How to Shop Smarter: Three Fashion Shopping Tips for Busy Moms (Plus a Giveaway!)

This week, we are celebrating Mother’s Day here on Mommy Café. I’ve invited a friend from the Association of Image Consultants International (AICI), Melissa Chor, to share some fashion shopping tips for moms. 

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In my many years as an expert shopper and style consultant, I have come to one conclusion: ALL women (no matter what they say) LOVE to shop. It’s in our DNA. Women are also emotional beings and shopping meets our emotional needs to a certain extent. Hence, we shop when we are happy or when we are sad. When making shopping decisions, we are often ruled by our hearts more than our heads. This explains why some of us make shopping mistakes over and over again.

Whatever your shopping challenges are, apply these three principles and you will soon find that you can shop more effectively and still have fun!

1. Spring-clean your wardrobe

           

You need to get rid of the old before putting in the new. Do this once every two years or annually if you shop very often. Discard or donate stuff that you have not worn for more than a year. Get rid of clothes that are worn out and faded or remind you of unhappy memories! You want a wardrobe that you can cherish and feel happy about every time you see it.

Once you have done that, reorganise your clothes by occasion such as work, leisure and home. Then organise your individual wardrobe by colour, type (dresses together, pants together etc…) and design (printed ones together, long sleeve tops together etc...).

This will give you a clear idea of what you now have at a glance. You may find that you have too many clothes in the same boring hues, so add instant style into your wardrobe with a dash of colours. Or you have too many tops and not enough bottoms to match, so you need to get more bottoms on your next shopping trip. With regular spring-cleaning and proper organisation, you will be able to identify what you really need to make your wardrobe work for you.

  

2. Stick to the basics

Whether you are revamping your wardrobe or developing a brand new one, always start with the basics first. Now, what do I mean by that?

Basics refer to the foundation of your wardrobe. You need to have a basic set of wardrobe which never goes out of style and is easy to coordinate with just about everything in your wardrobe currently or new purchases. Items such as a classic white shirt, a slim skirt, tank tops, a well-tailored jacket and a pair of straight cut pants will help you to maximise your entire wardrobe. If you are a stay-at-home mom, you should invest in several plain coloured tops, a pair of bootleg cut jeans, an A-line skirt and a few pairs of casual pants/shorts.

You can start with a five, seven, nine etc… basic pieces. Keep the colours neutrals (e.g. black, blue, gray, white and beige) and the style simple and plain. Then you can add on new pieces in different styles, colours and prints to jazz up your wardrobe. It is much easier to build on a basic set of clothing than a variety of styles. (Refer to images below)         

3. Plan for a shopping day

As a busy mom juggling multiple roles and tasks daily, I can imagine what little energy you will have left for shopping! While family, work and commitments are your priorities, you need to always set aside some “Me” time. I am sure you can find some hours to set aside for a little shopping if you so desire.

Don’t shop in between rushing from one appointment or task to another. You may end up not trying out the outfit or grabbing the same old stuff. Then when you reach home, you realise that the outfit is not that great after all or it is the same boring style as what you already have by the dozens in your wardrobe!

Some of my clients dislike shopping because they found it unproductive i.e. they return empty-handed or didn’t like what they bought. Upon my probing, they eventually confessed that they either did not try on the clothes or went for their comfort style due to lack of time to shop properly. So, do plan a time and date for your shopping where you will not be distracted by a thousand and one tasks.

Melissa Chor is a certified image professional (CIP) with the AICI, one of only a handful of CIP members in Singapore.

Passionate about helping clients to look fabulous and confident, Melissa has transformed many individuals’ personal styles to reflect their capabilities, potentials and personalities. Melissa founded Image Harmony, in 2007 and offers a wide spectrum of image services such as colour analysis, style personality assessment, make-up tutorial, wardrobe revamp and personal shopping in local and overseas countries.  

She currently serves as Secretary and Chair of Philanthropy on the AICI Singapore Chapter Board of Directors, 2011-2013. 

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Thank you, Melissa for the wonderful tips! She has many more principles on how to shop effectively. To find out more, get a copy of her book ‘Born to Shop – Guide to Making Your Shopping Fun and Fabulous!’. It’s available for purchase on her website.

Giveway Contest

As Mother’s Day is approaching, Melissa has generously offered to give away TWO copies of her book, and personally autographed too!

This is how to take part:

1. Like Image Harmony’s Facebook page.

2. Like Mommy Café’s Facebook page.

3. Leave a comment on this post or on Mommy Café’s Facebook page, sharing with us the main style/fashion challenges you face. Melissa will address some of your style issues in the next blog post (so keep a look out for it!).

4. The contest will end on 12 May 2012, 11:59pm.

5. The two winners will be randomly picked, results will be announced on this blog and on Mommy Cafe's Facebook page.
6. Please note that this giveaway is open to readers residing in Singapore... and internationally!

All the best everyone!

The One Item that Every Household Should Have

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Do you know that there’s one item that can be used for cleaning almost any part of the house, works wonder for dirty laundry, helps remove moisture and odor from enclosed areas, double up as whitening agent for your teeth, relieves nappy rash irritations and do a whole lot more?

Well, I didn’t know either, until I was researching online about how to remove a stain on my hubby’s shirt. Since then (over a year now), I’ve been using it to do various sorts of cleaning around the house.

Have you guessed what it is?

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It's the humble baking soda (don't confuse it with baking powder)! Yup, the one you use in your baking.

I use these two brands of baking soda (from NTUC)

I’ve found the baking soda to be such a useful item that I highly recommend that you stock some at home, if you don’t already have it. What's more, it's non-toxic and environmentally friendly.


What I use baking soda for

First, the laundry. By mixing it with the detergent, the clothes turn out cleaner than just using detergent alone (it’s supposed to help remove odor from clothes too but since we don’t have this problem, I can’t really comment on that). In fact, I would reduce the detergent by about a third and replace with baking soda – the less harmful chemicals we use, the better it is for our health and environment, don’t you agree?

I find baking soda especially helpful with items that tend to be on the greasy side, like pillow case and even face towel, which I will soak with baking soda and detergent before washing. The baking soda also makes towels fluffier after wash.

I also use this ‘household wonder’ as an odor remover cum moisture absorbent. I would put baking soda in an open container in the shoe cabinet and it works in removing the smell. You’ll need to stir the powder once in a while. I read from a website that it should be discarded after two months, but I do so every month (I thought that since Singapore is more humid, it should be changed more frequently - after all, the writers of the articles I've researched are written mainly by people living in the US where it's less humid).

I've also recently started using baking soda to wash our fruits and vegetables (instead of those fruits/veggie cleaners) after watching a Chinese infotainment programme. Apparently, it works by neutralising the pesticide (acidic) as baking soda is alkaline.

And oh, I experimented with using baking soda as a shampoo too! I'll probably share more in a future post.

Below are some of the common uses of baking soda. There are lots more of course, so I’ve added some useful links at the end of the post.

General cleaning 

• Add baking soda on a moist sponge and clean bathroom sink, tub, tiles etc. It works well especially on water stains and doesn’t scratch the surface.
• Baking soda can be used as an extinguisher to put out fires in clothing, fuel, upholstery and rugs and even stove fires – just throw some on the fire. The carbon dioxide generated by the burning powder will starve the fire of oxygen.
• Baking soda helps absorb moisture and control humidity. So place some soda in an open container and use in places such as cupboards, cabinets and under sinks. Remember to stir occasionally and replace after one, two months or when you find it no longer effective.

 Kitchen

• Mix soda in water to clean fruits and vegetables. Let them soak a while before rinsing off.
• Remove odor from your fridge and freezer by putting soda in an open container. Stir from time to time and replace after one, two months or when you find it no longer effective.
• Add soda to hot water to thoroughly clean baby bottles of any milk residual and smell.
• Similarly, remove any stale smells from food containers by washing with soda and hot water. If the smell is pretty strong, you can soak the container overnight.
• Burnt something on your pan? Let the pan soak in soda and water for about 10 minutes. Or you could scrub with baking soda on a moist scouring pad.
• In case of a badly burnt pan with thick layer of blackened food, make a paste by adding just enough water to the soda (use a thick layer here) and leave overnight and wash the next day.
• Clear clogged drains by dunking a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by a few jugs of boiling water.

 Laundry

• Soak and wash diapers with baking soda to remove smell and stains.
• Stains on clothes? Make a paste with baking soda and water and rub on the area. I’ll let it soak a bit and then give it a scrub before washing. 

Health, Beauty & Hygiene 

• Remove odor from shoes by sprinkling the insides liberally with soda. Leave overnight and shake out the next day.
• Add half teaspoon of baking soda to a glass of water as a mouthwash helps remove bad breath.
• Remove build-up from oil and hairstyling products on your combs and brushes in a solution of water and soda.
• To relieve diaper rash irritations, add two tablespoons of baking soda into baby’s bath water.
• Baking soda can clean and whiten your teeth. Sprinkle some onto your toothpaste before brushing. You can also use that to brush and clean dentures.

Others

• Keep a handy container of baking soda in your car. It can be used to put out fire and won’t damage anything.
• To relief bug bites, make a thick paste with baking soda and water and apply directly on affected area. 

Lastly, you can maximise the usage of the baking soda by re-using it. For example, after you’ve used soda to remove odor from the shoe cabinet, dunk it down the sink and add hot water to prevent drain blockage.

Is there any household products (especially non-toxic, eco-friendly ones)  that you swear by? Please do share so we can be better homemakers!

Useful links - More Uses of Baking Soda

60 Uses of Baking Soda

Baking Soda - 30 Handy Tips

Uses of Baking Soda - Health & Beauty

75 Extraordinary Uses of Baking Soda
How to Wash Non-Organic Produce

If you're also looking at ways to go green at home, you may like to check out this Green Living workshop. Read the reviews and tips gleaned by fellow mom bloggers:

'Non-toxic homes, healthier families' by June of mamawearpapashirt
'Green Living: How to create a non toxic home' by Delphine of life in the wee hours 
'I am seeing green' by Rawafish of why not


Be inspired!

The Ultimate (almost) Guide to Feeding Medicine to Toddlers

Source: freedigitalphotos

I know being a parent is going to be challenging. I’ve experienced the breastfeeding difficulties, now dealing with the ‘terrible twos’ and thinking of potty training gives me the headache. But never, not even for once, had I thought that giving medicine would be included in the list of parenting challenges! After all, we didn’t have that problem when Kenan was a baby. So when it did happen, the hubby and I were at a total lost.

Few weeks ago, my boy was prescribed an antibiotic together with several other medications for cough, phlegm and running nose.

While it wasn’t easy peasy giving him the other medications, it was nothing compared to the antibiotic.

For the first two days, we managed to get him to take it, but not without some struggle.

However, from Day 3 onwards, no matter what we did - coax, persuade, scold, threaten, try mixing with milk then chocolate milk – he simply refused. If we did manage to force some in – which took the combined effort of three adults, it would almost always spew out immediately, together with whatever food that was being digested in his stomach. The whole experience left all of us frustrated, exhausted, and to some extent, traumatised.

A week later, we went back for a doctor’s review and I shared with her what happened. After a discussion, the pediatrician felt that a change of medicine to something with more 'palatable' taste and texture might just help.

And it did turn out to be a good decision. By employing two different methods to feed him the medicine and giving him some rewards for the 'suffering' he endured, we succeed in getting him to finish the full course (five days).

What we did to get Kenan to take his antibiotic

1. Mixed it with Meiji chocolate milk (please see No.2 at “More tips” section below). The Meiji brand’s chocolate milk (which is our family’s favourite) is good as it’s thick and very chocolatey, so it helps to mask the taste of the second antibiotic. It didn’t work for the first one though, as that antibiotic was really very strong in smell and taste and the texture was more ‘sandy’/’grainy’ (by the way, dear folks at Meiji, if the milk starts flying off the shelves, how about giving me a commission?)

2. Prepare a cup of honey water (you could try Ribena too). After squinting some antibiotic into his mouth via a syringe, we let him drink a mouthful of honey water and repeat the process until the medication is finished. I adapted this method from Friend LK’s method. She would use two syringes, one with medicine and another one with water, and one teaspoon of honey. Start with medicine (half dose), followed by water and then lastly honey. Repeat the same process for the remaining dose. Do it fast and squirt the syringe at the side of the child’s mouth. Prepare more water and honey if needed.

3. Rewards. Kenan is recently into stickers so I rewarded him with them after he took the medicine. The first day, I gave him a sticker and he was real happy. The next day, he asked for two and I gave him. The third day, he bargained for three! And as you would have guessed by now, he told me he wants four stickers on the fourth day! Oh my, the little boy was keeping track!

The little boy sticking his hard-earned 'reward' into his book

I also shared about the ‘ordeal’ on Facebook and many parent friends shared their experiences with me, together with some great tips to go along. Below is the compilation of the tips.

More tips on feeding medicine

1. When using the syringe, feed it at the corner of the mouth so that it goes directly down the throat and the child doesn’t taste the medicine so much, said Friend S. “I used to squint medicine in the middle and the bitterness just makes my kids react. This method has worked well for me,” she added.

2.  Mix the medication into some food or drinks e.g. yogurt, fruit juice, milk, Ribena. But some will work better than others, depending on the type of medicine and how strong the taste is. So a bit of experimentation is needed here.

3. Not all antibiotics can be mixed with milk, please check with your doctor. When mixing with milk, it might be a good idea to do so with another brand than the one your child normally drinks. As Friend ND noted, “The child may associate milk with medicine in future and lose interest in drinking the milk.” That was true in our case. After I added the antibiotic to his formula (just once) and he rejected it, he was so hesitant to drink his milk when I subsequently gave it to him. But thankfully after explaining to him that it was just plain milk, he took it.

4. Friend MY uses two syringes, one with medicine, the other with water. After giving a bit of medicine, quickly squint in some water from the second syringe to “wash down the medicine”.

5. If your toddler can’t finish the medicine in one sitting, then spread it out. “Give bit by bit, every few minutes, you don’t have to feed all at once”, Friend MY highlighted. This may be tiring for parents but it beats having your child vomits it all out.

6. Give the medicine before food (before you do this, just check with doctor that it’s ok to do so for the particular medicine). I used to think that unless told otherwise, all medication should be taken after food. So when I applied this to feeding medicine to Kenan, we ended up with vomited medicine AND food. Then we not only have to worry about giving him the medicine again, we also had to think about whether to give him some food too since he vomited it out.

7. Lastly, Friend SL uses a very simple trick to get her child to take medicine – she puts two M&Ms into the medicine and viola, no fight, no struggle – the child takes the medicine in one quick mouth.

So there you have it. The art of feeding toddler medicine.  If you have other tips in feeding a toddler medicine, please share with me!

How to Nurture a Love for Reading in Your Child - Special Tips, Ideas and Insights from the Expert (Part 2) (Plus a Giveaway!)

Today, we continue with the second part of the interview with Ms Fiona Walker, the Principal Director of Schools, Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning and Chiltern House on the topic of instilling the love for reading in young children. If you have missed the first part, click here to read.

Q: What can parents do if a child doesn’t seem too interested in reading and tends to run away in the midst of reading together?

A: Sometimes you could say “You know what, I’m going to stay here and finish the book because I’m loving it”, and he might just come back, or he might not. But he’s thinking “She’s carrying on, I might be missing something, even if I don’t want to do it right now”. At your son’s age, you will be challenged to get him to sit down and listen for any length of time. So bedtime stories are the best, because they are tired and less likely to run about.

Q: Share with us how parents can use the Rainbow Bear series of books to help our children with reading? For example, for my little boy (not forgetting that he doesn’t seem too interested with text yet).

A: You can use the Alphabet Zoo book. We use that and the puppets in our schools when we first introduce the letters of the alphabet at about 18 months, just so that they become familiar with the letters and we use them all the way to our Nursery 2 classes, which are at about 4.

You can use the puppets and the songs in the CD. Songs are a wonderful way to get them to hear the sounds and the use of the language.That’s why this whole scheme is successful in that sense because it really brings learning alive and you’re not just sitting down and going through the book.

Q: Is there going to be another book in the series?

A: Yes, there will be! Rainbow Bear’s third adventure is going to be about word families, for example “at”, “that”, “mat” and so on.  It’s great for when the children are beginning to sound out words and read independently.

Q: Any other advice or tips?

A: I think the most important thing is to make it fun and to always keep in mind your child’s level of development and his interest. There’s not going to be learning if you pitch it far too high - it’s not going to interest him or he’s not going to feel like he can do it. While we can give our children a little push to see if they can do it, but if they can’t, or they are just not interested, we should respect that. Then come back to it another day, come back to it through another route.

There are many ways to get children reading beyond sitting with the book. Keep the sitting with the book to something really enjoyable, even if it means you only manage to do that a few times a week or just once a week. You can find other ways to point out the language in the environment. My son loves cars, so he’s really good at recognizing all the car brands. Which is great, because it’s a very important pre-literacy skill whereby he’s able to recognise symbols and understand they have meanings. Which is what letters are – they are symbols and we all agree on their meanings and we put them together to form words.

There are so many symbols with meanings within our environment; the more you spend time pointing them out and you see how quickly your children can see something and know what they mean. By understanding their level of visual discrimination you can have a good indication of when it’s feasible to start nailing down the alphabet and practicing the sounds.

Parents can also consider the use of technology like iPad in teaching literacy. I did have concerns initially. But I see that my children love it and they are so engaged. At the end of the day, learning boils down to how engaged the learner is. I think my son’s learning to read took a big step forward when he got an iPod Touch when he was six. My husband got him games where there’s a lot of reading involved . He’s more motivated to read when it helps him to play the game.

Of course, don’t leave it to just computers games to teach reading but I think they can certainly be useful tools, especially when you can control the amount of time they spend and the games they play.

Thank you, Fiona, for your wonderful sharing and insights. I've certainly learnt some useful tips on how to engage my son in reading together.

Now for the Giveaway!

There will be two books to be won:

1. Rainbow Bear's Dinosaur Discovery - An Adventure in Blends and Digraphs

2. An Alphabet Zoo - Phonemic Adventure with Rainbow Bear

Both books come with CD and songbook.

Here's how you can win one of the books:

1. 'Like' the Mommy Cafe Facebook page.

2. Leave a comment here and share which book you hope to win and what you like about the book.


Note: 

• The contest is open to readers residing in Singapore.
• For the purpose of the draw, participants will be placed into two groups, one for each of the book. There will be a winner from each group.
• The contest will close on Wednesday, 7 March 2012, 11:59pm.
• Winners will be randomly picked and the result will be announced on this blog and via Mommy Cafe's Facebook page. 

Join the giveaway now and win one of the two books and embark on an exciting reading journey with your child! Do share about the contest with your friends too!

How to Nurture a Love for Reading in Your Child - Special Tips, Ideas and Insights from the Expert (Part 1)

I recently had the privilege of meeting Ms Fiona Walker, the Principal Director of Schools, Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning and Chiltern House, one of the most well-known preschools in Singapore. Julia Gabriel Centre has recently launcheda new book titled 'Rainbow Bear's Dinosaur Discovery: An Adventure in Blends and Digraphs'.

I invited Ms Walker to share with readers of this blog one of the topics she’s passionate about – instilling a love for reading in young children. Read on for some great tips and insights from this early childhood development expert!

_________________________________________________________

Interview with Ms Fiona Walker

Q: How can parents instill in young children a love for reading?

A: The best way by far, to instill a love for reading is to read them; you can start when they are born.

For young children, it’s not really about the words or the text in the sense of the writing. It’s more about the sitting down and sharing a book together and engaging them with pictures and stories.

Words and text are not going to interest the very young ones. Until they are able to recognise the different shapes, colours and see patterns and differences in things, they are not going to have interest in the squiggles at the bottom of the page, they are going to be absolutely meaningless to them. 

Q: What types of books would you recommend for young children (2 years and below)?

A: Interactive books are great. When they are really little, it needs to be fun; they want to do something with the books so storytime can be interactive , such as a book where they can lift the flap, has different textures that they can touch or where there are buttons they could press that will make funny noises. At this stage, they are taking in information through their senses, so that’s going to be much more important to them rather than looking at the squiggles at the bottom of the page (i.e. the words).

Q: How do we move on to introduce story books and introduce children to the words/text?

A: Once they get a little bigger, they might start liking a special character, say Bob the Builder, or Dora, so you can look for story books about these characters.

As for words, usually children will start with learning how to spell their name, that’s normally the first word they learn. They will know their name begin with K, or R and then you can ask what else in the book begins with the letter K or R and keep relating to it. You’re drawing their attention to the text but you’re not making it into a reading exercise. Nothing’s going kill their interest in books and stories faster than turning the fun and enjoyment of reading together into a task or a lesson.

Q: How do we choose books that are suitable for our children?

A: Instead of thinking about reading as such, you should think instead of what’s their interest now, and match the books to their interest, as opposed to trying to match them to books you think they should be reading. So for example if your child is interested in cars, you can find books with wheels, then you can take a few minutes to flip through the book with him and then you put the book away while the excitement is still quite high, and he will go back to it.

The other thing is, don’t give up, children’s interests change all the time. I’ve been so upset that I’ve bought some books for my son and think they’re going to be so loved, but he showed no interest and I think that’s it, he doesn’t like them. But in two months’ time, he suddenly might be much more interested and come round to those books. 

Q: What kind of environment can we create to encourage the love of books and reading?

A: The easiest way to encourage a love of reading is to be a reader yourself. If you’re not so much a reader yourself but want to encourage your child to enjoy books, then you do have to make the effort to read to them.

Some children may be late bloomers in the reading department. Biologically, there’s so much that goes into learning to read, that it is accepted they will only have everything in place to be able to make sense of text until they are between 4 and 7 years old. In Singapore, our school system expects that to happen at the earlier rather than the later stage. This can put a lot of pressure on children and parents.

Another thing parents can do is to get the children to make books. Like if your child is into plants, then you can pick leaves together with him and let him make his own books. (Brilliant idea, why didn’t I think of that?)

Q: What may backfire in our efforts to nurture the love for reading?

A: I think to rush them in the development of the skills that are necessary for literacy can be to the detriment of them enjoying books. So when you’re reading them a story, it should be that you’re just reading a story to them and not half way through you say “Read this to me…  What does this word mean… Spell it out…” It shouldn’t be like that; don’t turn it into a task or lesson. Of course, there’s a time and place to teach learning how to read, but it should not be to the detriment of enjoying books.

Part 2 of this article will be published this coming Wednesday. There's also going to be a giveaway of TWO copies of Julia Gabriel's books! The details will be announced on Wednesday. See you!

After Happy Call, This Is What I Am Experimenting With....

After using Happy Call pan for a few months, I've began looking around for other kitchen gadgets that either cooks faster or saves me effort and energy (electricity/gas).

I remembered having two Endo brand thermal magic cookers (5L and 2.5L) stored away at the top kitchen cabinet and decided to take them out and give it another try.

I purchased the pots more than a year ago from Metro during a special promotion. If I'm not wrong, I paid about $80 for them.

Pic source

How the Endo thermal cooker works

The thermal cooker comes with an inner pot and an outer/thermal pot.

According to the manual, you just need to place ingredients in the inner pot, put on stove and cook for about 10 minutes (start timing after water boils). Then transfer inner pot into the outer pot and cover lid. The food will continue cooking using heat retention technology (to read more about the technology, go to here and here).

Benefits of thermal cooker

• No monitoring required
• Saves electricity/gas
• Helps keep food warm for a few hours

The Endo cooker also comes with a small 'saucepan' so you can cook two things at the same time e.g. boil soup in pot and steam tofu in the saucepan.

For full-time working moms, you can cook your food in the morning and by the time you're home, dinner is ready.

My experience with Endo thermal cooker

The reason I stopped using the thermal cooker was that I found the food wasn't as tasty as compared to cooking on the stove or using slow cooker.

This time round, I tried letting the food cook longer on the stove before transferring to the thermal pot, and also let it cook longer in the pot and the taste turns out better (not as bland; more concentrated). But I would still prefer the food cooked the 'traditional' ways or maybe I just need to experiment a bit more.

So far, I've only used the pot for cooking porridge, soup and making desserts.

I would say I'm a happier thermal cooker user now because the food taste better than when I first used the cooker.

The helper is also happy with using the cooker. She would make porridge in the morning, then concentrate on doing other chores. When lunch time comes, our food is ready. Or she makes soup in the afternoon and it will be ready for dinner. Meanwhile, we save on gas and electricity.

By the way, one tip I read from a local forum is that you can take out the soup/stew about an hour later to boil again and then put it back into the thermal cooker. I believe the food will definitely taste more concentrated/stronger done this way. Will try this out.

Besides Endo, there are also other brands available in the market. What I know of is Tiger and La Gourmet (sometimes I wonder if the results would be different if I use one of these more expensive brands).

By the way, it seems that thermal cookers can be used to make cake and bread loaf. Now, this begins to sound like a good addition to the kitchen, doesn't it?


Thermal cooker recipes

Bubur Terigu the healthy version (dessert) - by Ellena Guan
Red bean soup - by Ellena Guan
The thermal cooker thermal cooking weblog
DreamPot Recipes


Are you also using a thermal cooker? How do you like it? Do you know of other time-saving or energy-saving kitchen ware?

Two Parties for My Two Year-Old (and Some Party-Planning Tips)

My boy turned two recently and we had two birthday parties for him – one at home and the other in school.  

Last year due to some unforeseeable circumstances, we had to forgo plans of having a birthday party for him. I was really upset over it but in retrospect, I think it was for the better.

If we had celebrated last year, Kenan would have been too young to really appreciate or understand what’s happening (and he had not even started walking yet!). This year, he really enjoyed playing with his friends and had just as much fun huffing and puffing away at the candles!

Planning the Parties

It may sound surprising to you but I really had been stressed over the party preparations. I was lost for ideas and had to trawl the internet for inspiration.

First, they say you must have a theme, because it would then guide you in decisions about the venue décor, birthday cake, goodie bags and so on.

I thought about it and decided on ‘My Favourite Things’. Kenan’s favourite cartoon character is Mickey, so we used Mickey as the theme for décor and goodie bags. Next, I used his favourite soft toys as design of his birthday cake.

 Secondly, you need some entertainment for the kids, and this was the tough one. The kids’ wide age range (from two to primary school children) made it almost impossible for me to have something for everyone.

In the end, I settled for entertainment for the majority of the kids (two to six). I rented toys for the younger ones and bubbles for the older kids. In the end, almost everyone played with everything.

Initially, I thought of getting a balloonist but since we didn’t have a lot of children, I decided not to have it. But we had helium balloons as part of the décor and some children including Kenan had fun playing with them.

By the way, we were busy entertaining guests that we almost forgot all about taking photos! Thankfully some guests who took photos sent them to us (thanks cousin! thanks Angie!).  

Mickey is Kenan's favourite cartoon character so we used it as the decor theme and for the mini cupcakes, which we got from Wicked Oven. Sam, the mumpreneur was really nice and gave us Mickey cupcake toppers and stand.We ordered two flavours: chocolate cheese and banana walnut brownie, which our guests really liked. 

Rented the kitchen set and teether-tooter which were a hit with the little guests. We also bought bubbles for the children.

Continuing with the 'My Favourite Things' theme, we used Kenan's favourite soft toys for the cake from Cake Avenue. See how realistic the figurines turned out to be! The cake was probably the highlight of the party! It only comes in one flavour - chocolate fudge (when I first found that out, I thought"Huh? No choice at all?!"). But let me say it's one of the best chocolate fudge cakes I've had - moist, rich and with just the right amount of sweetness. 

When it came to the school party, it was a breeze in comparison. The school has guidelines regarding birthday celebrations which can be summarized as “Keep It Simple”. And that’s what I did (plus we had about just half an hour for the celebration): all I did was to order a cake and prepare the goodie bags. After all, it was just for his class (which is less than 10) and not the whole school (thank God!).

Party Planning Tips:

1. Plan early

I know this is common sense but if you’re like me who has a tendency to get things done at the last minute, it creates unnecessary stress.

2. Same age

If you can, invite kids who are about the same age as your child as it makes for easier planning when it comes to things like activities, games and even the goodie bags.

3. Rent toys 

Rent toys for the kids, but not as a party package – that way, you stretch the dollar by getting to keep the toys for a month (the normal duration for toy rental) after the party and your kid can continue playing with them (so make sure they are also toys your child likes). I find that kitchen set is a good option. Just take precaution against losing any of the small parts or risk paying a penalty. What I did was to take out some of the smaller, easy to misplace items and add in some of my boy’s toys e.g. food (at least I don’t have to pay for it if they get lost).

Kenan playing with the balloons and toy after the party

4. Assign photographers

When it comes to photo-taking, rope in family members/friends who are photography buffs (I think two is a good number) and assign them as photographers. Then you can fully focus on entertaining the guests and don’t have to worry about not capturing the funny/heartwarming/once-in-a-lifetime moments. You may like to get your photographers gifts for their hard work.

And I'm sure you will have more party planning tips. Please do share them with me so the next time round, it will be less stressful for this mommy! Thanks!

  

Vendor Listing*:

Birthday cake with soft toy figurines by Cake Avenue

Winnie the Pooh birthday cake by Bengawan Solo
Cupcakes by Wicked Oven

Toys from Rent That Toy

Balloons from Kidz Party Store

Food by EatzCatering

*Please note that the above is purely for information, I am not endorsing any of the vendors nor do I get payment in any form for listing them.

On 2 Feb 2012: A note on cakes
Just thought I'll share this experience. At Kenan's school party (where we had the Winnie the Pooh cake), and at another kid's birthday celebration (cake from a different shop), we realised while it's nice to have the cute cartoon characters which the kids love, cutting through that icing sheet wasn't easy. For us, even sticking in the candles was a challenge, despite having candle holders. The top layer was really hard, so in both cases, we ended up removing the icing sheet. But guess that was fine, as no one was interested in eating it. I'm not sure if all icing sheets are just as hard. So this might be another consideration when you order your child's birthday cake.

Don't Sue Me for Having an Under-Aged Helper (and Why You Should Get Your Kids to Do Housework)

Recently, the little boy's been getting quite interested in house chores. In the beginning, he was content to just watch what we do, but now he wants to have a go at it as well, which I'm happy to indulge him as long as he doesn't create more mess than before. After all, who doesn't like some extra help around the house ya?

Kenan helps with the laundry: My boy sat outside the bathroom and watched the maid washed his clothes. Then when it was done, he lifted the basin and ran away with it to the yard and waited for the maid to come and hang up the clothes. Of course, he couldn't wait to lend a hand with that as well!

Kenan mops the floor: One morning, Kenan had just woken up and walked out of his room when he spotted the mop standing at one corner. He immediately grabbed it and started mopping the floor!

For us, it's been real fun watching the little boy, who thinks it's all a game.

But seriously, I would want him to help out around the house when he's older. I see it as a life skill which helps reinforce independence. Plus I'm sure his future wife would appreciate having a husband who does the chores (so she better treats this mom-in-law well *laughs*). 

This also reminded me of something interesting I heard on radio some time ago. The DJ was interviewing his guest for some parenting tips and asked how can parents better motivate their kids to study. The answer was real simple: get the kids to do housework. Yes, you read it right - do housework!

He noted that many parents often spare their kids from the house chores and say all they need to do is concentrate on their studies. Yet the kids end up complaining that sitting at their desk studying is "hard work". However, when parents start getting their children to do the chores, they would likely come to appreciate that studying is probably not such hard work anymore.

Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it? So if you know of a parent who has problem getting their kids to study, why not share this and see what's the outcome. (do share with me, I would love to know!)

How to Plan the Perfect Party with Disney Junior's microsite

My son's birthday is round the corner and the thought of planning a party for him had me almost losing  sleep, until I discovered a treasure trove of ideas from Disney Junior.

Last week, I was invited by the really nice people from Disney Junior to a media luncheon at La Nonna, an Italian restaurant in Holland Village.

There, we were introduced to "For Grown Ups", a microsite on the Disney Junior website that "provides all-you-need-to-know guides for parents to create Disney-themed celebrations".

To show us what can be achieved with the ideas and materials found on the microsite, the event venue was decorated in the 'Jake and the Never Land Pirates' theme.

Pic 1: Treasure chest, rainbow wand, Jake's Forever Sword, Pic 2: Doubloons, Jake and the Never Land Pirates playset, pirate's eye-patch, Pic 3: Name tag (printed on sticky label), Pic 4: Pirate hat

Pics left: Kenan playing with paper figurines from the Jake and Never Land Pirates playset, Pic right: Biscuits given to us in the goodie bag (he's actually afraid of the skull)

Once home, I couldn't wait to check out the site. The resources on the site are organised according to holiday themes, such as Halloween, Christmas and New Year, whereas birthday parties are organised by characters and shows.

Whether you're celebrating a birthday or a festive event, these are what you'll find:

• Designs for invites
• Decoration and favours
• Food ideas and recipes
• Activities and games 

Since the new year is coming, I decided to explore what they have for New Year celebration and found some really cool stuff:

Great decor and craft ideas like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse streamers, mobile centrepiece, tiaras etc. In fact, some of the ideas here can also be used for birthday celebration. For example, the streamers can be used for decorating a Mickey Mouse-themed birthday party.

For some of the themes, like this one for New Year celebration, there's a 'Try This!' box at the bottom of the page which has some really cool stuff and ideas (see the next pic).

For example, I found the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse New Year calendar which has some cute pictures that will be adored by children and adults alike.

With a great resource like 'For Grown Ups', planning that perfect party is now easy peasy!

Happy Call Pan - The Latest Rave in Singapore Homes

If you are living opposite my apartment, you would have noticed something different going in our kitchen the last few weeks. Instead of the helper doing the cooking, this mistress of the house has taken over!

Thanks (or no thanks) to my latest kitchen 'toy' - the Happy Call Pan (a Korean innovation), I'm now possibly on my way to becoming a domestic goddess, at least in the culinary department.

I was first introduced to the pan through a review on my friend Pauline's blog.

Then I watched its TV ad on Channel U and was so amazed by what I saw that I immediately went online to order one (you can also watch a video about the pan here).

So what are the advantages of cooking with the Happy Call Pan?

• Cooks faster than normal wok or pan because of its patented heat retention technology as well as the fact that it's coated with titanium and ceramic (making it a non-stick pan as well)
• Because you cover the pan when cooking (there's a magnetic clip at the end of the handle that keeps the pan tightly closed), there's not the usual smoke and odor, thus leaving the kitchen almost grease-free
• Healthier cooking because you only need to use minimal amount of oil, or none at all if you prefer
• You can also cook on both sides with an easy flip of the pan, so some thing like frying fish becomes much easier
• Cleaning the pan is easier because of its non-stick property

When I ordered the pan, their newest product, the Ocher Deeper Pan has just been launched. Since I originally wanted a deeper pan, I went ahead and bought the Ocher pan.

My Ocher pan - came with a pack of free sealer and manuals (original manual in Korean, and a translated English version)

So how was my experience with the pan? I'm happy with the shorter cooking time; more importantly, I'm pleased with having a cleaner kitchen since there's no spattering oil and the pan doesn't emit any smoke like the wok does.

Here's a small sampling of what I've cooked over the weeks...

Top: Grilled BBQ ribs (doesn't look that appealing but it tastes good) - this was such a chore to prepare previously because when the caramelised ribs are finally cooked, the wok would be so sticky that it's hard to wash; what's worse was the strong odor lingering in the air and the kitchen left in a greasy state. But with the Happy Call Pan, I no longer have such problems! Bottom: Making french toast is a real breeze now! It takes no more than five minutes to get them all done.

Pic 1: Stir-fried green marrow (or 'hairy melon' as some call it) with carrots, prawns and eggs, Pic 2: Stir-fried cauliflower with carrots, tomatoes and beancurd, Pic 3: Fried rice - cooked the ingredients using Happy Call then transferred to wok and fried together with rice (too much rice to be cooked in the pan), Pic 4: Stir-fried broccoli with prawns

One thing I've yet to master is frying a whole fish. I couldn't really make the skin crispy, guess I'll just have to keep experimenting till I get it right. But I could make teriyaki cod fish easily with the pan:

By the way, I also make muah chee with the pan. Yes, you heard it right - muah chee! But we were so excited with eating it that I forgot to take a picture. Oh well, the next time.

And there's now also a Facebook page for sharing of Happy Call recipes, which even include creations like cakes and breads - yes, you can bake using the Happy Call pan! 

So are you tempted to get one as well?

More about Happy Call pans:

• Mamabliss' Treasured Moments - review of Happy Call Pan, recipes and even videos showing you how to cook with Happy Call!
• Superb Mothers - include recipes and a FAQ about Happy Call Pan as well as organising Happy Call spree 
• KiasuParents.com - forum thread about Happy Call pans
• Singaporemotherhood.com - forum thread about Happy Call pans

Update (21 Feb 2012):
Check out the Munch Ministry website and Facebook page for more Happy Call recipes and more!