Recipe: Chinese Spinach & Fishball Soup

Ingredients:
1 bunch of chinese spinach (cleansed and pluck into bite size pieces)
Fishballs
1/2 rice bowl dried anchovies/ikan bilis (washed)
1/2 tablespoon chicken powder
4 rice bowl of water
1 teaspoon oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat up the oil in a saucepan/wok
2. Saute the anchovies 1/2 minutes.
3. Pour in the water and let it simmer for about 15mins on high heat.
4. Retain the stock and remove the anchovies.
5. Add in the spinach, fishballs & chicken stock and let it simmer till the vegetables & fishballs are cooked.
6. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Note:
1. To cook faster, you can omit the dried anchovis and just put in 1 tablespoon of chicken powder.
2. You can use other types of leafy vegetables.

Recipe: Luncheon meat & onion omellette

Ingredients:
4 slices of luncheon meat (cubed)
1 small onion (diced)
2 eggs (beat well)
salt & pepper to taste (add into the beaten eggs)
Oil for frying

Instructions:
1. Heat up a pan/wok with some oil.
2. Stir-fry the onions & luncheon meat awhile.
3. Pour in the beaten eggs and fry till golden brown.

Recipe: Stir-fry french beans with minced meat in oyster sauce

Ingredients:
2 clove garlic (minced)
1/2 rice bowl minced meat (either beef/pork)
1 bunch french beans (cleaned & cut into 1.5cm length)
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 bowl of water
Salt to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat up your pan/wok & put in the oil.
2. Stir-fry the minced garlic to bring out the smell.
3. Put in the minced meat and stir-fry till it's almost cooked.
4. Add in the french beans & stir awhile.
5. Next, add in the oyster sauce, stir & put in the water.
6. Let it boil and taste. Add salt if the dish is not salty enough.
7. Stir-fry till the sauce thickens a little and you're done.

Recipe: Kim Chi Jiggae

Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic (remove skin & hit slightly with your knife)
1 medium size of onion (sliced)
1/2 rice bowl of minced beef
1/2 rice bowl of kimchi
1 tablespoon of gochujang
1 tube of soft tofu (sliced/cubed)
1/2 teaspoon of chicken powder
3 1/2 rice bowls of water
2 tablespoon of oil

Instructions:
1. Heat up a small pot/claypot
2. Put in the oil and saute the garlic and onions.
3. Then, add in the minced beef and saute awhile.
4. Next, add in the kimchi and saute awhile.
5. Put in the water and bring to boil.
6. Add in gochujang and stir till it blends well.
7. Let it simmer on low heat around 15-20mins.
8. Add in the chicken powder. Give it a taste. If you prefer your dish to be saltier, you can add a pinch of salt.
9. Finally, add in the tofu and let it simmer for a 1-2 minutes. Done.

Note:
1. You can replace the beef with minced pork, chicken or seafood.
2. Taste better if you cook it in a claypot.
3. You can add other ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, strawmushrooms, tanghoon, etc.

Recipe: Steam minced pork

Ingredients:
1 rice bowl of minced pork
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms (diced)
3 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
a few drops of sesame oil

Instructions:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a deep dish/bowl.
2. Before you cook your rice in the rice cooker, place the dish onto the steaming tray of the rice cooker.
3. The dish will cook while your rice cooks. Once your rice is done, so will your dish.

Note:
You can improvise this recipe by adding other ingredients such as salted egg, century egg, salted fish, etc.

Recipe: Beef Omellette

Ingredients:
1 rice bowl of minced beef
2 eggs
1 medium size onion (diced)
salt & pepper to taste
oil for frying

Instructions:
1. Mix the minced beef, eggs, diced onions, salt & pepper in a bowl
2. Heat a pan/wok with some oil (I normally like to put a bit more oil so that my omellette is crispy).
3. Pour the mixture into the pan/wok and fry both sides till golden brown.

Note:
1. You can improvise the recipe by adding your own favourite ingredients such as diced button mushrooms, bellpepper, etc.

Motherhood

People tend to say that being a mum is not an easy job. I personally think that it's an understatement. Being a mum is darn tough! I realise it now as I go through motherhood myself.

I must say, pregnancy for me was a breeze. No morn/aft/eve sickness. Am not picky with food, was actually craving for durians! No mood swings. I was able to carry on with my work without any interruptions. Only around the 7th or 8th month where my legs swell and I was not able to sleep well as my baby was partying from 12midnight till 4am almost every day! Otherwise, everything was fine. That is why people say, if you ever have a breeze pregnancy, you'll suffer after that!

The tough part started from delivery. I had to go through a c-section. Baby was too big for me and it was not crowning. The anesthecian didn't do a good job hence I actually felt the pain half-way through the operation. The only comfort that I had then was the 'happy gas' and that wasn't enough. It was an experience that I wish I don't have to go through again.

Then comes the real thing, of being a mum. Waking up every 2-hrs to feed my baby for the first 3-mths, cracking my head trying to figure out what's wrong with my baby when he cries, keeping myself awake when my baby decides to wake up at 11pm and not wanting to sleep till 9am, staying up to look after them when they are ill, challenge with feeding my baby solids when he's picky and insist of eating what he wants only, not being able to eat out as my baby decides to throw a tantrum every time when we walk into the restaurant, and the list goes on.

If you have someone helping you out, that's great. As for me, having to handle motherhood on my own, at the same time juggling with my other roles of being a wife, a working director for a travel agency & a daughter to my mum equals suicide! The constant craving for attention, both from my baby & my work is enough to drive me mad. Not forgetting being sleep deprived every day for the past 2-yrs as my baby still wakes up 2-3 times at night for his feed till today makes it even tougher.

We can read all the books on babies or parenting, exchange views/tips from other mommies or research on the internet. All these work as a guideline only. It might not be applicable for your child. Every child is different.

I was really hoping to enjoy motherhood. However, with all the challenges throwing itself to me at once, I would say it's nearly impossible at this point of time. All I hope and pray for now is that God have mercy on me and bless me with an easier life of less challenges from all aspects.