Filed under: The Diffident Cook
Azuki and his pizza
It’s been less than three months since we’ve been here, but I think I have forgotten how my freezer looked when it was empty. Now when I open the freezer door, I have to be ready to catch that bag of frozen peas or frozen pizza or whatelse that might fall on me. Just so I remember, here’s a list of what freezes well and what, not:
Cooked pizza: I usually make a number of them using tomato paste, fresh sliced tomatoes, and lots of cheese. I find using the cheese this way helps prevent the cheese from getting moldy in the fridge. And the pizza tastes just as good when heated in the microwave. It makes for a fast lunch for Azuki and I, on those days when we’re out till late in the morning.
Stir-fried turkey mince: Cooked with broccoli, carrots, diced onions, minced garlic, mushrooms, black bean sauce, dark soya sauce, and some oyster sauce. It retains its flavor well. I usually microwave the mince and boil a pot of noodles to serve with it. One of Azuki’s favorites.
Pasta sauce: Made with chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, mushrooms and onions, Italian herbs, with or without beef. Keeps well.
CW’s tau yew bak: Bite-sized pork cooked in dark soya sauce and a little sugar and lots of whole garlic. One of those stews that can keep forever. Cook with tau pok or firm tofu slices when eating.
Roasted chicken leg: This I would cook with oyster sauce, some Chinese rice wine, dark soya sauce, a bit of honey, and lots of whole garlic cloves and sliced onion. The chicken can be eaten as a stew or–as I prefer it–after it’s been browned in the oven for about twenty minutes.
Stir-fried beehoon: Surprisingly, this one is pretty resilient in the freezer. The usual ingredients go into this dish–thinly sliced cabbage, minced garlic, a can of mock abalone, chicken pieces, and sliced carrot. Make sure the noodles are frozen with quite a lot of moisture or it may suffer from freezer burn.
Soup stocks and stews are, in general, good freezer food. What’s not freezer friendly would be those foods that need to be hydrated before cooking. For example, pasta, rice, or dried kway tiao (which explains why I am amazed that beehoon can keep). Tofu becomes like a sponge when frozen. Cooked beef also does not freeze that well; the reheating tends to overcook the meat and compromises its taste.
My mother-in-law would be horrified to know that I freeze more than half our meals. Back in Singapore, we ate everything fresh. I guess because the maid culture is virtually non-existent here, and because many women do everything by themselves here, homekeepers just don’t have the time to slave over meals in the kitchen. I must say I am a freezer convert! I am now trying to see if we’ve got the space to stash a deep freezer away somewhere…
Filed under: Life in Illini
yum yum yum
Filed under: Life in Illini
the reason why I'd have to be the best driver in the world
“Homeland Security needs to check your status, and that will take up to six weeks,” said the lady behind the counter, with hardly a glance at me. I was crestfallen. I knew the Department of Motor Vehicles had a reputation for being unfriendly to international students but I hadn’t expected to wait another six weeks to take the written test for my learning driver’s permit. And I desperately wanted to drive (I still do!), at least before winter. I couldn’t imagine me and my little son shivering at the bus stop, waiting for bus transfers. You may not understand how it feels to be trapped in a small flat with a demanding toddler. That thought was enough to depress me.
I can still remember the drive home that day. The sun was shining, and the radio was playing a happy Christian song, and Azuki was entertaining himself at the back of the car. I was, however, in quite a black mood. CW read my mind and my silence and said, by way of comfort, “I am sorry that happened, Hwee.” I couldn’t speak. I was trying not to be angry, and trying not to be angry with God (for who else was in control?).
I am grateful that the Spirit kept me from hardening my heart. Later that day, when I was reading my quiet time passage, the words of Jesus from John 12: 27–28 popped out. Jesus knew his time to be tested and crucified was coming and he was distressed. He said, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” I don’t think my situation in any way resembles Jesus’. It was his attitude that rebuked me: Here was the Son of God, facing unfair judgement upon him, and still he was determined to glorify God. There was I, facing a mere hiccup in my driving and my heart was tempted to rail at God. God is gracious, and repentance is sweet.
Now, four weeks later, I can see why I needed those extra six weeks. One of my friends had kindly agreed to teach me how to drive. Some time back, she had to go for shoulder surgery. It didn’t seem like a major operation and she expected to be up and about in ten days. However, her shoulder is taking quite a lot longer to heal. Her physiotherapist predicts that she may need another one or two weeks before she can regain full control of her arm. So I couldn’t have started lessons anyway!
I don’t often see why God makes things happen the way they do. But now and then He allows me to, and I am thankful for these nuggets of grace.
Filed under: Azuki
Hessel Park, something to look forward to when the sun comes up!
Some people have been telling me to have another kid soon before I forget how it feels like to wake up three times in the middle of the night. For CW and I, an unbroken night’s sleep is still a luxury. Azuki is turning two in November but I can count on two hands the number of times I went to bed and woke up with the sun streaming through my window. Things used to be bearable in Singapore, because Azuki was confined to his crib. Here in Urbana, he sleeps in a toddler bed, with a bed rail to keep him from falling onto the floor. The bed rail of course does little to keep him from climbing out of bed and into our bedroom.
So, for the last month or so, we’ve had to wake up, walk Azuki back to his own bed and wait till he falls asleep before creeping back to our own bed. I’ve been tempted to feel angry at him but really, it’s our fault. Our little boy has been rocked to sleep, patted and cuddled, and taught to soothe himself with the bottle, since the day he was born. It is little wonder that he does not know how to fall asleep on his own.
I have many things to be grateful for regarding the move to the US, but my biggest thanksgiving has to be that CW and I now have the final say in running the household. Back home, we always had to consider the childrearing history of the other childcarers, and as a sign of respect, to back off whenever we sensed resistance to our proposed methods. This often meant tension, and unspoken currents of emotion, and, once or twice, tearful outbursts.
Now that we no longer have to face the admonishing and pleading from his grandparents many miles away, sleep-training is finally an option open to us. Proper, consistent training, that is, and not the mish-mash of desperate methods our poor son was subjected to previously.
So it was with confidence that I started reading Richard Ferber’s Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. I was also very curious. The name Ferber is ubiquitous in all my Web trawls on children’s sleep issues; he has always been likened to a demon, and his methods, described as cruel and insensitive. But when I skimmed the pages of his book, I could see that this was a man who cared about his pediatric patients (and their parents). And what I read made sense.
As CW and I suspected, the problem with Azuki’s sleep lay in sleep association, and we now had to undo the dependence he had on us. For a toddler like Azuki, the book proposed shutting the door whenever he walks out of his room. We knew that first night was going to be so tough. I told him throughout the day that he was going to sleep by himself that night, and when night came, I reminded him again. We already had a pleasant bedtime routine of quiet play for an hour before bedtime, changing into night-clothes, milk, prayer, and storytime, so the first part of the night went fine. The trauma started after I finished the last story and told him the rules: if he were to leave the bed and room, we would have to put him back in bed and shut the door. Then I said goodnight and left his room. He bawled big time, and of course, left his bed to look for us. I calmly took him back to his bed and, as the book suggested, shut the door for just a minute. Then two minutes, then three. In the end, we also couldn’t bear hearing and seeing him crying so pitifully and decided to follow the “moderate” approach. I sat outside the room, at his doorway, so he could see me. I reminded him that whether the door stayed open or closed was all in his control. If I see him coming out of bed, I will start to close the door. This seemed to work better, because he could see me and was reassured. It was two hours later when he finally fell asleep.
Just this weekend, we started phase two of Azuki’s sleep training regime. Now, I sit further away from the door, where he cannot see me. He can still hear my voice and I do reassure him when he cries. The goal is to get him to calm down just by hearing our voice (so we can stay in bed!) when he wakes in the middle of the night. So far, it seems to have worked! I am soooo thankful a chance acquaintance happened to have that book on her bookshelf when I showed up, tired and desperate, two weeks ago (God provides!). I am not sure about the long-term effects of this method, but my friends with grown-up kids say they used to let their kids cry too, and they seem pretty healthy and well-adjusted to me. And it is not true that you are leaving your kid to cry it out: I was there with him, talking with him, responding to him. Of course, we always shower our son with love and affection–after checking that he does not hate us for leaving him to cry the night before.
We sleep so much better now. Until the next kid comes along?
the littlest notebook 