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For the love of Korean food (I): simple homecooked

July 18, 2014

I’ve been subjecting the family to a lot of Korean food these days and it’s all thanks to watching too much kshows, I tell you. I don’t know how many times I ran to the kitchen in the middle of the night to cook myself a pot of ramyeon while watching Boys Over Flower, how many times I craved for beef japchae watching City Hunter and how many times I wanted to reach for the phone and order me some chicken (and beer) while watching You From Another Star (chimek, remember?). And every time the folks over at Running Man had food games, I found myself wanting to eat tteokbokki, kimchi and jjambbong.

Lately, I make the kids and the husband eat a lot of pork cooked in this particular sauce / marinade from Bibigo (that’s supposed to give a BBQ-à la-bulgogi flavour to the meat) :

I love both the original and the one with pineapple

For the kids, I make it with the sauce without the heat. It’s a really easy one pot meal and I modify it to suit the children’s palate. I just fry sliced onions, shallots, and garlic with shabu shabu pork that’s marinated with the sauce, add some cornstarch and an egg to make a thicker gravy and pour everything on a bowl of hot rice.

The kids love this. For myself, I add the heat with the red pepper version and kimchi on the side, and we all have a hearty rice meal like that. When we do eventually get sick of pork, I figured I’ll be doing the same with chicken and beef.

Bibigo’s ‘Hot & Spicy’ Korean BBQ Sauce

When in need of soup, the fastest thing I’ve done is to boil a pot of water with a huge tablespoon of bean paste and throw in some ready-made, frozen vegetarian Korean dumplings.

A hearty meal with just bulgogi pork with rice and soup

Now, that’s so much faster than what we usually do for Chinese cooking. Every time we want to have soup, we have to start boiling pork or chicken bones with red dates, huaishan, beiqi and goujizi by 3pm so we can get soup that tastes like soup (and not water) by 7.

It’s not a big hit with the kids as compared to my Chinese soup but hey, if they need some liquid to go with their rice, we can have it like that too.

I recently also made the popular ikan bilis Korean side dish which was a big hit and something everyone loved. I referred to The Domestic Goddess Wannabe‘s instructions here, but modified them by airfrying my ikan bilis in my Philips Airfryer first and threw everything in after heating up the sauce. I used roasted sesame also, instead of toasting sesame seeds in a dry pan as she suggested:

Two versions of myulchi – one with heat, the other with honey soy, plus a huge japchae side dish to eat for dinner (and for tomorrow’s lunch!)

I made two versions – one spicy and the other with honey soy. They were super addictive!

And for me, no dinner experience is complete without a bit of japchae. This is the dish I get to vary however I want, because I am usually the only one eating (and finishing) it. Here’s a step-by-step guide which I referred to to make my japchae, again adapted from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

I usually boil the sweet potato vermicelli instead of soaking it. I’ve added beef on one occasion, and pork on another with garlic, shallots, onions and whatever that I could find in the fridge – carrots, radish, cabbage, mushrooms. The tip is to fry the hardest veg to the softest, and the meat last, and then the noodles with the seasoning however you like it.

I’m hoping to share more about what I do at home making Korean food, because right now, I can’t get enough of it! Do you love Korean food too? Share your links with me or reveal where’s good to eat Korean and what’s good to have in Singapore!

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Going Out! Invites & Tryouts Learning fun! Motherkao loves... The Kao Kids

Science, and Science Centre fun! [The Second Part]

July 15, 2014

Imagine stepping into a 3000 square metre indoor playground with interactive zones inviting you to play, play, play – and not stop. And while you play, play, and play, you’re actually learning about science in fun and engaging ways.

Yep, that’s KidsSTOP for you.

I think if there was such an edutainment centre when I was a kid, I might have been more curious and wanting to explore more as a child. I certainly hope that being there at KidsSTOP would do that for my kids – getting them all curious and making little explorers out of them.

KidsSTOP has FOUR interactive zones designed to engage young children’s imagination and creativity, while encouraging hands-on learning. The zones are IMAGINE, DISCOVER, EXPERIENCE AND DREAM.

Within the IMAGINE Zone, there’s the Built Environment, a recreation of a building site, Dino Pit, a detailed replica of an excavation site, dino “bones” included, and Supermarket, where the littles ones get to grocery shop and play cashiers. This zone gives shape and form to the most creative ideas in a variety of fun settings.

The DISCOVER Zone feature exhibits that answer all the big questions relating to things like nature, flight and space, the solar system and the human body.

The EXPERIENCE Zone, tucked behind the Omni Theatre is the place to get close to nature (Critters, Virtual Pond), as well as immersing oneself in behind-the-scenes production like a budding filmmaker (Kiddie Theatre).

And lastly, the DREAM Zone allows children to explore the depths of their imagination, and opens up the world of infinite possibilities – and that we’re talking about a two-storey Big Dream Climber that leads to a secret music room, a Giant J slide that lets anyone free fall and a Small World that brings LEGO bricks larger than life.

Park Map of KidsSTOP screen-capped from http://www.kidsstop.edu.sg/park-map

While I like everything organised and categorised systematically for clarity and purposeful learning, at KidsSTOP, I forced myself to tell the kids to explore whatever they want, however they please and whichever zones they were inclined to (except the sand, for there was no spare change – of clothes, that is). Whilst I would love that they take time to go visit one exhibit systematically after another, read whatever information was presented to them while at that and internalise the concepts to build on existing knowledge, I know full well that my kids are only 5, 4 and 2 which means I had better keep my ‘teacher tendencies’ under control.

They are here to play, was what I constantly reminded myself. Let the learning happen organically.

So no surprises at all who hung around where and lingered around what.

With my littlest, who loves balls, he was found transfixed and completely fascinated at Built Environment.

Nat at Built Environment, engrossed in getting all the balls into the tube

The little girl was found – make a guess – talking to herself and cashiering at the Supermarket like a pro.

Cashiering like a pro

Of course, once in a while, inspiration struck and she decided she wanted to fly to the moon.

Fly me to the moon

Otherwise, she was often found checking the seasonal prices of red peppers and tomatoes again and again.

Scanning tomatoes

And my five-year-old? He couldn’t be contained within exhibits. There was a world up there to explore.

The Big Dream Climber: Ben spoke of a magic place after you've reached the top and there are instruments to make music there!

The Big Dream Climber: Ben spoke of a magic place after you’ve reached the top and there were instruments to make music there!

The kids also took turns to check out the Human Body exhibit, and it appears that Ben might have a keener inclination to be a surgeon in future. He was so focused taking out organs and putting them back, then suturing imaginatively, like a pro.

Do not disturb: Surgeon at Work

What about me? Did I just sit around and watch the kids or try to catch a nap while the kids play? Well, I did want to do that. But something was beckoning me. This thing called the Giant J. I challenged it at 5 metres. Any higher I might pass out hanging on the bar up there.

Mama at Giant J. Photos of me on the slide were made possible thanks to Andy from Sengkang Babies

And it was incredibly, exhilaratingly FUN!

And I’m free… free-falling!

Another place where the Kao kids spent a really long time at was here:

In a room called ‘Critters’

Because how much do my children love animals? SO MUCH.

And here as well:

Learning volume through shapes

This was where I watched with fascination and wondered how long these kids (including Sengkang Babies‘ Boon Xin) can pour and pour and pour and pour those green beans.

Apparently, for very, very long. So much so that they didn’t want to leave.

Until I had to distract them with other things in the room, like this – which then got the boys interested..

There’s something to learn from this – just that I don’t know what!

And this, which got Becks excited for a while.

At Kiddie Theatre, kids can build LEGO at designated corners which would then be captured like an animated film!

And then it was back to, Can we go climb the Big Dream Climber? Can we go play at the Supermarket? Can we go pour the beans? all over again.

I tell you, this place is where the kids CANNOT STOP.

KidsSTOP equals cannot stop playing. Cannot stop asking Mama if they can go here and there and back to here and then again there. And then repeat ten times.

You can imagine how difficult it was to get all three kids out of there.

KidsSTOP: Where the play never stops

And it’s no wonder that they have to operate by stipulated sessions at KidsSTOP. On weekdays, the 1st session starts at 12pm and ends at 3pm (last admission 2.15pm), while the 2nd session starts at 4pm and ends at 7pm (last admission 6.15pm). On weekends, the 1st session is from 10am to 2pm (last admission 1.15pm), and the 2nd sessions starts at 3pm and ends at 7pm (last admission 6.15pm). Your admission ticket only allows you to go for ONE SESSION.

Clearly, at KidsSTOP, no hogging is allowed, which is brilliant because all kids get a chance to play and the crowd is kept at a manageable capacity.

We’ve had ourselves a truly enriching and enjoyable time at KidsSTOP, and the kids have been begging to return to play some more. When we left, we saw a birthday party group arriving, and found out that KidsSTOP also has birthday packages! It will be really fun to dream up a party here soon enough, so that, plus the Giant J at 6 metres are reasons for me to plan our return. The kids also made me promise that the next time we go, I’ll allow them to play at the Dino Pit and will not forget to bring a change of clothes for them!

More details:

KidsSTOP is beside the Singapore Science Centre at 21 Jurong Town Hall, Singapore 609233.
Website: http://www.kidsstop.edu.sg/

Disclosure: We were invited to KidsSTOP as part of a Blogger’s Invite. No monetary compensation was received for this post, and all opinions here are our own.

Read the First Part of our fun here.

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Going Out! Invites & Tryouts Learning fun! Motherkao loves... The Kao Kids

Science, and Science Centre fun! [The First Part]

July 15, 2014

Science as a subject was something I couldn’t exactly grasp. Well, maybe because logic is something alien to me in the first place. And don’t even get me started on how to explain scientific concepts to my children.

I don’t, that’s why my finger is always pointing to their father whenever Ben or Becks asks me the big ‘whys’.

Having said that, I believe in purposeful and experiential play for the kids so that when the day comes when they have to learn a scientific concept, their sensory and playful experiences can quickly help them connect, leading to the Eureka moment.

So when the Singapore Science Centre invited us to experience the Singapore Science Festival 2014 last Saturday, we were all ready to get for ourselves as many experiences and interactions relating to the wonderful world of science as possible.

FIRST STOP: Science Ahoy!

Science Ahoy! is kinda like your geek funfair. You enter it (Annexe Hall 1) taking on the persona of a sailor, and for SGD5 get a survival manual which would help you stay alive in the event of a shipwreck.

Ahoy! mateys, let’s be learning us some science!

You get to learn through engaging activities in the form of stations, and at each station, explore a specific concept that would increase your chances of survival, like using the sun to tell time, boiling psyllium seed husks to make a marmalade substitute, learning the link between buoyant forces, water tension and gravity to move a boat, using area and perimeter to encrypt messages, and understanding why sometimes we can feel the earth moving.

Ben and Becks had a go in making the cross section of the earth. They were given a plastic bowl, some crushed papers, plasticine, a marble and pieces of blue and green felt. With that, those little hands were guided to make the inner and outer core of the earth, its mantle and crust. They learned from this activity that the thickness, state of matter, temperature and materials that make up the layers of our Earth are different! What a clever way to teach these little curious minds!

Science Ahoy!_Cross Section of the Earth

Busy little hands, focused in making a model of our Earth

Cross-section model completed!

At another station, Ben and Becks were given a challenge with plasticine. They were asked why despite being the same weight, one plasticine floated around in the water steadily and the other sank.

Quiz time: Mr Sailor asks the Kao kids THE question…

…How can we make plasticine float?

When we learned that the secret was in its surface area, all of us (including me) got busy moulding our ball of plasticine to make it buoyant. What fun to experience the concept of buoyancy this way!

Little hands getting busy again

Buoyant at last: It’s in moulding the shape with a big enough surface area to keep out the water!

At yet another station, we were told that the rats have infested the kitchen and the oranges and sugar sacks were gone. With some psyllium seed husks, water and food colouring, the kids concocted jello-like marmalade, and had lots of fun feeling its texture. Who says we can only make jam with sugar and fruit?

Gooey Marmalade

Touching and feeling what gooey marmalade is like!

Every kid loves slime. Every. This was one of the most crowded stations that morning.

All the kids got excited with jello!

I loved it that despite this being a learning festival for primary school children, the people from the Science Centre and A* STAR, the co-organisers of the festival, were all together so encouraging and patient in getting my young ones to try the activities, as well as explaining to them the concepts in very simple, layman terms. Although my kids weren’t keen enough to go seek out the answers for the other two more challenging activities – the math cryptography and the sun-dial making – I was already very pleased that the Kao kids had acquired for themselves invaluable experiences that would be stored for later use.

Science Ahoy! is on daily from 9.30am to 6pm, from 11 to 18 July. The recommended time for this is 90 minutes and the $5 fee does not include admission into Science Centre. Accompanying adults go free though.

SECOND STOP: Human Body Experience (HBX)

The Human Body Experience: yes, to enter the exhibition, you get swallowed first

We’ve seen ads publicising this experience, and the kids were actually very frightened by the thought of being “swallowed alive” by such a huge human mouth. We’ve been told in advance not to come in high heels and to be prepared for a fully immersive experience in terms of sense, sight and sound, and to be ready to crawl and move around a lot.

The journey began with us being “swallowed” by the mouth and sliding down the oesophagus – taking us inside the human anatomy through organs and muscles and the nervous system. We became explorers inside the five main systems of the human body: the circulatory, digestive, immune, nervous and respiratory systems.

It was very intriguing indeed. How wonderfully made we are, and how much detail goes into creating our bodies! I don’t know about you, but it’s in times like this I wonder, how can anyone not believe that there’s a God who made us? There wasn’t any science I could teach my kids and many things were too complex for my preschoolers to understand. I couldn’t answer Ben when he kept asking me, “What’s this? Where’s this? What is this supposed to do?”. I had no simple and clear explanation for my preschoolers when they asked me why there is electricity zapping through the brain. Or how our bodies fight germs. Or why our bones are strong enough to hold up our organs and all. Ben also asked why our intestines are so long and yet can fit snugly in our bodies.

Most of the time, with those questions, I actually answered, I don’t know. God made it so.

But one thing I could tell them for certain that day was: Look at how good God is in making you!

Many things to see, learn and explore! Unfortunately, it was pretty dark and I had to mind the kids, so I gave up on pictures.

Particularly unforgettable: being suddenly sprayed with mist as we walked through the stomach (to simulate bile) and having to wobble to keep our balance and being all squashed at the interior of the intenstine. The squeezing and squishing took a toll on the little girl towards the end of the journey that by the time we were reaching the anus, she was all shook up and crying. So for the faint-hearted, I’ll have to say, HBX may not be suitable for you.

The boys loved it though (yes, Nat enjoyed the experience!) and so did I, and we wished we could experience again, the next time more slowly and calmly. We were rather frantic given it’s our first time!

The Human Body Experience is at Hall B in Singapore Science Centre. Admission rates to HBX and Science Centre is SGD20 for adults and SGD15 for children aged 3 to 12 years old.

THIRD STOP: KidsSTOP

If you haven’t already heard, the first of its kind edutainment centre to engage children from preschool to lower primary levels in science is now here. Occupying over 3000 square metres, science can be explored here, playground style. This is like the kid’s version of the Singapore Science Centre (which would probably only start to make sense when you are in Primary 3) and is built especially for children 18 months to 8 years.

This is one place that makes me wish I was a kid again

My kids loved KidsSTOP. I loved KidsSTOP. We had so much fun and it was a place where my kids didn’t want the fun to stop.

Find out how much fun we’ve had for ourselves at KidsSTOP in the Second Part to this post.

Details on admission charges to KidsSTOP can be found here.

Disclosure: We were invited to the Singapore Science Centre for a Blogger Preview. All opinions here are mine. The fun we had was also ours. The risk we took was also our own. We survived being swallowed and subsequently “passed out” to bring you this story.

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I can't categorise such entries

Bad thumb jokes

July 11, 2014

At the A & E eight hours after I slammed the car door on my own thumb

Porter (who’s assigned to escort me for the x-ray): Alamak, so serious ah, you… How you fall?

Me: I didn’t fall.

Porter: THEN WHAT HAPPENED?!?!

Me: I close car door didn’t see my thumb still there.

-silence-

At the A & E doctor’s room

Doctor: So, what happened to you?

Me: Car door slammed on my thumb.

Doctor: Door hinge or far end of door?

Me: Far end.

Doctor: Hard slam like a smash, or…?

Me: Not a hard slam. I closed it quite gently on myself.

Doctor: Looks very bad still.

–silence-

At the doctor’s room after the x-ray was done

Doctor: There’s a chip fracture, from what I see…

Me: WHAT??!!??

Doctor: Yes, the injury is quite bad. How did the door slam on you?

Me: I slow. I slam self.

Husband: (bursting out in hearty laughter) Yes, Doctor. No one did anything. She closed the door on her finger on her own.

Me: Thanks for explaining in so many words. I can’t believe that either.

At a birthday party about 18 hours after the accident

Friend 1: Hey! I saw on Facebook! What happened to your thumb?

Me: Huh, slow lor, what to do?

Friend 1: Ouch, must be painful.

Me: Tell me about it.

At the same party a while later…

Friend 2: How are you?! I heard about your finger. So what happened? The kids slammed the door on you or what? Kids are very fast these days.

Me: No, not the kids.

Friend 2: Huh, then who?

Me: It’s called “I SLOW”.

***

Thank you, everyone, for your love and concern. The thumb is better, the specialist has seen it and said it will get better (it can only be) and I will try my best to react quickly to car doors from now on to spare myself from more agony.

There was no fracture, by the way. Just a really hard slam and a bad bruise.

I hope these jokes make your day.

P/S: I am so happy I can now apply pressure to the injured thumb without much pain and will be back with regular programming in no time!

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I can't categorise such entries

Thumbs down, break’s up

July 8, 2014

I’m going to be taking a break for a while from this space.

And it’s not because I need to catch up on kdrama or need a sanity break.

I’ve taken a lot more than I can handle this year and every day in 2014 feels like I’m doing an octopus dance, juggling the demands of a work-at-home-stay-at-home-do-everything-at-home mom. If you don’t already know, I’m trying to start and grow a business, and that in itself is consuming my brain matter. I am also running the day-to-day ops of the household and chauffeuring kids to school and from school daily, to and from Math and Chinese enrichment weekly, and taking up blog engagements that I feel will enrich my children. These, plus having to handle the mom guilt about not doing more homelearning with the kids and reading to them more than I should, and I end up finding myself needing to rethink about how to plan and discipline myself better to be more efficient and effective, and learning to identify distractions and get more focused.

Someone here needs to work out her priorities it seems.

And for now, I also need to rest my thumb because I’m functioning with 9 fingers.

I had stupidly slammed the car door on my right thumb during the weekend. Yes, no kidding.

Which resulted in a swollen thumb that throbbed incessantly to the point I felt light-headed and had to get an x-ray done only to remind myself of how s—–l—–o——w—— I was in my reflexes because it was revealed that I had inflicted upon myself a chip fracture.

$Swollen and fractured: Which is worse than contractions at childbirth, by the way. At least contractions had a purpose. This pain just reminds me of how slow I am. That's all.$

Swollen and fractured: Which is worse than contractions at childbirth, by the way. At least contractions had a purpose. This pain just reminds me of how slow I am. That’s all.

There, I said it – the embarrassing reason why I won’t be writing for a while. Even typing this post is getting the thumb throbbing a little once every five hits.

Till then, when the thumb’s up.

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(Self) Examination Ben Kao Family life as we know it Milestones and growing up The darndest kid quotes and antics

Police force

July 3, 2014

Five is the age of policing. I am so convinced it is. At least that’s the case for my son.

Ben has a strong sense of justice and a constant need to know if something is right or wrong. He tattles, quite often, but doesn’t do it just so his siblings get in trouble. More often, he does it because he needs to know from the adult if a behaviour or an action is acceptable or not.

Which means he takes on the role of the moral policeman in the house.

“Becks, you need to say ‘Please’ when you need something. I want to hear it before I do it for you. C’mon.”

“Nat, this is wrong. You need to say ‘sorry’. Go and say that to Mama now.”

“Mama, do not check your phone in the car. No reading in a moving vehicle, remember?”

“If it’s wrong for me to say ‘idiot’, why does Dada call some drivers ‘idiot’ when he drives? Dada should not do that.”

“Aunty A, please pronounce properly. It’s ‘prawn’, not ‘frawn’. Say it correctly lah.”

As you can see, everyone in the house gets corrected by him all the time, almost every day. And he’s usually right 9 out of 10 times. His correction would often leave you embarrassingly speechless.

Just the other day, the police force in the house just said something that took the cake.

Ben: Mama, why is Becks so lucky?

Me: Why is she lucky?

For the record, I dislike that word. We never use it and it was the previous helper that taught him that. We tell our children it’s always God’s grace, never luck. So you can imagine the annoyance in my tone when I asked him why.

Ben: Good things always happen to her.

Me: Really? What good things have happened?

Ben: The good thing that happened to her is me. She’s so lucky to have an older brother who do everything for her. I help her, give in to her, pack for her. She can throw tantrums but I will just help her still. Aiyo... this is lucky what.

Me: *speechless*

I really didn’t know what else to say. You’re talking about me, Motherkao, Ben’s mother, who must have the last word.

See? We have the force right here, always checking to see who’s good and bad, who’s naughty and nice. There, my five-year-old for you.

***

That night I related the conversation to the husband, who, after hearing about it advised me to pay more attention to the children’s emotional needs. He saw what I didn’t. He saw that Ben in his policing was seeking our approval. It was clear to Fatherkao that Ben needed to know that we would always approve of him.

Just at that moment, Ben interrupted our conversation in the bedroom by coming in to tattle on his sister. Like I mentioned, I don’t think his intention was for us to head out to discipline her. He came and told us something she did which was not right, along the lines of her leaving her seat before her dinner was finished.

The response Fatherkao had and the subsequent exchange between father and son was pretty amazing. This was it:

Fatherkao: Ben, I don’t need to know that. I want you to tell me or show me what’s important to you.

Ben: Ok, Dada.

And my five-year-old proceeded to do a forward roll to show his father, and they all had a good belly laugh on the bed.

So. The moral of the story. The moral police in the house stops policing and starts behaving like the five-year-old he ought to be the moment he knows that he is loved and approved by the two most important people in his life. In all that he was doing, pointing out people’s mistakes and wanting to know what’s right and wrong, he was crying out for us to look at him, hold him and affirm him.

***

Motherhood has such thrills, isn’t it? It’s a steep learning curve but you learn so much. Your children teach you to love, how to love, and how to be more human every day. At least that’s the case for me.

Ben, you teach me more than you can imagine. It’s really my honour and a privilege to be your mother, sweetheart.

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Food, glorious food! Happy days Invites & Tryouts Motherkao loves... Reviews

I ate 4 kings, and then ate like one at Marina South Curry House [Review]

July 2, 2014

I’ve never been a fan of any of those Four Heavenly Kings 四大天王 in the 80’s and 90’s – and I don’t care for them anyway (ok, maybe except for Mr Kwok) – but I ate them all up last week which was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life.

Yes, I did. No lah, not them.

I’m talking about this dish that I tasted at Marina South Curry House that knocked my socks off totally.

四大天王 Marina South Curry House Version

Yep, the restaurant named it ‘The Four Heavenly Kings’, and it’s a vegetable dish stir-fried in the most delicious rempah made of sambal hei bee (dried shrimps) and the best combination of brinjal, lady’s fingers, long beans and petai (stink beans) one can ever taste in this corner of Planet Earth.

Ok, I got too excited and carried away. Anyway. This is how the post should start.

We were invited for a food tasting session and media launch of Marina South Curry House which is located at Amara Shopping Centre at Tras Street (and not at Marina South, though it used to be there before every space we once knew about that place to fly kites became home to Gardens by the Bay!) last weekend to try their Signature Claypot Fish Head Bee Hoon which gained much popularity since its feature on the Taiwanese Food Programme, 美食大三通, and their famous Red Curry Chicken and Salted Egg Chicken Wings.

Our family was all ready for a feast to conclude the June holidays, and so to Marina South Curry House we went…

The restaurant is located 100 Tras Street #03-14. 100AM (or formerly known as Amara Shopping Centre) S079027

The restaurant is located at 100 Tras Street #03-14, 100AM (or formerly known as Amara Shopping Centre) S079027

Where we were greeted with a nostalgic and an old school feel about everything in that place…

Retro in the house, and the music my grandfather and father would love to listen to, playing in the background

Even the kids were given goodie bags that had all the old school games like pick-up sticks, chapteh and sticky ol’ school bubble balloons!

We’ve been looking high and low for these and couldn’t find them! One would have thought these sticks have gone into extinction…

And the Hungry Hungry Hippos game (read about our craze here) we brought to keep the kids busy was one of the things that fit in just right in this place with such a retro feel.

My hungry hippo-boys chomping away marbles while waiting

We were first served drinks and were told we had to try their Original Buah Long Long Drink. Which was extremely refreshing, and as we would discover later, an excellent complement to the curry dish. We also had their Iced Barley, Iced Sour Plum Calamansi and Iced Sour Plum Lime. Such great thirst quenchers.

The Original Buah Long Long Drink ($3.90); Iced Barley ($3.90); Iced Sour Plum Calamansi ($3.90) and Iced Sour Plum Lime ($3.90)

The Signature Claypot Fish Head Bee Hoon took a while to make its arrival (I hear you have to wait for 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours) but when it finally came, it was a tantalising and flavourful broth that tasted of fresh fish. It’s a little different from the milky versions and those with XO I have tasted before. This one tasted light, yet the broth had a kind of thickness that was befitting of a Fish Head Bee Hoon dish.

Signature Fish Head Bee Hoon in Claypot ($18.90)

I hear that no MSG is used in the cooking process, and the chef uses fresh seabass and simmers the soup for six hours every day.

This dish was Ben’s favourite that evening.

We also had the Luohan Chye, which in my opinion, was pretty normal.

Luohan Chye: tofu, taupok, mushrooms and small bok choy ($9.90)

The Salted Chicken Wings came piping hot and browned perfectly with salted egg coated on the skins. This dish was a nice change from the usual prawn paste chicken wings we usually have at tzi char stalls. Needless to say, those wings were the most yummy things for the two people in our family who absolutely love savoury, deep fried food. Who else but Becks and Nat.

Salted Chicken Wings ($12.90)

Unfortunately, we have no pictures of ourselves licking our fingers to show because, well, we were all too busy eating! Plus, we had oily hands from the chicken wings.

The Red Curry Chicken came boiling in a mini wok and it tasted like there was an explosion of flavours and spices in my mouth. Very, very spicy, so be warned! I can take heat very well but this…

Red Curry Chicken ($6.90)

This was really HOT!

I requested to try the Yellow Curry and Green Curry for a point of comparison, and concluded, there’s something very special in the Red one that’s making it very spicy. The Yellow one was my favourite among the three and I like the blend of fragrant spices that’s used to make it.

Ooh, more yummy curry in yellow and green

So we were done with the Signature dishes, and I was like, what else is on their menu that I must try? That was when I spotted…

‘The Four Heavenly Kings‘.

The words just stand out! Pity there isn't any description and I had to ask.

The words just stand out! Maybe the grammarphobe in me also noticed that it should be in plural. Pity there wasn’t any description of the dish and I had to ask.

Can I eat them?

My curiosity in this dish proved to be the highlight of my tasting session. Oh, Marina South Curry House, why isn’t this Signature too? It’s TOO GOOD not to be, in my opinion. I know not everyone is a fan of petai, but trust me, when you taste them cooked this way, you’ll be converted!

Four Heavenly Kings: brinjal, petai, lady’s fingers and long beans on a plate

I also ordered their Sweet and Sour Pork for the kids to try, and they liked it. It wasn’t exactly spectacular; just homely and well-balanced. I didn’t need any more “spectacular” – ‘The Four Heavenly Kings‘ did that for me already.

Sweet and Sour Pork ($8.90)

It was a satisfying dinner indeed.

Marina South Curry House is a good place to go if you’d like some reminiscing of the past with its retro ambience and a taste of classic homely Chinese cooking. It’s called ‘Curry House’ but don’t be fooled; the curries are delightful and so are all the other non-curry dishes which are all made equally with passion and culinary dedication by their experienced chef.

Thank you, Marina South Curry House, for hosting my family for dinner and for such a flavourful end to our June holidays!

The kids and me, we went in Retro, can you see?

Disclosure: We were invited to Marina South Curry House for a food tasting session to bring you this review. No monetary compensation was received for this post, and all opinions here are mine. Calories also mine. Full stomach and expanded waistline too.

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Family life as we know it Getting all sentimental now Milestones and growing up The Kao Kids

How long?

July 1, 2014

Just the other day, I caught a glimpse of my children with their backs turned, all eagerly looking into the kitchen as their father made them a drink.

It was a treat for them, whenever their father made them something. It was always something special, like a specially concocted smoothie or shake. That day they were given a special treat of dad-made bandung, a drink of rose syrup and evaporated milk, which made their day.

As I was watching them getting all excited over a sweetened drink, I wondered, how long will these kids stay this way?

I mean, how long do they get to stay at 5, 4 and 2?

Not very long, apparently. A year to be exact.

And 365 days after each of their birthdays, they grow a year older. Which goes on repeat mode as long as there’s a sun, a moon and a universe.

Which leaves me with just one thought to wrap around my head.

How long then would I get to do this…

This…

And this…

With my babies?

It wasn’t so long ago I was going on and on about how tough it has been to be mothering two toddlers and an infant. And now, I’m looking at the backs of three young children talking and laughing amongst themselves, and growing up too fast.

I’ve said it before and I’d say it again: I don’t think any mother can handle her children growing up. Definitely not me.

I will miss doing so many things with them and watching all the funniness and happiness unfold daily in my life because I know come next year, I’m going to have to handle bigger children, children who would have grown 365 days older.

Oh, slow down, will you, guys? Mama wants to enjoy you at 5, 4 and 2 for a long while more.

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Everyday fun! Family life as we know it Fatherkao loves... Happy days Milestones and growing up The Kao Kids

The hippos are HUNGRY, HUNGRY (chomp!)

June 30, 2014

The house is really noisy these days.

You will be amazed at how much noise pollution this thing, together with these four people makes:

The game’s called ‘Hungry Hungry Hippos’. If you were born in the 70’s or 80’s, I think you’d find it very familiar!

Simple rules: Hands up, get set, chomp!

Gives pandemonium at home a new definition, I tell you.

Fatherkao recently ordered this from Amazon after searching for it in local Toys ‘R’ Us stores for months. They don’t have the game any where, and so we paid USD12.88 for the game and almost four times the game price for shipping.

It’s crazy, I know. I was tempted to scold the husband for spending money like this, until I saw this on the first night they played the game:

And this on another night:

And then the littlest getting all too amused and engaged with the travel set Fatherkao ordered too:

Check out how he plays the two-player game on his own, left hand vs. right hand, in all sort so of positions!

Then I remembered what I often hear my pastor say on Sundays from the pulpit. ‘Use money, love people; NOT use people, love money’. In my husband’s case, he used his money to love his children to make memories they will remember for a lifetime.

They will remember they were hungry, hungry hippos when they were kids, that’s for sure.

Money well spent for so much fun (never mind the noise), that’s what I think!

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(Self) Examination Becks Kao Homelearning fun Learning fun! Milestones and growing up

Fixing a problem with ‘Special Time’

June 27, 2014

Ever since I became more of a work-at-home mom than stay-at-home mom, I’ve not really done much homelearning with the kids. I still follow a routine with them, but it’s with less intensity and frequency throughout the day; and instead of creating and designing my own materials, I’m using a lot more stock ones that are available for downloading from the net. I’m also letting them play A LOT more together, now that they are at the age where they love to pretend play. Just recently, I heard someone say “Mama” and “Dada” and they were not calling the husband and me but each other, and it was altogether tremendously amusing.

I also outsource the learning of the Chinese Language to Berries. Ben has been attending lessons since last year, and Becks started her N2 class this year. I’m pretty much hands off in this area.

Until the rude shock yesterday, that is.

So Becks’ teacher informed me that she couldn’t recognise the words she’s been taught when she did a revision test with her. It’s not the first time the teacher’s said it since the beginning of the year, and I’ve pretty much just left things as they were and hoping not to intervene at all in Becks’ learning. But last evening, the test score was 1 out of 20, and it was quite horrifying to know that the little girl doesn’t remember any Chinese character save one since January.

Of course our first thoughts were: Does she have a learning disability? Is she suffering from something we do not know of? Does she have a problem with memory? Is the classroom engaging enough? Does she have attention deficit?

Believe you me, I think any parent would start off with these crazy thoughts.

But any parent who knows their child would be able to pull herself back from this and think about what it is that the child really needs.

I didn’t go all beserk. I didn’t get all anxious (for a while I did, but not for too long, hurhur!) about Becks’ lack of ability to remember. I didn’t go down that slippery slope of reasoning within myself about how she might suffer in primary school. I didn’t run out to buy more Chinese books or videos. I knew that the little girl was sending me a message loud and clear, and if I am not going to “listen” to it, I’m going to be a fool of a mother.

I know my child. I think she’s saying, “Mama, can you also teach me Chinese too?”

Last night, before the kids went to bed, I told them that there would be a new routine when they wake up. They would each get a “Special ‘Learning’ Time” with me for 20 minutes every day when they are fresh in the morning, and we could spend time doing anything that they wished to learn. They know ‘Special Time’ is one-to-one time with me which no one can interrupt, and so using this phrase got them all agreeable.

That was that. I had it at the back of my mind but still went to bed at 2am catching Episode 201 of Running Man.

This morning, at 8.30am, someone tapped me on the shoulder and shouted, “Mama, wake up. We are having special time learning right?”

Right, the ‘Special ‘Learning’ Time’, yes.

It was the little girl who was up and all ready this morning.

And I was right. She was all ready to learn some Chinese and do some flashcard reading on my lap and playing games answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in Chinese. I’m thinking to myself, BINGO, isn’t this what needs to be fixed before the problem in the classroom can be? She needs her mother to be involved in every area of her learning too.

Lesson learned: Never dismiss my child as having any problems until I’ve invested good time and energy being involved in her learning. I have to keep filling love tanks and be their cheerleader every step of the way, whether I work at home or not. And those 20 minutes (60 minutes for me) didn’t just make one kid happy, it made all three happy to have some one-to-one time on Mama’s lap – and we’re all looking forward to this routine every day!

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