Cotton-Pickin’ Days

We eat. A lot.

Last week at Teck Kee Tanglin Pau, I bought the following for the five mouths in our family:

• 4 char siew pau (bbq pork pau)
• 2 tai kai pau (big chicken pau)
• 2 big pork pau
• 2 ma lai kao

While the vendor was packing up my stuff, she asked the next customer, a very skinny woman, what she wanted.

“Two siew mei,” she said.

Two meat and shrimp dumplings in wonton skin about the size of ONE (1) char siew pau. (Compare plate sizes and you shall see.)

Is it any wonder that I still have 10 pounds of pregnancy weight to lose?

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1. Women who eat more calories around the time of conception tend to have sons.

As well as consuming more calories, women who had sons were more likely to have eaten a higher quantity and wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. There was also a strong correlation between women eating breakfast cereals and producing sons.

via Think Gene

2. “To calculate the calories you need to maintain your weight, multiply your weight by ten.”

~Submitted to Rules of Thumb by: Dr. Robin Kanarek, in Tufts University Diet Nutrition Letter

Putting the two together, it’s quite likely that #2 may be a boy (even thought the ultrasound indicated a girl).

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Before you give your child a strawberry straight from the package, I recommend you wash it first. Because someone else’s child might have accidentally dumped those strawberries on the floor just a few minutes earlier, put them back in the box, and placed it back in the display case.

Just sayen.

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Take a good look look at this bag of mini jelly babies from Marks & Spencer.

The jelly babies on the packaging look like fresh, plump, shiny, happy babies. This is what they really look like.

Do these bear any resemblance to the jelly babies on the package?

Nobody likes this strange powdered confection that is hard on the outside and mushy on the inside. The weirdest texture ever and not at all what you’d expect of a gummy candy. Blech.

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Just four more days of Christmas vacation left for Stephen so today I gave him a thrill with some homemade Magnolia* vanilla cupcakes and buttercream vanilla frosting. The cakes were nice and moist although a tad too sweet despite having reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. And as expected, the frosting and sprinkles were beyond gross but that was Stephen’s favorite part.

*Magnolia is the famous bakery in New York City that was featured in Sex and the City.

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After my chocolate chip cookie “success,” my fan club of 1 1/2 (Stephen = 1 and Marv = 1/2 only because he’s hardly ever very enthusiastic about food) asked for chocolate cake. Using yet another recipe from Allrecipes, I created these cupcakes.

As you can see, some turned out very lopsided! After some thinking, I realized that my fan forced oven creates this humorous effect. Next time, I’ll have to remember to turn off the fan. Oops. Thank goodness the boys still gave the cupcakes two thumbs up.

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For several years after Stephen was born, I couldn’t cook or bake anything that required a blender or mixer because he was scared to death of those two kitchen appliances. He appears to have gotten over it by now which opens up a whole range of recipes I previously couldn’t have considered. And despite my dislike of cooking in general (mostly because it’s time and labor intensive), the boys do seem to appreciate the taste of home cooked food so I’ve decided to get cooking.

Today, I used my new powerful Dualit hand mixer to make these chocolate chip cookies. Not bad but I remembered another thing I don’t like about cooking. After I’m finished cooking and tasting, I can barely bring myself to eat any more of the finished product.

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This picture is for Graham Holliday who took matters into his own hands last week and plucked, gutted, and hacked a pheasant all on his kitchen floor. He asked,

Is it just me, or does there seem to be more fluff and feathers on show on British markets these days?

I have no basis for comparison but a couple of weeks ago, I saw the above at Borough Market in London. I think the birds on the right are pheasant but the furry animals…deer? I also saw kangaroo meat for sale and some other exotic meats. I know Marv would have loved to try it, but I stayed safe with a bratwurst, a fresh tomato, and lots of fresh juice. Yum.

Here are a few more shots from Borough Market of the archway sign, mushrooms, and a couple of guys being filmed cooking (click for a larger image). Anyone know who they are?

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How many people had turducken this year for Thanksgiving? My turducken post from last year featuring the turducken my brother-in-law’s cousins made was my most popular post this week. Here’s a video of how professionals make a turducken.

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I’ve mentioned before that Stephen really seems to enjoy his school lunches. Earlier this week, I had a chance to attend a school lunch tasting. Now I can see how truly lucky he is to have such a wide selection of meals each day served by friendly staff. His school has its own kitchen with food prepared fresh on the premises and they also have a salad bar with fresh fruits and vegetables.

I especially appreciated the handout the food service team prepared.

Menus are nutritionally balanced using the latest computer-based technology and must conform to our own tested recipes and quality assurance programme. All of our suppliers are carefully identified and then audited to ensure that they are providing us with products that meet our quality and nutritional standards. We will not knowingly use any ingredient that has been genetically modified.

Our aim is to ensure that school meals are not only great value but that they also provide your child with a safe diet that will assist with their learning development

The school lunch tasting included:

• Chick pea curry (my favorite!)
• Chicken enchiladas
• Quiche
• Fish with white sauce (which didn’t look great but was very tasty)
• Apple crumble with warm custard
• Carrot cake

I know for a fact that Stephen is more willing to taste a variety of different foods because of the many flavors he encounters at lunch.

The lunches put my own simple meals to shame. And with smiling staff like this, lunches must be a highlight of the children’s day.

Thank you to everyone involved in encouraging Stephen’s culinary adventure!

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