Blanket Time (for Babies/Pre-toddlers/Toddlers 14 – 20 months)

I heard about the concept of Blanket Time from “On Becoming Babywise” By Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, a Christian-based parenting book. J has been running around when we are in church. One time when we visited a friend’s place, he was going around into people’s rooms. Then another time, he was taking toys from the host’s toddlers, as if he was in his own home! It is hard to bring J as guest to people’s homes.

I wanted so much for J to be able to do blanket time. But this is probably my greatest challenge, and I don’t think I will ever achieve it. But I will try, and it is alright if he doesn’t achieve it. There are still many good things both J and I will learn in the process.

But I so pleased that J achieved real Blanket Time today!!! He looked at picture books while I busied myself in the kitchen in the morning. I walked around, and he pointed out the pictures to me while on the blanket. I told him the name of the object in the picture without being with him on the blanket. When the timer went after 5 minutes, I told him that Blanket Time is finished and started folding the blanket. He understood and went to play with his push cart.

What is Blanket Time?

Blanket Time is a form of structured independent playtime, where babies/pre-toddlers/toddlers play on their own on a blanket, where mommy chooses the time, the place and the toys baby should play with. Blanket Time is very useful when visiting friends. You will know that your baby will be able to entertain himself, and will respect people’s property not to run around the whole house touching people’s things.

What are the objectives of blanket time?

1. To teach focus skills – so that baby does not jump from one toy to another without really exploring it

2. To teach parameter skills – so that baby is willing to stay in a place, although there is no playpen gates to restrain him

3. To teach obedience and self-control – so that baby will be willing to listen to the instructions of mommy and daddy

When to start?

Blanket Time is suitable for babies 12-24 months. You can start to get familiar with it before baby learns to crawl at around 8 months, however, that is not real blanket time, since he/she would not be able to get off the blanket by himself. Blanket Time training should start around 14 months for crawling or walking babies. I started J when he was around 14M3D old.

What is the ideal blanket size?

I use a 155 x 120cm blanket and it is a comfortable size. Not too big that it is unmanageable, not too small that it is too restrictive for baby.

What toy would be suitable?

It should be a toy that has some novelty effect, or could hold his attention for some time. For J, it is a couple of books or stacking rings. Don't worry, however, about changing toys too frequently. It is alright for the same toys for a week as it will help a child to play with what has been given to him.

How to implement blanket time?

1. Start with only 5 minutes at a time consistently every day or once a week

I started with J for 5 minutes with a timer every Saturday morning right after breakfast and potty time (since I am a working mom, I couldn’t do it during weekdays). If J is showing interest and wants to play longer, add more time. You can always add time again, but once you set the timer, you should not take time away. Slowly work it up to 15 minutes, 20 minutes and 45 minutes.

2. Choose a quiet enclosed spot at home

I chose a place at home where it is less distractive, which is along the “corridor” of our bedrooms. In this way, he could not go anywhere.

3. Start by having blanket time together

I sat with J on the blanket to read a book or two. This helps him to associate good feelings with the blanket – cozy time with mom on the blanket with a book. I did this for about 4 consecutive Saturdays to allow him to get used to it gradually.

4. Move to having blanket time together in an open space

On the 5th Saturday or so, I started by having our Blanket Time together along the corridor, followed by a session of Blanket Time together in a totally open space. I took the blanket downstairs and placed it on the floor beside the sofa in the living room, where there will be no natural boundaries provided by the corridor. I sat with him on the blanket together with some toys (not books, as I knew he would protest, and I did not want him to associate this experience with books) and put the timer to 5 minutes. Whenever he felt tempted to walk away, I would bring him back to the blanket, with much protest from him, of course! But I persisted on for 5 minutes until the timer rang. I did these two sessions for another 3 weeks.

5. Start getting further away from baby

After 3 weeks, I did the same routine, however, this time I tried to sit on the sofa just beside the blanket, instead of being with him on the blanket. In this way, I am not on the blanket, but am near enough to put him back on the blanket, if he strays and protests. J protested and cried and wanted me to play with him on the blanket. I brought him back to the blanket saying, “J, you need to stay on the blanket and play with your toys until the timer rings”. He protested and cried each time I brought him back. I persisted for 5 minutes. Five minutes was up and the timer rang - that was our blanket time session - pretty uneventful. This went on for weeks… I was feeling like I would never achieve Blanket Time, but I told myself that I have at least achieved Reading Time on the blanket together. Not many babies are willing to do that. And so I continued to persist for weeks…

Then finally one day, today 3.7.2010, he willingly sat down on the blanket when I laid the blanket down in the living room with some books on it. He stayed there and looked at the pictures books, with eye contact towards me, and also just alone looking at the books. I told him that I will be doing chores in the kitchen, and talked to him while I was doing chores, and he on the blanket. I walked around the living room, and he pointed to the picture in the book to me. I will tell him what that was, while still doing my own stuff. The timer rang, and the Blanket Time ended. J stayed there willingly without protesting or walking out of the blanket. J succeeded after about 2 months!!! He is 15M28 D today.

References:
http://havingfunathomeblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/13-everyday-objects-to-put-in-toddlers.html

http://www.babywisemom.com/

On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam

On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam is available from Amazon:

Tang Dynasty Poem: 回乡偶书 [huí xiāng ǒu shū]

回乡偶书

少 小 离 家 老 大 回，

shào xiǎo lí jiā lǎo dà huí 　

乡 音 无 改 鬓 毛 衰。

xiāng yīn wú gǎi bìn máo cuī 　

儿 童 相 见 不 相 识，

ér tóng xiāng jiàn bù xiāng shí 　

笑 问 客 从 何 处 来。

xiào wèn kè cóng hé chù lái 　

Literal Translation:
Youth I was when I left my birthplace, Old I am when I returned,
Hometown accent unchanged, my sideburns grey.
Children saw me, no one knew me,
Smiling politely they asked, "Guest, where do you come from?"

Author:
He Zhizhang (659-744), a poet from the Tang dynasty, who came from today's Zhejiang Xiaoshan region in China.

Modern Translation:
The poet left his birthplace when he was young, and returned in his old age. His hometown accent remained unchanged, but his sideburns had already turned grey.The kids in the street saw him, yet no one knew him. Ironically, they smiled and asked where he came from.

This poem seems plain, but is rich in meaning. The first two lines talked about the poet’s home-coming. The plain recounting of the event contained unspoken and inexpressible excitement and emotion. The poet found himself in a familiar, yet strange environment. As he walked, he sighed, recalling how he had left in his prime, but returned as an old man.The third and fourth line shifted the attention from an emotion-filled self-portrait to a dramatic scene with the children smiling. To the children, it was just a simple innocent question to ask smilingly,”where do you come from?”. However, that simple question became a heavy strike on the poet, as it stirred up his deep emotions and feelings.The poem ended quietly with that question, yet evoked mournful feelings to the utmost. He was being addressed as "guest" in his own hometown. This simple and short poem managed to express and capture the feelings of every wanderer in just a few lines. This is the reason why this poem has stired the hearts of people for thousands of years.

My After-thought:
I have now left Singapore for 9 years.... sigh... perhaps I will have the same feelings when I return to Singapore 30-40 years from now... This poem expresses my heartaches...

Updates:
19 July 2011 - During bedtime this evening for the first time, J (2Y4M14D) could recite almost the whole of this poem. I would say the first 2 words of the line, and he would recite the rest of the line. Daddy FECS heard it from downstairs and he came up very excitedly. J repeated it again for Daddy FECS. However, he could not quite consistently recite the last line of this poem.

Optimize the Workflow of Gift-Giving

The Danish way of giving gifts: The giver agonizes over what to give. The giver goes to the shop, selects a present, takes out the money and pays. The giver wraps the gift or waits for the sales assistant to wrap the gift. The giver transports the gift (tough work if the present is bulky!) and gives the gift to the recipient. The recipient thanks the giver politely. The recipient unwraps the gift and looks pleasantly surprised or tries hard not to look genuinely disappointed. The recipient tries to find a day to make a trip to the shop to return the gift. The recipient gets the money back and buys something else.

The old-style Chinese way of giving gifts: The giver takes out the decided amount of money and puts it into a red packet (“ang bao”). The giver gives the red packet to the recipient. The recipient thanks the giver politely.

The Danish way of gift-giving is more thoughtful and romantic, but the workflow is also a lot more time-consuming, especially if you have to find presents for 8 children and 12 adults, the time taken will be multiplied by 20!. No wonder Danes are really stressed out during the Christmas season trying to complete their Christmas shopping in time! The Chinese way is much more efficient and less time-consuming, but it is really unromantic, boring and does not provide the surprise factor. Both have their pros and cons, but the Chinese way suits the busy working woman more, at least for the Chinese working woman :-)

One benefit of the Chinese way of giving money in red packets as gifts is that you get to teach your child the 3 “S” lessons about life – namely Sharing, Saving and Spending.

1. S is for Sharing - 30% in the following break down:
a. 10% to God – As Christians, this teaches J to honour God with his “first fruits”.
b. 10% to parents – As Chinese, this teaches J in an early age the Chinese concept of filial piety, something not many Europeans could comprehend.
c. 10% to charity – This teaches J the concept of sharing with the less fortunate

2. S is for Saving - 20% – This teaches J the concept of being thrifty and saving up for rainy days

3. S is for Spending - 50% - This teaches J the enjoyment of spending within his means after taking into account the other two “S”s.

If the child gets, let say, a toy car as present, he can’t really share it. He can’t give God a wheel, give his parents another wheel, take another wheel to save and spend the last wheel. He has the toy car ALL TO HIMSELF. Of course, he can share the toy car with the less fortunate kids… but usually these kids do not really exist in Denmark.

Another benefit of the Chinese way is that I get to teach J mathematics in a very real sense and the use of money in a very practical way.

Being a pragmatic Singaporean, I tend to go for the less time-consuming way. However, when in Rome, we should do as the Romans do, and efficiency should not be achieved at all cost. We should be sensitive to the feelings of others whenever we can. Thus, it is a balancing act to tread on this Danish-Chinese cultural toeline. So here is my strategy:

1. When buying gifts for the Danes, especially the die-hard romantic Danes, I will go to the shops and buy gifts.

2. If I am pressed for time, I will give “ang bao” like gifts, i.e. gift voucher in a nice European-style envelope. This serves as a bridge for the cultural gap between the Danish and Chinese culture.

3. And if I am REALLY pressed for time and the shops are closed (the shops in Denmark has one of the world’s shortest opening hours!), then I will just put an amount of money into a nice European-style envelope. Better to come with a gift than no gift at all, right? We tried it on one of our nephews and he was really pleased with it :-)… though I am not sure if his parents were equally thrilled… :-P

4. For non-Danes and Chinese friends, from now on, I will just give "ang baos".

References:
http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-reward-system-in-home-store.html
http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2011/06/money-matters-intro-to-money-shopping.html

Blueberry Dessert/Blåbær Dessert/蓝莓甜点[lán méi tián diǎn]

Fromage Frais/清爽干酪[qīng shuǎng gān lào]

Fromage frais is light and refreshing. It is available in 0.2% fat. It is a delicious and healthy alternative to whipping cream.

Tips:
1. Use in place of cream in dessert

2. Use in place of mayonnaise in potato, tuna, chicken or egg salad

3. As a topping for jacket potatoes with a few snipped chives

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Additional Information:

One of the recipe calls for fromage frais. What is fromage frais? Some of you may know it, but Idon't and have not tried it before. I know that it is something French. After being in Europe for 9 years, I am slowly discovering many interesting and healthy food, which I have not noticed, until I took an interest in cooking. So I went to look it up on the internet.

It is low-fat light curd cheese. It has the consistency of a cream cheese but with fewer calories and less cholesterol. Fromage frais can be used as a healthy substitute for cream cheese and sour cream. It is similar to yoghurt, but without the latter's fermented quality and live bacteria. It is served either as a dessert, frequently with added fruit, or used in savory dishes with herbs and spices. It is often served with honey in restaurants, as fromage blanc au miel.

The best fromage frais is probably found in France, but I went racky in the Danish supermarket and found it there too. Apparently, the Danes use it quite a lot. I choose the 0.2% fat content, which is the lowest fat content available in Denmark.

清爽干酪，是一种用牛奶加入水果调味制成的浓稠的奶油甜点.

The Chinese Black Bean Soup/Den Kinesiske Sørte Bønne Suppe/黑豆湯[hēi dōu tāng]

Preparation and cooking time: It only takes 5 minutes to prepare and just let it cook automatically for 5-8 hours on low power or 3 hours on high power.

Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken or 1 pound fresh pork bones
- 1 cup of black beans
- 10 red dates
- 1 dried cuttlefish or 5 dried scallops (optional but makes the soup sweeter)
- 2 - 3 L of water

Directions:
1. Remove skin from chicken and soak the black beans overnight, if you have the time. If not, simply skip this step. It is ok.

2. Dump all the ingredients into the electric slow cooking pot and slow cook for 5-8 hours.

3. Dish out and add salt to taste. Serve with rice (preferably brown rice) and stir-fry vegetables Chinese style on the side to make a complete meal.

For babies:
From 8 months. This is a very nutritious soup for babies. Just remember NOT to add salt into it when you are making the soup!

Nutritional Value:
Black beans are an excellent source of iron and manganese. Black beans are an excellent source of cholesterol-lowering fiber and high quality protein. Black beans are high in dietary fiber, folate, molybdenum, tryptophan, vitamin B1 (thiamin), complex carbohydrates, magnesium and phosphorus.

Black beans have also recently been reported to be an extremely good source of nutritional antioxidants. Gram for gram, black beans are found to have the most antioxidant activity in the bean family.

Black beans help protect against cancer, lower heart attack risk and are good for diabetic as it give you energy to burn while stabilizing blood sugar. When combined with a whole grain such as whole wheat pasta or brown rice, provide protein comparable to that of meat or dairy foods without the high calories or saturated fat found in these foods.

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Additional Information:
I prepare in the evening and slow cook overnight. Soup ready for the next day for lunch pack to work. Also soup is done all ready at dinner time, perhaps just to heat it up. Pack the remainder in the fridge and bring it for lunch the following day. This method kills 3 birds with one stone - 2 lunches and 1 dinner - super!

Also if you don't have the time or forget to make rice, simply eat the black beans as a substitute for rice. The black beans are very filling and high in fiber.

References:
http://www.noobcook.com/chinese-black-bean-soup/
http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/black-bean-cuttlefish-soup/

Rhubarb Oatmeal Cake/Rabarber Havregyrn Kage/大黄燕麦片蛋糕[dà huáng yàn mài piàn dàn gāo]

Ingredients:
- 2 large stalks of rhubarb (150 - 200g)
- 1.5 TBS maple syrup or honey *
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (I use the homemade version)

Dough:
- 1 TBS maple syrup for the oatmeal dough
- 50g oatmeal
- 1 egg
* you can also substitute with 40g cane sugar (out of which 1.5 TBS for the oatmeal dough) and you can adjust it according to your taste

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200° C.
2. Wash and cut the stalks into small pieces about 1 inch each.
3. Stir in maple syrup (or sugar) and vanilla into the rhubarb in an oven-proof bowl.
4. Beat egg together with maple syrup (or sugar) and add oatmeal.
5. Spread mixture on top of the rhubarb.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes and ready to serve :-) (Preferably leave it outside to cool down for 5 minute before serving)

Nutritional Value:
Rhubarb provides a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and calcium.

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Additional Comments:
My in-laws have rhubarb grown in the garden of their summerhouse. Last weekend, we went to visit them, and my father-in-law cut some rhubarb for me to bring home. And I am very curious that it actually can be eaten. This all seems so exotic to me as a Singaporean! I baked it for our couch time this evening, and got a lot of compliments from Daddy FECS :-D. He loves it!

Rhubarb has big leaves and reddish stems. The stalk is the part that is eaten and it has a sweet and sour taste, and are used to make desserts and jams in Denmark. The leaves are apparently said to be toxic. Apart from the leaves, various other parts of the plants have medicinal uses.

Even though rhubarb is a vegetable, it is most often treated as a fruit. Since rhubarb is primarily used for jam, cake or pie, it's nicknamed the "pie plant".

In fact, rhubarb has been used for medical purposes by the Chinese for thousands of years and appears in The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic which is traditionally attributed to Shen Nung, the Yan Emperor, but is thought to have been compiled in about 2700 BC.

Why do I bother to write all these down? Knowing about the background of food helps a child to eat better. One day when J is older, I would love to tell with him about rhubarb, as it is soooo much part of Danish culture, and it is surprising to know that it also has been part of the ancient Chinese culture too. Hey, Danish and Chinese culture share many things in common, and it would be nice for J to know that, bridging the gap between Danish and Chinese culture :-)

References:
http://www.dk-kogebogen.dk/info/link-til-os/frugt-gront/frugt/rabarber.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/news/?p=1155

http://www.everynutrient.com/healthbenefitsofrhubarb.html

Light and Healthy Danish Egg Salad/Dansk Æggesalat/鸡蛋沙拉[jī dàn shā lā]

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 2 cooked eggs (120g)
- 1 cooked potato (100g) cut into small pieces
- 1 cooked carrot (100g) cut into small pieces
- ½ cup of cucumber cut into small pieces
- ¼ onion finely chopped
- ½ garlic pressed
- 100ml fromage frais 0.2% fat or Greek yogurt 0.1% fat
- A handful of cress (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Cut cucumber into small pieces and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then set aside.

2. Cut carrot and potato into small pieces and steam them or cook them with just enough water to over them for 10 minutes. Then drain and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then set aside and let it cool down.

3. Boil eggs in a small covered pot until water is brought to boil, turn off fire and let it sit for 15 minutes.

4. Peel eggs and chop them up finely.

5. Mix pressed garlic, salt and pepper into fromage frais.

6. Add all ingredients * (except garden cress) and mix well.

7. Rinse, cut and add garden cress to the salad.

8. Serve with rye bread or other bread.

* If cucumber exude juice, squeeze firmly to drain juice off first.

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Additional Information:
I made this for the first time for dinner today, and Daddy and J liked it. Danish potato salad is very light and don’t make you feel like you need to flush water down your intestines after eating it, yet delicious like Japanese potato salad, but without the Japanese mayonnaise. My favourite is Japanese potato salad and I am very happy that I have found a healthy alternative that tastes like Japanese potato salad.

Garden Cress/Karse/独行菜[dú xíng cài]

Garden Cress is commonly found in the Danish supermarket. It is commercially grown in England, France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. In some regions, garden cress is known as garden pepper cress, pepper grass, pepperwort or poor man's pepper. Garden cress is considered as one of the species of the genus of the family of mustards. It is also eaten as sprouts, and the fresh or dried seed pods can be used as a peppery seasoning. In England and Denmark, cut cress shoots are typically used in sandwiches with boiled eggs, mayonnaise and salt.

Directions:
1. Rinse, cut and serve.

2. Add raw garden cress to salad and sandwiches or as garnish for soups.

Nutritional value:
Garden cress is a good source of iron, folic acid, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin A.

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Additional information:
I have seen this many times in the Danish supermarket, and I have always wandered to myself how it is eaten. I have never bought it as I am afraid that it would taste very raw like eating grass or raw bean spouts. Then I started taking an interest in cooking, and I saw that this is one of the ingredients called for in a Danish potato salad recipe. So, I decided to try it today after being 9 years in Denmark! It actually tastes very fresh and light.

Journal:
Today is the first time J (15M25D) was introduced to garden cress. No allergic reaction so far.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_cress

Smiley Buns

Baking Smiley with the dough prepared the night before for J's daycare Grandparent's Day on 11.6.2010 using green peas and red capsium

Top: Before baking
Bottom: After baking

Walnut Raisin Carrot Bread/Valnød Rosin Gulerod Brød/核桃葡萄干胡萝卜面包[hé táo pú táo gān hú luó bo miàn bāo]

Here is my walnut raisin carrot bread (baked for the first time on 25.4.2010)

Ingredients
- 20 g yeast
- 250 ml buttermilk (optional)
- 600 ml cold water (if using buttermilk, reduce the proportion of water accordingly)
- 600 g Graham flour
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 150 g raisins
- 100 g walnuts
- 4 grated carrots (optional)
- 100 g spelt flakes (optional)
- 75 g ground flax seeds (optional)
- 50 g wheat germ (optional)
- 1.5 tsp salt (optional)
- 1 egg white or 50 ml milk (optional for glazing)

Directions:
1. Mix water and yeast together in a mixing bowl.

2. Stir in carrots, walnuts, raisins, flax seeds, spelt flakes, wheat germ, graham flour and olive oil.

3. Knead it well into dough by hand or using a hand-mixer and leave it overnight (or at least 8 hours) in the fridge.

4. On a baking tray lay with baking paper, use half of the dough to form buns by using a spoon (can make about 24 buns) and the other half of the dough to form into a bread. Then cut a slit in the middle of the bread with a sharp knife.

5. Brush the bread and buns with milk or egg white and sprinkle them with the spelt flakes (optional)

6. Place the tray in the middle of a pre-warmed oven and bake for 12-15 mins. for the buns and 50 min. for the bread at 200°C in a pre-warmed oven.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_flour

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhealthinformation/a/buttermilkhelth.htm

http://breadmantalking.blogspot.com/2010/06/simple-breads-part-2-whole-wheat-loaf.html

Accept the chicken and the duck

A marriage brings out the chicken and duck in both of us.

We come from two different backgrounds, from two different countries, with two different cultures and two different mother-tongues. Sometimes, we become like chickens and ducks. When communication hits a snag… when we just simply do not understand each other’s viewpoint… we go quack quack quack and chick chick chick with frustrations. The chicken could not find out how to go the duck’s way, and the duck could not find out how to go the chicken’s way... and I ask… why can’t that chicken just take to water like duck!!!

So who is the chicken and who is the duck in our case?

My Significant Other always jokes that I have flat duck feet… not very elegant, but I can swim very well :-)… so that makes me the duck. My Significant Other can’t really swim very well… so that makes him the chicken. J is like me, has duck feet, but he still can’t swim… so that make him a half-chicken-half-duck.

So what happens when the chicken and the duck fight? Guess which of us wins?

We both lose.

Here is a list of suggestions when a duck-and-chicken situation occurs:

1. Pray

I pour out to God in tears and ask God to turn me into a chicken so that I can understand why my Significant Other is like that. Sometimes, God turns my Significant Other into a duck. Sometimes, God puts situations into our lives, and Bingo, suddenly I could use that illustration, so that my Significant Other could finally “see the light”.

2. Run to God for counsel and comfort

Very often God deals with me, ouch! He points me to Philippians 2:4

“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”- Philippians 2:4

3. Trust and wait patiently for Him

4. Give that chicken or duck a hug and forgive.

Use a timer

Practise couch time

Many a marriages drift apart because couples grow apart from each other unknowingly over the years... I must be on the watch... lest I fall.

In a busy everyday life, it is often hard to tune out the distractions... and for me they are Facebook, Friends, Favourite hobby, First baby, Food... how funny… they all start with the letter "F"! For others, it may be computer games, football, etc.

I must take time to invest, nurture and protect our marriage.

How?

One way of nuturing our marriage is to practise couch time as suggested by author Gary Ezzo in the book BabyWise.

Couch time – It is not about being a couch potato in front of the TV. It is about taking some time – 5-15 minutes daily to sit and talk with your spouse at the end of the day without the computer on, without the radio on, without the TV on, and no taking of phone calls. Thus, this time is sacred.

What do we do during couch time?

1. Gary Ezzo suggests discussing what is going on in the family and talk through the challenges or changes relating to the children.

2. Share about how the day go at work.

3. Gary Ezzo also suggests letting couch time provides a predictable forum for us to share our relational needs with each other.

This relational need is certainly very important to me. Many women’s love language is communication, and many men’s love language is activities. My Significant Other’s love tank is empty if we don’t go for a walk together in the forest or the lakes or play tennis together. My love tank is empty if we don’t get to just sit down and communicate.

3. Share items on your To-do list with each other

4. If not, just simply rest in each other's company.

But it is easier said than done. In a busy every day life, it is often hard to tune down the activities. So I try not to be so ambitious... just aim at 5 minutes a day. The most important is to have a plan.

For others, spending undisturbed time may be a once a month or once a week, but the important thing is to try to do it.

Tuna Sandwich/Tun Sandwich/金枪鱼三明治 [jīn qiāng yú sān míng zhì]

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 20 - 30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1 avocado sliced
- 4 - 8 pieces of lettuce
- 4 wholemeal pita bread

Filling:
- 1 can of tuna (140g)
- 150ml fromage frais 0.2% fat or Greek yogurt preferably 0.1% fat
- ½ onion finely chopped
- 2 TBS spring onions finely chopped
- 1 can of sweet corn (140g)
- Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
- ½ lime squeezed (optional)

Directions:
1. Mix all filling ingredients together.
2. Serve with lettuce, avocado and bread.

Tips:
Add a handful of thawed frozen green peas to add more vegetables content.

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Additional Information:
This is very healthy (because the filling is made of tuna and fromage frais as main ingredients) and fast to make. It is quite an ideal food for picnic, although you have to keep it away from the sun. It is also ideal to make for lunch at work. I am probably going to make this sandwich for our next date to go kayaking.

Tuna Salad/Tunsalat/金枪鱼沙拉[jīn qiāng yú shā lā]

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1 can of tuna (140g)
- 150ml fromage frais 0.2% fat
- ½ onion finely chopped
- 2 TBS spring onions finely chopped
- 1 can of sweet corn (140g)
- Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
- ½ lime squeezed (optional)

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Serve with bread, avocado or cucumber.

Tips:
Add a handful of thawed frozen green peas to add more vegetables content.

The United Nations Sushi/Forenede Nationer Sushi/联合国寿司[lián hé guó shòu sī]

I am wondering what best to call this... and so far, I have decided to call it "The United Nations Sushi", because it gathered the best and healthiest food from around the world.

It is:
1. Spread with healthy quinoa from South America (instead of sushi rice, which is not as healthy);

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=3312805&id=705043347

2. Filled with tuna salad from healthy Danish recipe;

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=4300763&id=705043347

3. Using as base for the tuna salad, the healthy fromage frais, created by the French;

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=4300585&id=705043347

4. And added healthy avocado, inspired by the US California roll;

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2479000&id=705043347

5. Then wrapped with nutritious sea-weed, sushi-style from the Japanese;

6. Which is put together by me, a Singaporean

7. Best eaten with chopsticks created by the Chinese

8. And made specially for J, a Chinese-Danish-Singaporean