boil it using a pressure cooker, the cooking time is greatly reduced to less than half an hour, :-) You can also use the double-boiling method on ordinary pot, but it will take hours under simmering. The advantage of using the double-boiling method, whether you use a normal pot for double boiling or the pressure cooker, is that you don't need to stand in the ktichen to stir it, freeing you time for other things :-)

References:

http://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/risalamande/
http://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/Kirsebarsauce/

How to Cook Creamy Danish Rice Pudding (Risengrød) Without Burning It?

Risengrød serve with cinnamon and butter

Recipe adapted from Arla

Serves 4

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup or 180-200 g Danish pudding rice (Grødris) (you can substitute it with sushi rice)
2. 1 liter of fresh skimmed milk
3. ¼ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Place a metal stand into the pressure cooker, add 250 ml water and lower an empty heat-proof bowl into it.

2. Add rice and milk into the bowl.

3. Close the pressure cooker, turn on high heat till the pressure cooker reaches pressure steam under setting 2. Turn down heat (no. 5 on my stove) to maintain at setting 2 and steam for 20 minutes.

4. When the pressure cooker cools down, remove rice pudding from pressure cooker, and add milk to adjust to desired consistency.

5. Add salt and stir well.

6. Serve top with cinnamon sugar and butter (optional, it is good on its own).

Additional Information:

This is a classic Danish dish and its Danish name is "risengrød", which directly translated means The Rice Porridge. When in Denmark, one should try it. The Danish rice pudding is actually porridge cooked with milk. When I first came to Denmark and was introduced to the Danish rice porridge for the first time, I thought it was strange that the Danes eat their porridge sweet. As a Chinese, we only eat our porridge as a savoury dish. I never thought that rice could be cooked like a "dessert". But I like it a lot.

Daddy FECS however found it strange that we Chinese eat our porridge savoury, and he would never eat the Chinese porridge, nor would he like to try it. Talking about cultural differences! Daddy FECS grew up eating this dish, and he loves to eat it the Danish way with the cinnamon sugar and butter. However, it actually tastes very good without the sugar and the butter topping.

It is very tedious to make, as it is not easy to cook rice with milk without burning the bottom. It requires frequent stiring and requires one to stand for a long time in the kitchen. Many Danes nowadays will buy store bought rice porridge. But one can make it from scratch and yet do away with the frequent stiring by using the Chinese double-boiling method. It is the same concept as melting chocolate, using indirect heat source from double-boiling. In addition, if you double-boil it using a pressure cooker, the cooking time is greatly reduced to less than half an hour, :-) You can also use the double-boiling method on ordinary pot, but it will take hours under simmering. The advantage of using the double-boiling method, whether you use a normal pot for double boiling or the pressure cooker, is that you don't need to stand in the kitchen to stir it, freeing you time for other things :-)

This is an example of how I embrace the good and discard the bad in my cross-cultural marriage - I learned to cook a new tasty dish, but achieve time-saving by using the Chinese double-boiling method :-)

References:

http://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/Risengrod-med-kanelsukker-og-smorklat/

Montessori Activity: Practise Pencil Grip with Tracing

Age: From 2.5 years old

Objective(s): To develop good pencil grip

Materials:

1. Kumon My First Book of Tracing

Directions:

1. Show your child to tracing from one object to the next.
2. Talk about asking your child to help baby kitten find mommy cat, or baby bunny find mommy rabbit.
3. Encourage your child to try.

Additional Information:

J does not have much chance of practising his pincer grip. This is because he is not fond of art - which means painting, drawing, colouring, etc. I tried to encourage him, but it just isn't his interest. He also wasn't interested in learning how to hold a pencil using the pincer grip, no matter how I tried to encourage him. He just prefer to use his fist!

I saw some home-schooling moms using this book, and they described it as being very well designed. I bought it from Amazon:

When it arrived. I thought it was really well-designed and full-coloured, and too nice and wasteful for J to scribble in it. I kept it for a few months, silly me wasn't it!!! I bought the book, but parked it aside, because it was too nice. It reminded me of someone who bought a Mercedes, but could not bear to drive it, and have it nicely covered in his garage.

I thought I will make photocopy of it and let J scribble on the photocopies, but of course, I didn't manage to find time to do it. Finally I pluck up my determination to let J JUST USE THE BOOK.

To my great amazement, J LOVES this book. He could go on pages after pages, and he did this more than one, and in fact many times. Usually for Montessori activity, he gets bored with it after one or two sessions.

He also was willing to listen when I showed him how to hold the pencil using the pincer grip. I am not sure whether it was just a coincidence that he is now developmentally ready or my determination of getting J to learn pincer grip or the excellence of this book in motivating toddlers and preschoolers, but he did. And he scribbled most of the time using his pincer grip on the book. I think it was about 1 or perhaps 2 months later, J's ability to draw improved a lot. He (2Y9M) now manages to draw a full circle closing the ends nicely.

It was actually his daycare teacher who wanted me to take home a drawing that J made today for memories, and she was full of praise for him. I asked if J actually drew that himself, as he never did that at home. She said yes, and she didn't help him at all.

I didn't know that it was a great leap in development to be able to draw a full circle. She mentioned that he drew very nice circles, cover the full page of the sheet, and at the same time stayed within the frame. She said that this shows that J's brain has developed and that he is now a child, no longer a toddler.

Kumon was developed by a Japanese. Here are some excellent pages from the book which J scribbled:

Updates:

J completed the whole book on 15 March 2012. He was 3 years and 10 days old (3Y10D).

Baby FECS tried this book for the first time today 6 November 2019 (3Y5M15D)

Baby FECS tried it for the first time today 6 November 2019 (3Y5M15D)

6 November 2019 (3Y5M15D): The Danish kindergarten teacher told me today that she was very impressed with C's pencil grib, that she could draw a face with eyes and mouth. It seems that she is one of the few in her group who could draw a face. I didn't dare to tell the her that C does homework almost every evening holding a pencil, as it is frown upon in Denmark to do homework for such young children. So I smiled and thank her very much for the kind feedback. 

Fun with Animal Face Masks

Age: From 2.5 years olf

Additional Information:
We tried, but Joshua wasn't interested in masks when he was younger. Today, we rad a story about Kaj and his tiger mask and all of a sudden, Joshua (2Y9M) asked for the masks I made for him from the library and books. . So we had a lof ot fun with the masks with J today.

Updates:
29.1.2012 (2Y10M14D) - Joshua decided that he wanted to play with face masks today. I decided to build it into our breakfast routine and acting out The Animal family preparing breakfast together and it is all team work...




29.1.2012 (2Y10M14D) - Joshua Little Blue Mouse preparing his breakfast...

This is Daddy Teddy Bear preparing fruit

This is Mommy Pink Rabbit making the Super porridge for the Little Blue Mouse

Healthy Danish Meatballs with Oatmeal/Sunde Frikadeller med Havregryn

Serves 4

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. 500g minced pork (3-7% fat)
2. 1/2 cup or 100ml oatmeal
3. 2 eggs beaten
4. 200ml fresh skimmed milk
5. 2 onion finely chopped
6. 1 clove garlic squeezed
7. 50g sun dried tomatoes chopped (optional)
8. Handful of basil leaves chopped (optional)
9. 1 tsp brewer's yeast (optional)
10. 1 tsp wheatgerm (optional)
11. 1 tsp salt
12. Sprinkle pepper
13. 2 TBS cooking oil

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together (except oil) and make into balls using a tablespoon.
2. Heat cooking oil on a pan and fry on medium fire (no. 5 on our stove) for 5 minutes on each side.
3. Serve with chopped red pepper bells.

Additional Information:
Daddy FECS and I made this for dinner today with our Little FECS. Our Little FECS liked it a lot.

References:
http://frikadelle-opskrifter.blogspot.com/

J Summary (2Y8M28D) - Unconditional Love

Mealtime

J is eating well at least one meal a day. He looks forward to his super porridge breakfast every morning. During weekends, he would bug me to wake up to make breakfast for him. He would eat a full bowl (Chinese rice bowl size) of super porridge and an additional bowl of oatmeal porridge. His super porridge currently consists of 3 cubes of mixed grain and beans, 1 cube of carrot, 1 cube of french beans, 1/2 banana, 1 tsp of wheatgerm, 1 tsp of brewer's yeast and the rest of the bowl top up with oatmeal.

Life skill Development

I got very upset with J today over his lack of interest to be more self-sufficient. He didn't want to feed himself and wanted me to feed him. He got very upset and gave up trying to eat by himself, when he got the rice noodles all over the table. Compared to many other children his age, most children are a lot more independent. Today, I taught him how to put on the jacket by himself, but he wasn't too serious either and was jumping around.

Language Development

Danish-wise, J speaks Danish to himself. I know he is practising his Danish. I think he thinks in Danish.

He continues to be our translator. For example, when he bugs me to wake up in the morning, I will tell him in Mandarin to ask his dad to wake up. He would go to Daddy and ask him to wake up in Danish. In return, Daddy would tell J to ask mommy to wake up instead in Danish. J would then come to me and translate Daddy's instruction to me in Mandarin. This would go on for a few rounds, until one of us wakes up to make breakfast for him, well, usually me.

English-wise, we know that he understands a lot, but he is not speaking it himself. He only repeats what we say in English word-by-word. I know he understands it, because once during mealtime, I was telling Daddy that I was thinking of making pancakes in English. A few minutes later, I turned to J and J asked when I will be making pancakes in Mandarin. I wondered how he knew, since I didn't tell him. I realized then that it was because I had been talking to Daddy about it in English earlier. It could also be that J is learning to understand selective English words, and since he loves food, pancake is one of those English words he chose to understand!

Our neighbour's boy who is 2.5 months younger than J could now recognize 60 Chinese characters, but J is only interested in recognizing 4 Chinese characters, namely mom 妈, dad 爸 and his own Chinese name 慨恩. To see the silver lining in this cloud, it was very sweet that J placed so much importance in recognizing these 4 characters, because it showed that these are the things he is placing the most importance in his life.

Reflection

So, if I have a chance to exchange J for my neighbour's boy, would I do it? The answer is NO. Although I am clearly upset that he is not inclined to be more independent nor showing more interest in learning Chinese characters, he is our boy, and we love him for his very existence. We love him for being J. We would not exchange him for anyone else. We love him unconditionally, faults and all.

Through these little incidents with J, I come to understand my own love for J. It also helps me to understand a little more deeply God's love for us.

At times, we can be upset at ourselves for not doing certain things better or for not achieving in certain areas, and start questioning our own self-worth and value in this world.

If I as a mother would not exchange J for anyone else, similarly, God our Heavenly Father would not exchange me for anyone else. I am valued in God's eyes simply for being Elaine, simply for being who I am, faults and all. Because God values me so much, I will value myself simply for being in existence, and not accord value to the achievements I achieved in this world. This does not mean that I get complacent, but it does mean that to have a healthy self-esteem. Our self-worth and self-acceptance should not be directly corelated to our achievements.

We need to understand God's unconditional love for us. Having received God's unconditional love, we need to love ourselves unconditionally and from there go on to love others unconditionally. Thank God for this lesson  to me today through J.

Through this incident, I also see and catch my own tendencies to place high academic pressure on J, even already at the age of 2.5 years old. I have to watch that.

The Bible says:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the capacity to love J unconditionally as parents. Thank you for giving us your wisdom to see and understand your love for us. Help me to strike a balance, that I would not place unnecessary pressure on our boy, and rob him or us of the joy. Help me to work on my own weaknesses. In Jesus' most victorious name, Amen.

Homemade Disposable Number Mats for Hopping

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 10 - 15 minutes

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Objectives:
1. To provide a fun way to teach numbers, making full use of the children's energy at this age.

Materials:
1. Disposable Number Mats for numberal 1-5
2. Scotch tape the mat to the floor

Directions:
1. Demonstrate by hopping on the first number and say the number.

2. Go on to demonstrate the rest of the number in this way and finish one round.

3. Encourage the child to try.

Additional Information:
Joshua (2Y8M28D) tried this out today. He was thrilled with the hopping, but wasn't too keen to say the numbers.

How to Double-Boil Chinese Soup without the Chinese Ceramic Double Boiler Jar?

Idea from Karen Lim

It is not necessary to spend money to buy the Chinese Ceramic Double-Boiler Jar. You can still cook using the double boil method with ordinary items found in your kitchen.

Materials:
1. 1 large bowl
2. 1 metal stand
3. 1 plate to cover the bowl
4. 1 large ordinary pot

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients a large bowl and prevent moisture loss by covering it with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of another large pot and fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water. Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the large bowl covered by a plate into the large pot. The covered bowl should sit on the metal stand and be partially submerged in the water (2 cm up the bowl).

4. Turn down the heat and double boil the soup under low heat for 2-3 hours or until the ingredients are tender. In general, the longer you slow cook the soup, the sweeter the soup gets. The Cantonese are known to take up to 5 hours to make tonic soup using very low fire. With very low fire, you don't kill the nutrients and vitamins in the soup, and the resulting soup is full of nutrients and goodness. That's how Cantonese tonic soups are made :-)

Warning:
You can't leave the cooking unattended as if the water in the large pot evaporates, the food in the double boiler will not cook well. If you want the convenience of not worrying about water evaporating in the large pot, you can put the double boiler in a slow cooker and cook overnight.

Additional Information:
How to make the most tasty Chinese soup? It is achieved by using the traditional Chinese double boiling method with the Chinese ceramic double boiling jar widely available in HongKong, Singapore and China, but not available in Amazon. However, if you do not own a Chinese ceramic jar, don't fret, you can still improvise with the basic equipment found in your kitchen and it would give similar results. The only draw-back is that you can only make a bowlful portion, but it saves you money from having to get special equipment :-).

The Chinese double boiling method existed for thousands of years in China, but it is the Cantonese who perfected the art of double-boiling Chinese tonic soups. Among the Chinese, the Cantonese are known to make the best Chinese soup, and I have to agree, although I am not a Cantonese Chinese. If you look closely into the secret of how the Cantonese do it, you will find that many of their delicious soups call for simmering the soup in the traditional Chinese ceramic double-boiler jar for hours.

The Chinese way of double boiling soup is actually a form of steaming. It is also similar to the western method of melting chocolate or warming up cream using a Bain Marie.

The advantages of the Chinese double-boiling method are:

1. Slow cooking the soup for many hours from the indirect heat source derived from double-boiling gives you the most sweet and flavourful Chinese soup, that no other method can give.

2. This double-boiling method also gives you the most tender and flavourful meat that would melt in your mouth.

3. This method of cooking avoids moisture loss and retains most nutrients from the ingredients.

4. This is a very good method for making baby food if you are cooking soup for baby, since it retains most of the nutritional value of the ingredients for baby. This is equivalent to steaming baby food.

However, there are two major disadvantages. Firstly it takes a long time to double-boil meat such as chicken, which calls for simmering the soup under low heat for a few hours. Secondly, it makes only a small portion, often a one-person portion, because the size of the Chinese double boiling ceramic jar is very small, since the jar has to fit into a large pot.

However, thankfully, there are ways to overcome this. For example, fish soup is fast to make using the double-boil method, since fish cooks fast and does not require simmering for hours. Or you can double-boil your soup using a pressure cooker, instead of an ordinary pot.

Secondly, to overcome the small portion issue, one can use a Bain Marie to cook a whole pot of soup using the double boil method, instead of the Chinese ceramic jar.

Using the traditional Chinese ceramic jar with double lids would no doubt give the best result, but using the western Bain Marie is a good compromise if you want to make a big portion in one cooking to save time.

References:
http://www.whatsupatfairprice.com.sg/double_boiled.aspx
http://eatingpleasure.blogspot.com/2010/10/cordyceps-soup-double-boiling-method.html
http://www.mywoklife.com/2010/07/double-boiled-snow-pear-soup-with.html
http://www.deliciousasianfood.com/2008/02/11/double-boiled-sweet-herbal-chicken-soup/
http://rasarasa.net/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_20e2003f-ca90625c-1e68a2b0-4315e6e8

Chinese Fish Rice Noodle Soup by Double-Boiling Method

Idea from Karen Lim

Serves 2

Preparation & Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
- Rice noodles, mushrooms, broccoli, carots, etc.
- Salmon fish cut into slices
- Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients in the double boiler or a large bowl covered with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of another large pot and fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water. Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the double boiler or large covered bowl into the large pot. The double boiler or covered bowl should sit on the metal stand and be partially submerged in the water (2 cm up the double boiler or bowl).

4. Turn down the heat to medium low and double boil the soup for 15 - 20 minutes.

Warning:
You can't leave the cooking unattended as if the water in the large pot evaporates, the food in the double boiler will not cook well. If you want the convenience of not worrying about water evaporating in the large pot, put the double boiler in a slow cooker instead of a large pot, and cook overnight.

Additional Information:
Most Chinese double boiling soups take long hours, however, this is a quick and easy double-boiling recipe for the modern working woman, thanks to my friend Karen Lim who gave me this idea.

If you have bigger family, and would like to make bigger portion in one cooking, you can use a Bain Marie to cook a whole pot of soup using the double boil method, and it would still give you similar results :-). Below is a good Bain Marie double boiler from Amazon: