Welcome to the Family, Liam!

 

Liam - our little unwavering protector

Zhen (禛) - reflecting our prayer that he always 'receives blessings with a sincere heart'
Yi (顗) - equanimity and tranquility

Welcome to the family 

We're glad that you have come 

To share your life with us 

As we grow in love and 

May we always be to you 

What God would have us be 

A family always there 

To be strong and to lean on 

May we learn to love each other

More with each new day 

May words of love be on our lips 

In everything we say 

May the Spirit melt our hearts 

And teach us how to pray 

That we might be a true family......

Tiny is In the Oven

2020 was an interesting year. Tiny started baking.

Let me explain.

This is C.

C loves the beach.

C also loves eating. 

So, he really loves eating at the beach. 

In other words, he loves a good little picnic at the beach.

             

And so on a mild Melbourne summer's day, off we went to Brighton Beach — the Bathing Boxes — for a good little picnic.

Of course, no one goes to the Brighton Bathing Boxes without taking loads of photos. 

And so, C did.

    

But this trip was unlike the many good little beach picnics we've had in the past.

.

.

.

Tiny came along, in the oven.

Now, of course you get the 'oven' reference. 

But surely you are asking: who is Tiny...?

This is Tiny.

Tiny is a crane from Bob the Builder.

When we first found out that we were baking again, we needed a nickname to refer to the bun. 

So we asked C what nickname we should use.

He said baby should be called "Tiny".

(C: "peace out!")

So yes, Tiny is in the oven!

And we all can't wait to welcome Tiny into our lives.

(C: "Bake well, Tiny!")

Callum's First Day of School!

 I can't believe Callum starts school today! Where has time gone? 

Woke up fresh and early for his first day! 

The first thing he did when he woke up, he whispered to himself in bed, ''I'm going to school today....'' :D

Callum's request for his first-day-of-school lunch: 

• Cucumber and cream cheese sandwich (how British! :D) 
• Almond cinnamon bread with a pear for tea. 

Amidst the swathes of people, we held up the traffic for a quick photo with the school sign. Big smiles! :) 

A Buddy Bench!

It's such a joy that he knows people going to the same school and class. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful first day! 

(Contrary to our anxiety-inducing, stomach-aching experiences in our home country!)

C with Gor Gor Theo who was so kind to offer to bring C to class and show him around.

Walking off happily to class with his classmates.

Papa: 'Can you please don't go to school... you're growing up too fast!'

Callum: 'But I MUST GO! Otherwise, you will go to jail!!!!'

:D

Lockdown Cooking

I struggled at the start of staying at home repetitively and going totally dry of cooking ideas. However, a whole avenue opened up after a few months and I found countless inspiring meals. I've meal-planned consistently for a couple of months now and explored so many new cuisines and dishes. I really have been enjoying experimenting in the kitchen.

• Steamed drunken prawns - a favourite always

• Vegetable pancakes have been a staple from the start of lockdown. We make this so often. It's so easy and literally any vegetable can go in. The variations are limitless. Tastes absolutely delicious with black vinegar dipping sauce.

• One of my most surprising experiments. So good! Cantonese smothered tofu. It was like restaurant quality! Very pleased with how it turned out.

• Soy sauce pork belly - never used to like this but it's a traditional easy to make goodie!

• Air fried salmon with veges and sweet potato fries - another dish which quickly became a staple in our household.

• Mozzarella chicken balls which ended with a contest for the longest cheese pull that C won!

• Another fun staple during lockdown - homemade pizzas! C really enjoys making these.

• My mother- in-law's recipe for Yam Cake. Tastes so good but for some reason, I always get acid reflux after. Aside from that, I'd still make this once a year!

• The husband nailed making sweet and sour pork during the lockdown. The boys especially love the pineapple.

• Another dish I made a myriad of variations of - japchae!

• We were recommended some cheap and amazing sourdough and the airfryer has been amazing at making bruschetta and garlic bread. 

• Made tteokbokki so many times! The version slowly became bastardised as I added more ingredients like lamb thins and beancurd. Love the traditional and bastardised versions! The rice cakes have such a chewy, addictive texture. Quick and easy to put together too. I even tried making my own but nothing compares to the storebought ones. I must stress that it should be made in Korea because I tried some from China and boy oh boy, they are not the same!

• Y mastered the art of making Nasi Lemak as well. It is literally perfect and beats many shops hands-down. I've got to ask him to make this again soon.

• Seafood mushroom soup with the trusty garlic bread. Really love the mushroom soup and garlic bread combo, a staple as well during this lockdown. Campbell's mushroom soup is good but nothing beats homemade mushroom soup.

• I tried my hand on airfryer pork belly. The crackling was not very successful so there's that! The pork was yummy though.

• Missing mamak stalls, Y mastered the art of making roti telur bawang from regular frozen roti. :) It was so good. I made a variety of curries and Y made dhal too to enjoy with it.

• Missed English breakfast so made this one day. I really do love baked beans.

• Orange chicken which turned out superb!

• Oven baked salmon and veges - staple!

• I made inverted sushi for the first time with 3 coloured rice which is the best rice we've tried ever. If only it wasn't on the pricy side, we'd have this regularly. 

• A real good weekender - fried rice with any leftovers in the fridge!

• Bibimbap! A huge favourite in the month of August and September. We had this so many times. So easy to make too! I've started making Bibimen too and it is just as delicious, if not more!

• Zucchini pasta

• Korean street toast - a random experiment. It was alright but not something I'd make over and over.

• One of our absolute favourite discoveries this year. Vietnamese rice rolls. We've made these every which way and have it weekly, sometimes twice a week! So healthy, fun to make, endless varieties and so delicious.

• I finally nailed down the filling combo for prawn and pork wontons. So good in soup or served with vinegar chilli oil. 

• Made some oven-baked falafels. 

• Y mastered fish and chips. We eat the fish with some homemade tzatziki. Definitely Hall of Fame.

• Our friends sent us this recipe of pesto chicken pasta and it's really good! Made it a couple of times since.

• A recent favourite is smoked salmon, cheese and avocado bagels. Best enjoyed at the beach.

• Our healthy Christmas feast - baked parmesan salmon, crostini and watermelon salad. The salmon turned out so good with lemon sauce! Yumms!

• Some of the best recipes involved the airfryer which I'm very grateful for. These honey garlic butter chicken wings are the bomb especially with pepitas sprinkled over them. 

• Air fryer prawn toast! So so good and easy to make. Guilt-free as they're not deep-fried oil sponges as they usually are. :)

• Our latest experiment. Airfryer Korean BBQ pork with homemade ssamjang. It turned out so fantastic. Definitely doing it again.