Newest Chocolate Baby

Meet my newest cake- ChocoIate Cake with Fudge Icing and White Chocolate Curls (hmm... my cake name is so obvious naman... better think of a better name- I'm open to suggestions!). Anyway, I'm posting this photo for Stew's sake :) Hope your mom would love this cake.

A Better Gyudon

I’ve cooked Gyudon several times already with different types of beef, from local beef sukiyaki to Australian beef tenderloin.  I found out that the best beef to buy for this Japanese Beef Rice is US Rib-eye, cut sukiyaki style.  It’s a bit pricey, but hey, it’s for your family!  It’s really tender and flavorful; my toddler didn’t have any trouble at all eating the beef, so I'm posting again the same recipe for Gyudon.

 

 

 

Gyudon Once Again

Serves 2

 

 

 

 

(Photo by Brandon)

 

Ingredients:
200-300g US Rib-eye Beef, sukiyaki style
1 whole white onion, cut into big chunks
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup Kikkoman soy sauce

 

Procedure:
Combine water, mirin and soy sauce in a sauce pot and let it boil.
Add the onions, and cook until half-cooked or near transparent stage.
Add the beef and cook for about 2 minutes or until meat changes color.  (Overcooking your beef will make it tough, so be careful.)
Serve on top of rice bowls.

 

 

Optional Condiment:

Half Ginger, cut into thin strips

Reserve some liquid from the cooked beef.  Boil the ginger strips in it until cooked but still crunchy.  Serve along side the Gyudon for those who like it hot!

 

 

Trixie's Smile

Here are a series of photos that Brandon took while Trixie was flashing her precious smile. Trixie deliberately smiles now when in front of the camera, but five of the seven pictures showed her real happy smile. I put in two photos that showed her "fake camera smile." Guess which ones are the fake smile photos :)

Recipe for Finger Paint

Weeks ago, I was searching for finger paint in bookstores and toy stores in malls, and I had a hard time doing so.  If not out-of-stock, it's way too expensive (imagine, 4 tiny cups put in a fancy box sold at P600 plus!!!).  There must be a home-made version of finger paint that's cheap and non-toxic.  A quick search led me to www.creativekidsathome.com, and Trixie and I made the original fingerpaint.   Bottles of Wilton food color from my cake decorating days came in very handy, and I was able to make six full cups.  A note though, this finger paint is best used the day it was made--- the paint thickened and jellied up a day after.  It's still fun to use, but it wasn't gooey anymore.  Since the recipe below contains a bit of sugar, store the paint in tightly sealed containers to keep them from nasty ants! I'll make a different version next time to see which is better.  For now, I hope this recipe will help moms like me keep their young ones happy and busy!

Original Fingerpaint

Ingredients

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

 

Directions

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You're ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.

Finger Painting

To appease my bored little girl, I decided to make finger paint at home- much to her delight! I actually tried it myself and I must say it was a lot of fun, especially mixing the colors. While we were doing this, we were singing Barney's song "When you mix blue and red it makes purple... red and yellow it makes orange....blue and yellow it makes green! When you mix these two you'll see a new color magically!" To see the recipe for home-made finger paint, check out my blog entry.

Tips that can save lives

I got this e-mail from my friend Kristine, and I thought of posting it here for everyone to see.  We are now living in dangerous times and these 9 useful tips may come in handy.


1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do :
The elbow is the strongest point on your body.
If you are close enough to use it, do!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans
If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse,
DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM.
Toss it away from you.... chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you,
and he will go for the wallet/purse.
RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
 
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car,
kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole
and start waving like crazy.
The driver won't see you, but everybody else will.
This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars
after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit
(doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.
DON'T DO THIS!)
The predator will be watching you, and this
is the perfect opportunity for him to get in
on the passenger side, put a gun to your head,
and tell you where to go.
AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR ,
LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.

If someone
is in the car
with a gun
to your head
DO NOT DRIVE OFF,
repeat:
DO NOT DRIVE OFF!
Instead gun the engine
and speed into anything, wrecking the car.
Your Air Bag will save you.
If the person is in the back seat
they will get the worst of it .
As soon as the car crashes
bail out and run.
It is better than having them find your body
in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot,
or parking garage:
A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car,
at the passenger side floor , and in the back seat
B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims
by pulling them into their vans while the women
are attempting to get into their cars.
C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle,
and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs.
(Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN!
The predator will only hit you (a running target)
4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic:
STOP
It may get you raped, or killed.
Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking,
well educated man, who ALWAYS played
on the sympathies of unsuspecting women.
He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often
asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle,
which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point:

Someone just told me that her friend heard
a crying baby on her porch the night before last,
and she called the police because it was late
and she thought it was weird. The police told her
"Whatever you do, DO NOT
open the door."
The lady then said that it sounded like the baby
had crawled near a window, and she was worried
that it would crawl to the street and get run over.
The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way,
whatever you do, DO NOT open the door."
He told her that they think a serial killer
has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax
women out of their homes thinking that someone
dropped off a baby He said they have not verified it,
but have had several calls by women saying that
they hear baby's cries outside their doors
when they're home alone at night.

Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door
for a crying baby ----
This e-mail should be taken seriously because
the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on
America 's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled
the serial killer in Louisiana

Trixie's First Day of School

Yesterday, Trixie came home with such a glow in her eyes.  It was her first day of school and clearly, she loved it.  She proudly showed me the butterfly stamp her teacher put on her right hand (which we accidentally washed away at bathtime that night, to her dismay! She said she won't take a bath next time... oh no!) Brandon and I decided that he should bring Trixie to school instead of me; she is so attached to me that she might not let go of my hand once we're there.  We sure made the right decision.  Of course, I missed seeing everything in action, but Brandon took lots of videos and photos and I was so proud of her.  I saw her doing actions, participating and socializing, and having fun.  There were two boys in her class who cried and Brandon said Trixie kept on telling the boys "Don't cry, don't cry."  That afternoon, we talked about her day and she told me the nice things she did in school (I still can't believe that Trixie and I can have real conversations now... she sure is a talker.)  I can see that she is so ready for school and Brandon and I are so happy for her. :)