A Nostalgic Weekend

Time stood still on a windy and cloudy morning as we rested from the week that past, especially Dan. As the smell of pancakes and the strains of beautiful music filled the house and we looked back at our photos from Sept - Nov, a wave of memories flooded back.  Philly, Toronto, time spent with my mom and our great family reunion. I am filled with much thanksgiving - knowing that we were creating many precious memories. Memories that would last us a lifetime. For the moment, I am happy to keep these fresh in my mind till the end of 2012. 

We are entering into the season of thanksgiving - for love of family and friends and for God who made it all possible. Sigh....nice:)

Smoothie Revamp

Inspired by smoothie lands of USA and Canada, I am going to stuff more vegetables into the family's morning smoothies. Errr.....for a start, let's try safe cucumber and chia seeds for now:)

Smoothies and kids' handmade glasses from Karuizawa, Japan 

Sarah quipped: "Mommy, that is the yummiest smoothie I have tasted":)))

With that said, mommy's mind is teeming with lots of other vegetables that she is going to stuff in.

A Beautiful Morning

Our kids are pretty much over their jet lag - not because we are professional jet lag busters but we figured that our 7 hour stopover in Dubai did just the trick. 

Sarah and I had a good morning walk today at 7:30 am. I love these special times with her. She is really like my little best friend:) As we walked along the golf course, we observed a new lily patch growing at the edge of the pond, we saw an egret flying away and we gawked at the huge trampoline that was sitting right at the porch of one of our neighbor's house. Haha.

And we came back with beautiful natural decorations for our dining table - a brilliant idea that I learnt from Jan (my back to nature neighbor). Sarah picked up a yellow frangipani flower on our way back and the other two red flowers came from our very own frangipani tree. Place the flowers in a glass bowl of water and it just makes me smile:)

It's a beautiful morning:)

Healthy Fluffy Pancakes with Canadian Maple Syrup

I have never been much a fan of pancakes but I married a man who IS a great fan of pancake and waffle. Of course, armed with a bottle of lovely Canadian maple syrup, that was a sure motivation to search for 'the' recipe. Simple criterion: Healthy and Fluffy.

We bought a great pancake mix when we were in Japan but feeding the family with plenty of white flour was not my idea of a good homemade breakfast. 

Found a recipe here and adapted it with a healthy twist. With this batter, I made 8 good medium-size pancakes (about 4 inch wide) and 2 tiny pancakes. 

• 1 cup organic wholemeal flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoon organic brown sugar [this can be varied]
• 4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoon yoghurt [if this is flavored, then you can reduce sugar]
• 1.5 cup low-fat milk
• 2 organic eggs

The batter did look heavy after the mixing and I had my doubts about whether it would be fluffy. Well, but let's not give up here. There was a man who was eagerly anticipating my first pancake foray and a hungry boy sitting patiently at our dinning table at 6 am.

Following the recipe, one important tip was to separate the egg whites from the yolk and whip it till soft peaks form. That gave me a real good work out. The other tip was to let the batter sit for 10 mins before making the pancakes.

Method (taken from here) :

1. Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt)
2. Whisk egg white separately till soft peaks form. Add yolk, milk and yoghurt.
3. Add dry ingredients slowly, whisking briefly after each addition, just until smooth. 
4. Let batter sit for 10 mins
5. Scoop a ladle of batter onto heated, lightly greased pan. Add slice banana at this stage if you wish. And cook for 2-3 mins till bubbles appear
6. Carefully flip pancake with spatula to cook the other side
7. Cook other side for another 2-3 minutes.

Here, we have it. Healthy wholemeal pancakes waiting to be drizzled with maple syrup! Verdict, it was a good recipe and I was glad the yoghurt modification worked, maybe not as well as if I were to use sour cream. Dan would have loved it if it were fluffier but nevertheless a good first attempt for healthy wholemeal pancakes. Pancake Daddy and Hungry Sammy ate four altogether:)

We are Back

We are back in Singapore. Yup. It has been a great 2.5 months away in USA and Canada. And it's great to be back at our home too.

I must say that the kids have been doing fine. The first night, they slept from 12 am - 8 am. The second night it was 9 pm - 4 am. And the third night was 10 pm - 6 pm. It is getting better - much better than expected. So for the past few mornings, we have been up early - Listening to Christmas music, having our early breakfast and watching the kids play and play and play.

And we have been busy getting 'engine' going again on all fronts - with the house and its necessities, the car, settling our mountain pile of letters and bills....

We are back -  back to perfecting what we are called to do! 

My Fave-Chubbiest-Ice Cream Maniac Nephew

I love this pic - taken as I hung around with Josiah in Royal Ontario Museum

Josiah is a such a riot. He loves ice cream and is so focussed on eating his ice cream that he is oblivious that his ice cream has splattered on Dan pants and shoes - then again, he loves anything sweet and yummy and gooey. Whenever I see I him, I can't resist squeezing him and smothering him for at least 10 secs - after which he will yell and squirm in protest [haha..who wouldn't ]. But he is one smart lad - he can refuse me politely, often giving me a very logical mature reason. I think he is a little genius:) A holistic genius - one who is fully aware of his surroundings and a coward all at the same time. Josiah shares lots of similarities with Sarah - which is also why they get along just fine.

Josiah loves Samuel. "Samuel is my favorite friend", Josiah would chirp. But I would often catch him trying to provoke Samuel secretly [you should see his face of mischief] only to incur the wrath of Sammy, the little dragon. And they would engage in a shouting spar cos Samuel hates to be interrupted in his task. But strange enough, Samuel would sometimes respond, "It's ok".

That's dear Josiah. I think we would miss all of Josiah, and Hannah, and Joash and their Daddy and Mommy. 

But till the next time we meet - and I have a feeling it won't be too long:)

Niagara Falls Canada

More photos to come...

Love the..

High Park, Toronto, Oct 2012

Love the colors of the season
Love the big natural playground of trees, leaves and squirrels
Love the free, unihibited spirit of the children