little one

pumpkin cookies

2012-02-18T22:56:00.000+09:00

Baked some dairy free pumpkin cookies for Leigh today after we got frm her doctor.
We had a hectic day of rushing to the hospital then coming back wondering what it was all about. That would be another post.

Back to delicious cookies :)

I've never baked dairy free cookies and I knew Leigh would jump in joy to have them since she didn't have a single cookie ever since we put her out of dairy..

ingredients: (makes about 35 pcs)
pumpkin 60g
rice powder 30g
starch 85g
almond powder 55g
sugar 45g
seed oil 45g

1. preheat oven to 170C
1. add all powder and mix
2. boil pumpkin and mash and add into 1 with oil.
3. make dough and make 7~8mm sheet and use your cookie cutter :)
4. bake for 12 to 15 mins in the over (170C) keep checking when cookies have turned golden brown on the sides you are done!

Enjoy :)

dairy free? ok. No eggs? are you sure?

2012-02-17T16:29:00.002+09:00

We've been going dairy free for couple of months now.
Since Leigh doesn't have allergy to dairy we do give her some exceptions and let her have her cakes during the holidays.
But otherwise we've been prety good with going dairy free.
Vanilla soy milk works wonders :) as our substitute.

The first change we have seen in Leigh is as we went through absolute dairy free diet for a month (it's about time all dairy has been flushed out from her system) is that she can go number two without almost no medication now.

I knew some ppl get tummy problem when they take dairy but not taking it?
Believe it or not it's happening and I can't think of any mom who would want her child to take forever medication for any reasons.

Okay, okay, this post is not about dairy but eggs.
Eggs? are we cutting that too? no, absolutely not.
We are actually trying to get Leigh some animal protein too so we aren't but as I was browsing about looking for dairy free recipes I found this interesting piece of info.

If you are a Vegan and you want to cook something that needs eggs, try the below.
(got the infos from Marthastewarts.com)
I thought it's interesting :)

Egg-Free Baking
Eggs provide moisture, richness, binding, and leavening. You can use a variety of alternative ingredients in place of eggs.

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce = 1 Egg
Applesauce works as a binding agent and is a great substitute for eggs, oil, or shortening when you want to reduce the fat.

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda + 1 Teaspoon Cider Vinegar = 1 Egg
This is an old baking trick from World War II days, when eggs were rationed. It provides leavening in place of eggs. Add the baking soda to the dry ingredients and add the vinegar to the liquid. Wait to combine the dry and liquid ingredients until the very last minute, because the chemical reaction occurs as soon as the baking soda and vinegar meet.

1 Tablespoon Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tablespoons Warm Water = 1 Egg
Flaxseed works just like an egg, doing everything but leavening. It's moist, rich, and binding. Flax is often processed in facilities along with tree nuts or other allergens, so be sure to check with the manufacturer before consuming flax if cross-contamination is a concern for you.

Enjoy!

Leigh in HK

2012-02-16T20:18:00.001+09:00

These were taken at the mall but I love them all the still :)
Today she was suppose to draw anything she experienced in hong kong and guess what she drew.
Just me and her. Nothing else, just me and her standing next to each other.
Her teacher sounded a little disappointed telling me there must have been something more than that she experienced in hong kong?
But I thought that's how much I matter in her life! haha.
I am so flattered :p

flowers on my shelf

2012-02-14T16:27:00.001+09:00

There is this little flower shop right across to kumon school Leigh goes to.

So after her class we visited and I got a small bunch :)
They make me extra happy :)
I hope your day is extra happy.
Anything would do, even receiving a small thank you from someone :)
Have a lovely day everyone.

Happy Valentine's day!

2012-02-13T16:43:00.003+09:00

It's just a coincidence that I baked a dairy-free chocolate cake and when I cut, it turned out to be a heart shape.
This is what I did: I bought a muji cake set and copied everything within the recipe and replaced all dairies with non-dairy things.
(we are going dairy free at home)
Wishing everyone that a cupid visit them if they need one :)
have a sweet one :)

reading

2012-02-07T22:06:00.003+09:00

When I was a kid, reading was a delightful time.
I loved all sorts of mysteries like Sherlock Holmes to even Nancy Drew.
Then I went onto Jeffrey Archer, Michael Chrichton, the Bronte sisters and all...
I think my English lit teacher at school had a big influence on me getting me reading Dickens, Hardy, Shakespeare and equally well known poets and writers.. (and I have forgotten so much! T_T)
I am ashamed that I didn't really read much classic literatures after I grew up though.

That all stopped after I had a child.
I think I haven't read a single book while my girl was a little baby.
Though this is slowly changing as I am reading some more these days.

The past 2 weeks I have been in HK (back with my parents) I bought Jeffrey Archer's latest 'Only Time Will Tell'.
Oh my gosh the joy of reading :)
I missed that big time in my life.
I have to write about this book soon, it's going to be a huge hit if I am not wrong.

I still haven't found my way out to find the right book through digital book shops.
I can do that considerably well (way better) at a real book store.
I better learn to choose well on the digital bookshelf coz it's proofing way cheaper :)

Chinese New Year

2012-01-30T19:35:00.002+09:00

I have been in Hong Kong for almost 2 weeks now back home with my parents and Leigh and one of my brothers too.

Thus my lazy blog updates.
Will be blogging more soon.

Wishing everyone a fantastic 2012! the year of dragon (how cool is that!)
Kung Hei Fat Choi!

pict: tangerine pot tree with red lucky money packet (which unmarried receive from the married folks)

lunch box

2012-01-12T12:23:00.000+09:00

Another lunch box I made this morning.

• furikake steamed rice

• grilled crab sausages

• boiled quail egg

• grilled salmon in lemon juice salt and herbs

• eggroll with green peas

• grilled mentaiko

school arts & crafts

2012-01-12T12:17:00.001+09:00

From left to right:

1) *Leigh holding a giant sweet potato, I find water coloring is an extremely good choice for this drawing for the s.potato :)

2) Leigh's calligraphy (she writes 'kutsu' = shoes)

From left to right:

1) reindeer

2) owl

3) beetle

4) acorn

*Leigh is currently 5 (now = 2012) and she did these in 2011's fall to winter

long weekend

2012-01-09T16:10:00.002+09:00

Sat through Mon, we had a long weekend and we just lounged around, went to near by hot spring for a soak, and went to pick up acorns for Leigh to play but ended up bringing back a lot of dried leaves :p

Here are some pics :)

Love this pic of K and Leigh happy together :)

My love :)

Chestnut tree and empty skins...(what do you call these?)

Not so colorful... it was a cold day :( but Leigh had fun throwing around and crunching the leaves with her feet :)
Hope winter finishes soon (another 2-3 months to go...oh no)

2012 osechi

2012-01-05T11:58:00.000+09:00

Osechi are boxed new year food we enjoy every year at K's family.

I mostly help out the simple things, and my mother in law makes the rest and does her magic :)

cookies for Santa

2012-01-05T11:16:00.002+09:00

Leigh asking Santa for her toy on the eve.

We remembered to put out cookies and milk for Santa too :)

merry christmas! and a happy 2012!

2011-12-24T22:45:00.000+09:00

wishing you all the best during the holidays!

lunch

2011-12-22T18:27:00.000+09:00

Here is Leigh's omelette rice or widely known as omu-rice here.

Nothing special but kids like these things (and so do I)

flower globe kit from Martha Stewart

2011-12-21T17:59:00.000+09:00

Made these balls, simply put together the cut flowers to make balls and hang! :)
I had fun and everyone is marveling yet it was so easy to make!

I wish there was Martha Stewart's goods here too :D (My brother sent them to me)
I hung them right under a naked light bulb.

xmas sukiyaki party

2011-12-19T19:10:00.002+09:00

Oh my this is Leigh's 3rd xmas party and she is still going to have at least 2 more parties to go this holiday.
Oh well, it can't hurt :)

I am afraid, there will be lots of food and food only shots here :p

Okay, here we go!

Starter :)
caprese, cream cheese and ham with black pepper, salmon w/onion and lemon and the usual tofu mousse.

This is Leigh's starter. Salmon and cream cheese, boiled sweet pumpkin cubes, spinach in sesame dressing.

Tomato sukiyaki!

Table mini flower :)

Strawberries and blue berries (sprinkled some silver sugar)

Cakes, meat and wines were all brought in by the guests :D
Oh my God the cakes were amazing and the meat was really good but I am not going to start on that.

We had a blast chatting and laughing.
Holiday is indeed good time.
Merry xmas everyone!

flowers!

2011-12-17T12:18:00.000+09:00

Just received these this morning :D

Perfect to place it on the table for our sukiyaki xmas party tomorrow :)

nama furikake

2011-12-16T18:35:00.001+09:00

Furikake(hurikake) are usually salted dried fish or salted dried vegies/eggs.

There is such thing as fresh furikake also known as nama-furikake.

Today, I had extra dried fish an turnip leaves at home so I chopped them up to make nama furikake. I'd freeze them to keep and defrost to eat :) they are great to mix with steamed rice or to use in onigiri on a busy day.
A quick and healthy way to take care of my lunch :)

how to: chop up turnip leaves and stir fry with salt and oyster sauce with little pepper then put it aside. stir fry dried little fish with soy sauce, sugar and sesame seeds with little bit of sesame oil and add the cooked turnip leaves when done. Stir fry some more and done!

mikan

2011-12-15T22:09:00.000+09:00

It's mikan (tangerine) season here in Japan.
I find the smoother, thinner and shinier skin ones sweeter.
How do I know? I've been mikan fan since I was a little girl.
My hands and feet actually turned yellow from eating too much of these back then.

lunch @home

2011-12-15T17:07:00.003+09:00

I don't know when was the last time I fried things at home.

But I did for Leigh since she wanted to eat some :)
Yep, she finishes school before noon so I thought I'd make something she likes :)
Fries, salad, egg-mayo sandwiches, ham and lettuce sandwiches, potato salad sandwiches and soy milk :)

lunch box again

2011-12-13T19:16:00.003+09:00

This is the last lunch box I make this year.

The rest of the year, Leigh eats school lunch or she comes home at noon :)

• hurikake rice w/sour plum

• boiled cube sweet potato

• mini meat-balls cooked in tomato sauce w/mushrooms

• boiled brocoli

• octopus (shaped) sausages

• boiled quail egg w/seaweed (look! it's heart shaped!)

This photo is so yellow! should have photoshopped a little....

random shot

2011-12-12T22:35:00.000+09:00

Took these shots on our way home from getting some xmas gift for my family :)
Tis the season to be jolly ~♪

random lunch box

2011-12-12T14:56:00.001+09:00

Leigh has taken liking to umeboshi (sour plum) so we have a new regular

addition to the lunch box :)
• hurikake-rice w/umeboshi
• grilled chicken in ketchup w/black sesame
• spinach tossed in sesame sauce
• boiled quail egg w/ham belt

school xmas party

2011-12-07T18:13:00.002+09:00

Moms are putting together a xmas party for the kids at the kindergarten... and because of the nature of work I do, I am in charge of the crafty things...
[imagine what the patissier dad has to do! haha]
I am making a poster and candy bags for the party :)

Got these bag ideas from the website :) I remember my teacher giving us candy bags similar to this when I was a kid :)

I was asked to show them a sample but again, when my clients want something I have to make at least 2 you know... so here it is.

Thank goodness they went for Rudolf coz Rudolf is wayyyy easier to make.

This is still in progress. I got 3 pcs of A3 printed, they will be glued together later on.
After I got these printed I am used glitter glue to give it an extra sparkle.

It's taking me some time since I need the glue to dry up to do other stuff...

Will post the 'done product' later :)

play time!

2011-12-06T00:44:00.001+09:00

When Leigh is stuck home either because it's too cold or she has caught the flu, we do a lot of artsy things.

It's either painting with her water colors, with play-doh or the origami.

origami acorn & house

there she is trying to draw in the windows

daddy helps out with play-doh too

green and purple hamburger :p

important tools!

And of course season-wise xmas trees are a must :)

xmas is coming

2011-12-04T01:41:00.007+09:00

I was determined to enjoy this xmas but loads of things have come up and I have been just too busy setting things up, meeting the dead lines, worrying about things I should not worry about (life!) ..... not really enjoying the season... what a waste!

Come on, Pascale! Enjoy the coming 21 days! This won't happen again till a year later!

We put up the xmas tree really early since Leigh loves the sparkly thing :)

We have a fairly small one, I always wanted a bigger one but since this one is so easy to store, I have not been able to let it go.

Anyways, here are some shots of the tree with some decorations my brother sent over all the way from Boston! :) Thanks bro!!

kustasu [two]

2011-12-02T20:58:00.002+09:00

Since it was raining and almost pouring, the temp went down considerably. It was cold but that didn't stop us from roaming around the town. This is after all the hot spring town where the whole town is populated with hot spring owners and many hot spring hotels from years ago.

See the steam rising within the hills? those steams are from the hot springs and it looked very magical.

one of the many hotel entrances

there was steam rising from the rivers too

And hot spring ponds were seen here and there

In the olden times, people let hot spring into buldings then stirred the hot water with these huge sticks (while singing) and splashed the water around till it cooled down then let it flow to the bath tubs. Looks like hard work. (we visited the performing house to watch them sing and cool the water)

Then there were these hot spring feet soaks in a lot of spots and we dipped in our feet to get warm. I didn't believe it till I tried this but after sitting here for 5 mins, our body started to get really warm too and it was really nice.

And here is my girl, all smiles.

And we saw this amazing rainbow... I actually spotted rainbows 3 times on this day in different places... very rare exp.

Onsen tamago(eggs), I know my brother would kill for these. They dip the eggs into hot spring for some time and the eggs come out half cooked and really yummy as it soaks up salt.

And the building facade! absolutely beautiful, don't you think?

kusatsu trip [one]

2011-12-02T11:55:00.004+09:00

November came and went, I think the biggest event amongst the many were receiving our family photos and going on an onsen(hot-spring) trip to Kusatsu to celebrate Leigh's b-day :)

I get car sick easily and unfortunately Leigh is too so except for the travelling part, it was really precious time.

It was a gloomy day with cold rain but that didn't really bother us much :p
See the little house on the left? that's was where we stayed :)
Tsutsujitei consisted of rooms and little hanareya (little houses) around the main complex. I wish I took more photos around the ryokan (hotel) but due to rain we decided to just soak and relax :p

There was a main hot spring bath but obviously I can't show you a pict of that :p
But we did have our own little hot spring bath attached to our room which was a bliss. Feeling the soothing hot water surrounding the body and feeling the cold breeze in our face... I thought for a moment I should really earn more to enjoy this often. But now that i am back, I dont think I can earn more, haha.

We made sure Leigh had fun too.

She loves baths so you can see why we came here when Disneyland didn't work for us.

Night's dinner menu! it was kaiseki cuisine (Japanese traditional course)

There were many dishes that made our eyes go wow and more wows from our mouth... but this beef w/fried onion on beef and stewed radish was particularly good... and if you are there, you need to go with empty stomach. There were so many courses it could have satisfied a sumo wrestler (I think)

And of course the birthday cake!

After that, someone came up to lay out our futon for the night :)

Since 3 sets were lined up like above Leigh had a blast jumping and rolling about for a 'long' time giggling.

Tsutsujitei (the hotel) came recommended and we are really glad we stayed there, the staff are extremely thoughtful and friendly with kids.

I will be posting more on this trip :)

flowers!

2011-11-30T20:53:00.001+09:00

I got these last week :) The red hue was so bright and it almost had a hint of christmas to it. I went back to the flower shop today looking for the same kind and they were no longer available but in orange... (don't get me wrong, orange was pretty too)

family photo shoot 2011

2011-11-30T14:05:00.000+09:00

Every autumn we've been taking family photos :)
Amanda has been doing a wonderful job every year and she has succeeded in making us happy with another good set of photos. (yay!)

There were so many photos but here are one of my favs.

flower basket

2011-11-29T12:52:00.003+09:00

Leigh received a beautiful flower basket on her birthday!
Thanks so much Y! it's so lovely! :D

random lunch box

2011-11-29T07:49:00.002+09:00

Nothing fancy, just another lunch box :)

seriously...

2011-11-24T10:20:00.001+09:00

update something!!
(argh, no time! may be tomorrow...)

flowers from my desk

2011-11-16T17:03:00.000+09:00

Apparently they are still selling hydrangeas.
I thought they go away around August!

Still very pretty :)

toilet paper

2011-11-13T19:56:00.002+09:00

I made a mental note to change the toilet paper this morning since it was thinning out.
But it was one of those time when you thought it can wait.
Few hours later I was in the toilet again and saw that the roll was changed anew.
Hmmm..... it's just me and my little girl at home today....
I go have a sneak peek in the bin and I see a finished cardboard roll.
Oh my gosh, Leigh changed the roll!
(it may seem like nothing but to me it was huge)
She's never done it before... in fact, when there is no paper, she'd call out 'mama~!!!'. This is her another 'first'. I was so touched.

There's been less and less 'first time' these days as she is nearing her 5th birthday.
You are growing so fast and I love you even more now. I can't imagine how much I will love you as the years pass on. Thought I should jot this down.

K is in Guam (why am I here in the cold!) right now, wait till he hears this :)

drawing: by my girl (4 years and 11 months....)

sneak peek at NY kards

2011-11-10T13:43:00.002+09:00

My cards, oops I mean my kards are picking up speed in expanding in numbers.

Here is a sneak peak at NY kards for those who have little ones just born this year and is ready to let the world know about their arrival during this holiday.
They will be available from 14th Jan at my Etsy shop :)

Spread the word! [ 20%OFF discount code: PETITXMAS20]

http://www.etsy.com/shop/petitpostkards

Petitpostkards

2011-11-07T20:02:00.000+09:00

Here is my first Etsy shop showcasing some postkards I made!
I've started the launch with 5 christmas kards for now and will be adding on :)
I can't wait to design personal postkards and baby announcement postkards! :)

First 10 customers receive 30% off from their purchase.
Make sure you use the following coupon code to receive the discounts! :)
coupon code: PETITXMAS30

I will be waiting! :D

petitposkards coming soon!

2011-11-06T19:24:00.003+09:00

Coming soon!

from my terrace

2011-11-05T12:26:00.001+09:00

Recently I got rid of the bitter gourd on our terrace.

Mostly because the leaves turned brown due to the colder weather.

And so I ventured out and got plants hoping and wondering if they will last during the winter...

Love the color hue :D (finally got some herbs too)

And here is a pict Leigh and I put together. I helped her paint the blue sky and she drew in all the pencil drawings :) My girl is turning five end of this month, hoping to take her to Disneyland and K says he can go after his marathon run.

Do you really think that is possible? hmmmm... and it's his first marathon run~. hah~

flowers on my shelf

2011-11-03T21:26:00.003+09:00

a tiny vase with a couple of flowers brightens up my day.

again, autumn picks from the woods (Leigh's choice)

Did you know there is a new function on the blog?
try clicking on the photo and you will see :D

Halloween (again)

2011-10-27T21:25:00.000+09:00

But I had to share this ... saw it from here.

Halloween

2011-10-25T11:04:00.001+09:00

It's around the corner, and here are some really adorable ideas from marthastewarts.com :) that I thought I'd keep in my blog to look back when I need any ideas :).

I think I can make this easily

love this idea!

Can it get any cuter?

Not sure if I can pull this off but still interesting!

This I can do right away :)

love the color scheme!

yep! autumn's here

2011-10-20T00:27:00.002+09:00

All leaves are changing colors, they are falling, and one more, there are persimmons everywhere in this town!

Look at the leafy carpet!

and persimmons (kaki) getting all ripe..
(photos were taken from Leigh's school back yard)
And my girl is going to go to the sweet potato field to dig them out tomorrow... all autumn activities make me sort of melancholy.
People are talking about christmas preparation... oh my, where has my time gone to? it's all happening too fast!!

kawagoe matsuri

2011-10-19T19:12:00.001+09:00

This is one of the biggest carnival/matsuri and one of the last this year in my area.

It's a huge matsuri and it will probably take you a whole day to walk through all the stalls it has to offer. We walked about 3-4 hours enjoying the food and the music and we didn't see even half so you can imagine.

Here are few shots from the matsuri :)

It was raining so the blue tent whilst waiting for the rain to stop.

This guy at the stall was grilling and flattening the squid at the same time, amazing.

There is my girl with K at the matsuri. Notice the old Japanese buildings in the background. They are all preserved from the Edo period, it's a really pretty town to visit. (there are no ugly electric poles/phone poles where the old buildings are)

I should have taken more picts but these are all for now :)

Hope you are having a nice week.

chinese medicine

2011-10-14T19:37:00.001+09:00

I had these when I was young, it's really really bitter.
Imagine boiling lots of dried leaves and roots for hours and you drink what's left... ewwww.
They taste bad but you know, they work for me.

We go to an old chinese medicine shop, and there would be an old man (usually 50-70 years old) who would feel your pulse on your wrist with his fingers and tell you what's wrong with you. He'd look at your eyes and your face coloring too but they say the docs usually read your pulse and can tell what's wrong where and prescribe all the right roots and leaves for your bitter medicine drink.

While I was in HK I visited the doc since I was getting tired easily, after drinking these for a week, what do you know.... I am back to normal again and even mother nature visits me regularly now. Amazing :) (women would know what I am talking about)

Walls are fitted with these glass jars holding all sorts of dried things. Even bugs!

No idea what these are.... med ingredient...

And you can buy dried mushrooms...

Your hot bitter drinks are ready in these flask bottles (written on the pink papers are names) You can either drink it there or pour it back to your own flask and bring it home to enjoy (ur...right)

the shop and my girl waiting for me to finish getting my prescription.

People are crazy all over the world going organic, this is 'real' organic med :)

goya chanpuru

2011-10-13T21:35:00.001+09:00

Well known Okinawan dish involving bitter gourd, tofu, eggs and pork :)
It's one of K's favorite and I used the last of our terrace grown bitter gourd.

sports day

2011-10-08T23:21:00.003+09:00

So it happened and it's over already!
Leigh's new kindergarten (since April) is certainly different from the last.
Here, moms are super involved with the school events.
I saw at least 30 moms in uniforms helping out the whole day, running around making sure the parents and the grandparents who came to watch their kids had fun and comfortable time.
Yes, this is the land of service, no doubt about that.

Anyways, I had fun watching kids show us the dances, running the tracks, relays (I may sound boring but the drama is really intense when 3-6 years olds compete, I'd say it's not that different from the Olympics if you allow me to exaggerate some)

My princess did all that and made sure she went about in her own ways. She'd study the flag in the middle of the dance... T_T then come back and dance perfectly as if she wasn't absent.... or look at her fingers (see if her luck changes) and then return to what ever event she was in.
Lot's of people were laughing but that's okay.
That's how she is and we love her just the way she is.(though I was very surprised Leigh was the only one wondering about... everyone was sooooo good with remember the moves and all, I wonder how other kids are taught at home)

Anyways, let's start with food :)

It would not be my blog if there was no food. Leigh wanted me to try and make rabbit rice ball so I made some black and white ones :)

There is Leigh doing her matsuri dance, she is the girl with blue ribbons at the very back.

On the far right, Leigh just started to run (go girl!)

Kids threw in those little sand balls into the tall basket and the team that had the most balls in the basket in given time won. (I wanted to try too)

There she is with her class teacher :) (with gold medal that every one received, hehe)

And this was drawn when we got home while I was changing.
I love the little ant in the corner (and everything else)

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend! :)

Halloween decoration

2011-10-07T19:19:00.000+09:00

It's still many days to come but if you are celebrating it you must wondering what to wear or what your child will be dressed us... or at least start asking what he/she wants to wear.

Here in Japan, they are celebrating it wrong. It's all about shopping and decorating.
No tricks or treats unless you are amongst Westerners.
Oh well one can't have it all! haha

I saw these images on this is glamorous and had to share for some Halloween inspiration. It doesn't have to be black and orange! :)
The use of gold here is so stylish :)

Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T21:09:00.004+09:00

I woke up this morning, sent out my girl to school and when I got home and opened my facebook page and there were at least dozens of 'RIP Steve Jobs' posts.
Oh my god, what I feared really happened...
Just like someone said, I am surprised at how much sadness his death has brought me today. I never met him, I heard a lot about him. But why?

My father's office used apple when I was a little school girl and I had a kick at trying to type a letter out of it when I visited him. Then I moved on to design college and owned my first macintosh. Ever since then not a day went by without a mac in my life. Now my girl plays games on my MacBook Pro.
What a tool. What a man to bring us such tool.

You know one of the things that I like about him is that he didn't finish college :)
See, these things don't matter if you got what it takes.

I wish he was my mentor, see what he said:
The second paragraph especially touches me with the problem I struggle at the moment. He just answered the question that I had in mind the way I was hoping to be answered.

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech, where he addresses his mortality. An inspiring speech, excerpt from Observer.com.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

You will be greatly missed.
Rest in peace Mr.Jobs.

p.s. My Neighbor, Steve Jobs http://bit.ly/oWYWoz - A great read, written before his death but after his resignation

sports day, coming soon

2011-09-29T13:50:00.000+09:00

I hope my eye infection will be gone soon.
It's sort of swelling up like I am ROcky after his ring fight. Not a pretty sight.
I can tell people are wondering if they should mention it or not when they talk to me.
People, it's okay to say it looks painful or if you want to wish me well. lol

Anyways, sports day is coming soon. Next weekend!
And Leigh is practicing dance moves for the dances she is doing for the opening and the closing ceremony. Can't wait to see it though I peeked at her when she was rehearsing it today at school (she was standing there looking around while everyone else was dancing... um....)

We will see.
Still it must be exciting as she is drawing a lot of running rabbits lately.
Here is one of them :)

maki sushi

2011-09-27T23:19:00.005+09:00

This is an easy dinner, simply get sashimi ready to be wrapped.

I got negi-toro, salmon, squid sashimi, maguro, sweet shrimp sashimi... mentaiko, eggs, sausages, ikura... and some vegies including shiso.
(you can do it with anything, avocado, mayo, salmon, your favorite sushi goodies will do, then wrap with some vinegar sushi rice and seaweed)

Every wrap was good but I particularly liked squid and mentaiko :D (here it is)

And guess what Leigh said 'oishii!!' (yummy!)

Just like the rabbit is saying here. I wonder what this attachment to rabbits means to her.

mommy has too much time

2011-09-27T10:50:00.001+09:00

With the current news going on (I don't even have the gut to spill it out here) mommy had to get some positive vibe going on in the air so she woke up extra 20 mins early (oh my, that was hard!) and made Leigh a a bear themed lunch box :D

May be I just have too much time.

those sausages on the right are suppose to look like crabs :p
orange bear is kamaboko (fish cake) and the more zig-zag bear in the left corner is only cut (sliced) ham and kraft cheese with eyes made with seaweed :p

few picts from my weekend

2011-09-24T21:36:00.000+09:00

postcards

2011-09-23T23:20:00.003+09:00

Some post cards Leigh drew :)

It came to my attention that she draws best on her drawing papers with pencils rather than smaller papers or any other papers with any other writing equipment other than pencil. Interesting...

And I did this beside her ... not the best drawing but made me feel like a little kid again :) this drawing has everything Leigh likes, hehe.

food and weekend

2011-09-20T11:57:00.003+09:00

So much went on and I barely had the time to turn on the laptop.
More like I don't open the laptop when Leigh is around . :)
Weekend was barely spent at home. (lot of playing going on here)

Here are some picts I took over the week & weekend.

Made pizza at home! it was only simple margarita but it sure was good! :D

Some appetizers I made for my guests on the weekend.
On the far side (left photo) you can see sea urchin (on bargain!) with ikura (dashi jelly sauce).
Jelly melted before I served it so I am making a mental note to make a harder jelly sauce next time. On the front you see turnip salmon, this dear friends, came out as a real success, I have a feeling I'd be making this a lot from now on. And on the right is 'tofu mousse' Oh my gosh, this was a hit. everyone loved it!

Simple cheese platter with grapes and radishes, oh and basil deep.

We had gyoza party but hey, cheese can squeeze in anywhere for me.

We had a nice bottle of wine from our friend too. (thank u!)

How can we end a meal without any sweets?!

Especially when we had a birthday girl?

fruit cheese cake and loads of grapes :)

All gifts from the guests!

I had these little flowers randomly on the table.

AND amongst out wonderful guests, was our favorite, a 1.5 month old baby girl!!!!

She is sooooooo CUTE!! what a darling, I thought I'd melt when she slept in my arms. And you can also see a glimpse of super fast moving daughter of mine, hehe.

We were out in the woods for walks and I found this dragon fly (in summer?) on a rope, it was beautiful. Though blazing hot the sky was amazing.

We took Leigh to her first mallet golf putters.

She gave up on her 5th hole.

But she was dressed right! haha

random shot from my desk

2011-09-12T22:39:00.000+09:00

They lasted 2 weeks! '2 weeks'!

calligraphy

2011-09-12T14:02:00.002+09:00

I have been a bad mom, I let Leigh play a lot of computer games.
Well, ones on facebook. It's a game called 'Pet society' and basically you can dress your own animal-like character and decorate its house. Somewhat like playing with animal barbie on the screen. (And she even bought some online credits without me knowing! and of course she didn't know what she was doing either... now I am in the process of getting a refund.... T_T)

Finally, I banned it all together. Leigh was mighty disappointed but she has now accepted that it's not gong to be within reach. I was gong to let her play half an hour in the weekend but she didn't even ask for it so I let her be.

Anyways, so other than playing online games at home she does other things at too.
She plays some at the park but with the blazing hot sun burning us at 33C, I can't stay out more than an hour under the sun playing on metal playground gears, as I start seeing yellow blotches from heat.

What do I do at home with Leigh? we do origami, LOTS OF drawings, play-doh, Lego, Sylvanian family play and a new comer 'caligraphy-ing'.
I really didn't want to do this... can you imagine the black ink flying everywhere??? my couch is WHITE!!

Oh well, we do it now anyways. Leigh is starting caligraphy from next month at school and she is required to use her right hand for it. Why? because they believe the kanji(japanese -chinese characters) are made for right hand writers... each stroke starts from the left so that righties can write easily....
I am told even the lefties are required to use their right hand for this class (still ... why? why? why?).

Leigh is going to throw some tantrum at school for sure on this as she is a lefty (and to make her and her teacher's life a little easier) I did an experiment of letting her use her right hand to write.
As expected, she can't write so well with her right hand and she keeps passing her brush to her left hand. But she seems to have fun writing with her brush smudging everything into black around her :)
And if she becomes ambidextrous, I could not be happier.

p.s. I used to take chinese calligraphy class every Saturday when I was a child (Gosh I really did not like the teacher as he went 'tsk!' at every end of a stroke and it drove me crazy!!!) and my teacher would have killed me if I held the brush like Leigh is holding on the photo, hahaha

getting ready

2011-09-12T13:47:00.000+09:00

I was getting ready for dinner and had all the plates and bowls out I was going to use and took a shot :)

And when I look around myself... it's the same color scheme all around me....

I am so boring, everything is so monotone... but it's the way I like it.

grapes

2011-09-12T13:43:00.000+09:00

Leigh got some grapes from her school farm.
They tasted like grapes that we had many years ago.
Remember those that's tad bit sour yet sweet unlike the the really really sweet (and delicious) ones we have today at the supermarket?
It's organic so I can't complain and Leigh was so proud of herself bringing me these :)

the pretty

2011-09-07T13:18:00.001+09:00

something pretty to cheer myself up.

photo from decorology

lunch with a friend

2011-09-03T14:24:00.000+09:00

Had a friend over for lunch :D and I made what I used to have on my table since I was a little girl ... and it happens to be one of my favorites. Chicken noodle!

On the side I had some turnip kimchee, pickled sesame leaves.
And whipped up some yaki-gyoza and wasabi-mayo pumpkin salad.

Our friend brought us some delicious salty chocolates and wonderful tea (oh and a adorable panda plush toy for Leigh) but totally forgotten to take picts... they are almost gone now... :p

cream puffs

2011-08-29T17:03:00.005+09:00

Made a dozen cream puffs today.
(or do you call them choux-cream in your country?)

In Japan, most people seem to call these puffs 'choux-cream' :)
whatever the name, they are one of kids' favorites!
(and the same goes for us all too)

Leigh made sure she had one after they were done and she kept asking for one more. I seriously think having more than one is not too good.... imagine the amount of sugar..... though I think I will give her one more after dinner :D

Secret to baking them: I cheated and used some ready mix for the cream puff bread :p hahaha (how else do you expect me to succeed on my first try!)

summer post

2011-08-26T19:52:00.001+09:00

While we were in Kobe visiting grandpa and grandma we were spoiled by nature.

We stayed at this little log house where a river was running near by with the whole forest surrounding us in Himeji.

Leigh and her cousin Shion had a blast playing in the river catching fish and grilling them afterwards. Though Leigh was eager to catch some the fish were a little too (smart) and fast for Leigh to catch them. Do not be despaired, Shion caught quite a few with his bare hands!

Above picts are taken at grandpa's balcony where he is growing so many different kinds of vegies as his hobby. See those giant sponge cucumber? that wasn't the only gigantic thing in his balcony, there were so many vegies he managed to grow and they were really huge! :p

Nights were spent playing hand held fireworks and this year Leigh was willing to hold it all on her own! (though I had to remind her like every 2 mins to hold it down, not to shake it and not to hold it towards anyone... nag nag nag, yak yak yak)

Then on another day, we were at an hot spring/onsen that had a pool so we took advantage and cooled in it for hours.

And ended with an amazing dinner delivered to our room.

Leigh had a special children set with her favorite kitty fish cake!

(we did all this as a group of 12 people)

Sadly we had to go home after a busy yet fun 4 days in the Kansai area :)

project bed:corner

2011-08-21T15:22:00.006+09:00

See that bed guard? the square thingy? I made that! *proud grin*
We've moved into our new pad since May and I still have thousands of things to do to the place. Mostly because I have to make time and I also need to consider the budget :p Ah the budget! will this ever 'not' bother us?!

I've waited too long to start on Leigh's room... I have to say the challenge is the size.
Like many other houses in Japan, the rooms here are so tiny! If I have 10 things to place in her room, I have to cut on 7 items. See? not easy.

Anyways, I needed Leigh's bed side safety guard and I could only find those that has an insert between the matress and the bed and Leigh's bed actually have legs attached to her mattress so these guards were not going to work for us.

Hmm... what to do? I know! make a guard and nail it to the bed!!

So I went out and got some wood boards, sawed, sanded, painted and nailed them together :D

I must say I am super happy with the round sawing I did complete with sand paper and all!
Okay, okay, the corners don't meet, the bottom line is longer than the top and all it spells out imperfection if you really look close but I am happy with it :D
(and k thought I was a genius!)

Everything in the bed corner are things from Ikea and Nitori that I threw in together. You probably see a strange white long box covered in white sheet... those are actually 4 deep boxes put together and I have yet to wrap them with choice of my fabric... that would be another post after a few weeks I think... doing this really slow slow now.

The most important thing is that Leigh likes what I am doing so far, she loves the mosquito net the most which cost me like $10! haha :p

The paper hanging by the window are made by K, hehe.

(wait a minute, the wife saws wood and hubby cuts paper?)

balloon vine seeds

2011-08-20T20:38:00.003+09:00

Okay, another post with the green curtain and I won't go on about it.
Other than bitter gourds, I got balloon vines too and surprise, surprise!
The seeds in the balloon vines are so cute!
The little green balloons turn beige from green as they age and when I open them up, each of the balloons carry 3 black seeds resembling somewhat of pepper balls and each of them have a white heart on the seed!!

Can you seed the heart?
I wonder if I plant them in the Spring, they'd bloom just as well :D

bitter gourd

2011-08-19T22:33:00.002+09:00

The title says it all, we are picking our bitter gourd from the green curtain in our balcony literally everyday. :D
They are almost half the size of those sold at the grocery store but I am not complaining :)

water play

2011-08-19T14:19:00.001+09:00

We were at this mall in Nishinomiya (the only day we had off from all the river play and hot spring day after this... will post about it later) and found this fountain that comes out from the ground randomly and guess who had a blast playing and getting all wet?

I always carry a set of change of clothes for Leigh so it wasn't a problem... with the heat we have this summer, I really can't blame her for wanting to join in the water fun.

Just looking at the water gush out made me cool too, wish I had one of these at home :p

New York Fries

2011-08-18T21:07:00.004+09:00

I must say this is the king of junk food and I mean it well!

That's fries with sour cream, cheese, tomatoes and spring onions... I am missing it all over again.

Would you like gravy on your fries? cheese? sour cream? what ever! just order it at New York Fries!!

Sadly we don't have New York Fries here in Japan but they did in Hong Kong.
Yum! sometimes junk food is your best comfort food :)

Oh and it was a treat!! :D yay!

see you in a bit

2011-08-09T18:01:00.000+09:00

I will be taking a break from blogging for some time.
May be it's the heat, may be I just need to recuperate a little, may be I am a little busy because I have one more trip coming up :p

Anyways, I am coming back so see you later!

from my window

2011-08-04T22:05:00.003+09:00

This is what I see from my room window at my parents' place.

The rock mountain is suppose to look like a lion looking afar (i think they are pushing it a little) and it's something I've been so used to seeing since when I was little... leaving in 3 days now.

Oh Disneyland!

2011-08-03T18:49:00.002+09:00

Oh my what a trip this was this time. It was so burning hot!!
We go to D-land every time we come home and I'd say this was the hottest experience ever...
But we always go because the access is easy and D-land here is still small enough for Leigh to enjoy in half a day and go home :)

The only down-sider is that some of the visitors here are not so used to international standard of considering what is polite so you might get a tad bit annoyed if you care about these things.
I sort of do but Leigh doesn't (who does when they are 4) so it's okay I guess. Afterall I only go to D-land for her :)
Here are some picts!

Train map showing the last stop is D-land :D

Just arrived!

We never miss a pict with Mickey and this time were patient enough to cue up to take with both Mickey and Minnie! :D

Merry-go-round (pretty!)

Buzz! (from the parade)

aww.... twinker-bell!!

And the princess trios :D

The fragrant harbour

2011-07-31T22:45:00.008+09:00

Looking over HK side from the Star ferry.

Why did I leave this place? oh right, I got married.

That ship there, that's Star ferry that travels from Kowloon to HK island and vice versa a numerous times everyday. An experience I've been enjoying ever since I was little. Took these shots when I was in TST to pick up a few stuff while my parents looked after my girl tonight.

up, up and away!

2011-07-28T12:23:00.002+09:00

We arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday night and I still have a few more days to enjoy here :)
My poor girl threw up the minute the taxi stopped at my parents' place.
Somehow we took 12 hours from door to door... I guess that was a little too much!.

Anyhow, I am seeing loads of my school friends and that's really bringing flood of memories I have been almost forgetting about :)
oh happy ones too!

Photo: at Narita airport... trying to open up a great big coke can :p (it's actually a vending machine)... and Leigh forgot to bring her fav. Mickey and we had to make it up with a Kitty they were selling at the airport.

balcony curtain green

2011-07-22T12:25:00.003+09:00

I am growing bitter gourd (goya) and balloon vines on my balcony.
That's since the beginning of May.
Now they've grown considerably (thanks to humid hot weather we had past weeks) and they are bearing fruits!
Nature makes me marvel at their magic in action.
All I did was water them in the mornings!

I wonder when I can start harvesting the bitter gourd, are these gourds smaller than normal gourds since they are grown at home? hmmm....

pic1 (most left): my balcony

pic2: bitter gourd

pic3: balloon vine

my love, mickey

2011-07-20T12:31:00.004+09:00

I have a huge bunch of Leigh's new drawings I was going to upload but I think I will do this piece first because I was really impressed with this one just last night.
What did you think this drawing is?
Yes, Mickey Mouse! :D
Not bad for a 4 years old! :) (am I just being too blind?)
I guess I have to make another trip to the D-Land this year too :)

This is one of her recent attempt of drawing Mickey of course, before this there were many that did not look anything like this and I really didn't expect much. Of course I have been showing her how to draw few times for her to follow (Leigh's request of course) and she is getting pretty close!
I wonder what her drawings will be like next year, so looking forward to it.

Lesson learned: practice does make things much much better :)

leafy~!

2011-07-18T19:07:00.001+09:00

Got these plants (8 of them!) and much more plants as house-warming gift the other day... (the friend who got me bunch beautiful soaps ... if you remember it's a post I did some weeks ago... I received bag... desserts... oh my, someone is spoiling me)

Anyways I have them lined up on my window seals by our apartment corridor.
If you visit us and you'd recognise our place right away if you've seen this one.

bon-odori

2011-07-16T22:06:00.003+09:00

We went to bon-odori from school today.

[pict: Leigh and mommy me ]

It's a summer festival dance where kids are dressed in yukata and jinbei and they dance to tunes and drums.

They get to play stall games and eat cotton candies too :)

A perfect Saturday for little ones.

As for me, I wore my yukata too and I guess I looked okay, not particularly feeling pretty but hey consider my age!! :p
[pict: Leigh clap dancing ]

yukata

2011-07-14T21:01:00.001+09:00

Leigh had this yukata since last year and I had to lengthen the hem and voila we can have her wear it one more year :p

At our apartment ground floor...

These 'geta' (kimono shoes) is a hit this year for her. This morning I had to tell her she can't go to school wearing them and she was in tears ..

Time really flies... she is so big.... I miss my baby girl or at least stay the way you are!! yet I can't wait for her to grow up! haha
Since she is so tanned all the time, red seems so much more appealing :)

photos anyone?

2011-07-12T22:02:00.001+09:00

About a year and half ago we met a wonderful lady called Amanda by lucky chance.
She is a professional photographer who's got an eye for 'moments' and she really knows how to capture it.
Then last year she left Japan and went back to her home country making me think "oh no...when I just thought we have our family photographer" :(

But despair doesn't last long, few weeks ago, Amanda sends us an email saying she is visiting Japan for some photo shoots! I of course jumped at the chance and booked with her right away for our yearly shoot.
So here I am sharing this news if you are living in Tokyo (Yokohama) or close by, she is available for your family shoots during end of Sept to some time in Oct.!

I think she travels around the US at times too and you might be able to catch her else where too. You can contact her here.

I am posting her poster so that you can contact her directly.
It's definitely going to be something to treasure and you might even end up thanking me :) Absolutely recommended!

Here are some photos shoots Amanda did for us before (got loads more but these are the ones I used on the blog):
One our first shoot with Amanda in the fall
(one more)
Two baby kimono shoot 1
Three baby kimono shoot 2
Four last fall family photo

flowers from my veranda

2011-07-12T16:38:00.001+09:00

I don't have a lot of flowers in my veranda as I would like.
Mostly because I didnt really tidy the place and I need to really get to that work then I guess I can get some more flowers to fill the place.
Doesn't really help travelling in the summer and winter either, who's going to water the pots when we are not home?

So far I have 4 pots of Hydrangeas (and I have cut down everything since they have finished parading beautiful petals so they are like bald leafy pot) and a pot of this... this lavender looking flowers that I have no idea what they are called which is also trying to go away... :(
Before I forget their glorious days, let me post their picts. See you pretty things next year again.

Though I have a curtain of leaves about to bare Goya and some other pretty things :) Will post on that later on.

mentaiko udon

2011-07-11T20:18:00.002+09:00

Do you love mentai-spaghetti? I do.
And I made it with udon for my lunch. Result? delicious :)
Simply make the sauce by mixing mentaiko, egg, milk, butter, soy sauce and sake :)
And mix with cold udon noodle.
Garnish with cut seaweed and spring onion.

donburi night

2011-07-07T15:43:00.002+09:00

Donburi (rice bowl with toppings) is a great way to solve your dinner problem when you don't want to cook too much but you want to make your family happy.
Well, it seems to be the case here in Japan.

On the right is 'maguro tsuke & tororo-don' (maguro marinated in yuzu-kosho and soy sauce) with tororo (grated sticky yam?). On the right is salmon and avocado donburi also marinated before hand. (Leigh had it with a bit of Japanese mayo over it)

Made some sushi rice and placed it over the rice, then ta~da~! done! so easy!
(garnish with cut shiso)

Served with miso soup and some salad :)

art project w/Leigh

2011-07-07T00:18:00.003+09:00

Bought a white Japanese fan and asked Leigh to draw. She drew 2 rabbits :) and some fireworks in the background. She had to do it a several times after erasing the drawings since she was not used to drawing on bumpy surface but she finally got it in the end :)

She colored in the rabbits' dresses and the fireworks with crayons and I colored he background in blue with caran-dache's water color pencils. I am in the midst of painting water over it :)
I think it's coming out pretty well!

flowers from my table

2011-07-05T16:31:00.000+09:00

Got these cute cut fresh flowers last week and they have been making me happy :)

The little green leaves from mini pots under the peonies are gifts from a friend :)

burning hot!

2011-07-03T14:32:00.000+09:00

It's here! summer is here! hot hot hot and more hotness around.
The humidity sky rockets... I don't have to run 100m to look all soaking from sweat.. 10m is enough.... eeek... not nice.

We got a bigger pool for Leigh to play at the balcony this year.
I wish we had a garden so that we can place a much bigger one but the reality is... different... Or... a real private pool at home would be nice, haha.

Still Leigh enjoys splashing away :) good enough for her to enjoy a cool couple of hours at home :)
Stay cool everyone!

sabon!

2011-07-01T12:01:00.003+09:00

I am having a hectic day and before I shoot into the shower, here is a post.
I received a huge bunch of goodies from a friend the other day.

I will show off the other stuff next time but one load are these pretty beautifully fragranced soaps!
I love lemongrass soaps :) (or any other that smells heavenly)
Here they are!

Lunch box for Leigh

2011-06-29T16:34:00.003+09:00

Another lunch box from last week...

These days I go for the easy way out, hee hee.
(either simply sandwich it or roll it up!)

Here we go :)

Nutella sandwiches, potato salad, pumpkin tempura, ham cube and our favorite, the laughing cow cube :)

Ham and cheese sushi roll, kidney beans in sesame sauce, shrimp and asparagus stir fried in mayo, boiled sweet corns.

That's it! 3 more weeks to summer holiday!

petit enjel +ladybird+ [2011]

2011-06-25T12:25:00.001+09:00

My life have been very very hectic, can I get any busier?!

Anyways, here is a quick post...

Petit enjel got new little ladybird badges! (yay!)

Love the vivid red on the ladybird :)

I have been the laziest on my petit enjel website and barely been able to update petit enjel page on facebook... shame on me... but if you are lucky few who gets to see this and are interested in purchasing one or simply want to say something about it, pls drop me a line! :)

asari takikomi gohan

2011-06-17T20:25:00.003+09:00

That's a long title to spell it in alphabet :p
It's actually rice cooked with short neck clam.

You could just eat this clam rice without any other dishes if you wanted to. It's that good :)

Here is how:
1) wash and get rid of sand in the clams

2) wash rice and put aside (for 30 mins)

3) add sake, ginger juice and clams in pan and heat under mid fire. once the clams have opened take away the shells and keep the inner clams and the soup.

4) add clams, the rest of the ingredients, washed rice, clam soup, and water (water + soup should be equal to whatever amount of water you usually use to cook rice)

5) cook as usual using your rice cooker

6) done! garnish with mitsuba or spring onions and thinly sliced ginger.

ingredients

rice

3cups

short neck clams (asari)

400ｇ

sake (cooking sake)

50ｃｃ

ginger juice

1/2 small spoon

dashi (fish stock)

1table spoon

soy sauce

1.5 table spoon

mirin (sugar water)

1 table spoon
(if you don't have mirin, mix sugar and sake by 1:3)

salt

1.5 small spoon

ginger

pinch

mitsuba

pinch

flowers!

2011-06-15T16:20:00.002+09:00

I do love roses but I don't usually buy them... I don't know why... my hand just don't pick them up. But not today. When I visited my favorite flower shop there they were the most fragrant roses I have ever encountered. They really smell like a bottle of rose perfume! I only got 2 giant stems but already my dining room is filled with the fragrance. I wonder what makes these smell so good :) (or should I wonder why others aren't giving off the fragrance these do?)
I am simply pleased and really pleased.

Oh I also got a stem of these gorgeous hydrangea which were on sale. One stem I say but it had about 3 big bunches of round blossoms that I simply could not resist.

All of these cost me a thousand yen but this thousand yen will be enjoyed for the coming week!

oya baka

2011-06-14T22:09:00.000+09:00

I love her smile, this is one of those 'oya-baka' post...
Just lightens up my day. :D :D

Japanese are so modest they have to have a word for those who dote on their child too much with love :p

'oya baka' literally means 'stupid parent' but it doesn't mean that rude :p

It's mostly used for parents who love their child too much and assume their child is the best in anything, or the cutest, prettiest, smartest, just simply being really really proud.

Japanese tend to be modest all the time. So when one praises someone's child the usual answer is 'oh no, she/he isn't that smart, cute, cool etc etc... and they try to mention their child's weakness to balance out the praise' and everyone who praises know that the parents don't mean it but try not to be too 'oya baka' by saying their child is good at certain thing.
And if one does praise their own child too much they'd be seen slightly foolish ... haha.
Coming from non-Japanese family this is a very hard thing to do because I am used to hearing 'I am so proud of her because so and so, blah blah blah' (especially when my dad likes to boast about his kid in front of ppl very very much, haha).

Here it's not like that. They do say things like that behind closed doors to their children but it's very often unheard by non-family members.
I wonder if I will ever perfect this act of politeness :p I try so that ppl are not uncomfortable around me :p

Leigh's lunch

2011-06-13T10:08:00.001+09:00

Now that she can handle more serious food :) Leigh finished about 80%.. not bad! :)

-Honey pumpkin in butter
-Sausage
-Quail egg
-Chicken nugget
-Brocoli

rice: cooked in sesame and salt and had egg yolk cooked and sprinkled half the rice. Other half is sprinkled in grilled salmon flakes.

Okie, everyone have a great week!

friend's visit and her luminous LUMIX GF1

2011-06-09T10:19:00.004+09:00

Had a friend over yesterday and we chatted away. :)

I should do this more often but not get drowned within the scheduled life.

She brought along her Lumix GF1 and let me play with it a little. Oh my gosh, it's so cool! I am so saving now.

made korean sushi roll called kimbap :) for lunch.

random pict I took with her GF1

this is so random... flower I had on my table... I wasted a lot of her battery and spaces on her memory card.

And this! was one of the many gifts she left behind. Baw Loo! a toasting pan! (may be you dont call it a toasting pan... not sure what you call it)

I tried it this morning, it's heavenly with cheese!! Must blog about this next time.

I love this pict that she took of me and Leigh on our way back home. Leigh was so busy finding holes on the ground and was going all over the place and I was eager to go home and thus the pict, we were keep going for different directions (and confusing our friend the way she was suppose to walk)

Had doughnuts for tea :) (she had snow of sugar on the floor by the time she was done and of course all over herself)

So this is what it looks like when I piggy back Leigh :) Nice to have someone hold the camera once in a while (K is not a camera guy so I am the one clicking away most of the time)

This is a shot of Thai-biscuits she got me, she kept saying this is really cheap but it tasted really good!! once in a while I think I will miss it. :)

I don't know how my friend took this yellowy pict... I wonder if it's an effect, I like it :)

crawfish

2011-06-06T23:06:00.002+09:00

Leigh had her trip to near by stream to fish for some crawfish today from school.
We were told to make fishing rods from sticks so K made one from wooden stick and a thin rope with dangling dried squid. Thank goodness I have him around, I'd have never made it right if it was my task.

So she went off with her back pack carrying her lunch and water bottle. Bucket in one hand and her new fishing rod on the other.

(I had to make double trip to the school since I forgot her rain boots)
I was pretty doubtful she'd be back with anything but I was totally wrong!
When I went to pick her up, she came grinning with her bucket that had a crawfish in it. She says it's a new pet. I am not too crazy about it since someone told me these craw fish gets really stinky in time... urgh... we will see...

photo1: Leigh about to go to school with her rod
photo2: our new family.... the crawfish... not sure if it's a she or he... K will find out.

My brother just told me that they eat crawfish in the States :p I wonder if they do here... and where...

random baking

2011-06-06T13:27:00.008+09:00

Baked these little chocolate chip cupcakes for Leigh to bring to school for her snack :)
Thanks for the cups mister R! :p

school and friends

2011-06-03T19:24:00.003+09:00

photo: My little girl about to go to school :)

She is getting used to her new school finally.
Her teacher told me that today, she went to feed the rabbits with 3 other girls :)

(they have unlimited supply of lettuce in the class room for the rabbits... sometimes I wonder if the rabbits are fed too much)

Her teacher said she sees Leigh playing with other kids more and more.
This small news makes me happy because I was told (some time ago) that the past month, she's been playing alone all the time. I am not surprised, changing school can't be easy but here she is happy to go to school and finally making friends too :)

p.s. she is wearing her school pe uniform with school's summer straw hat :)
oh, and her school's signature yellow bag :D

my little artist

2011-06-01T23:05:00.003+09:00

Here are some recent drawings Leigh's (4 years and 7 months old) been doing.

I marvel at the improvement one can go through.

So looking forward to what she will be drawing from here on :D

(see picts from top left and clockwise)
-bunny in the bathtub with a duckie

-bunny and Leigh

-surprised boy (by the size of the bug) & ladybird

- sun & spider (I think it's cut! sorry)

-bunny with loads of balloons

-cow & bee

-Leigh in bed (notice the window with moon)

-boy riding the rainbow

-bunny & fish bowl

- girl sheep

-rainbow & sheep

-bunnies on the toilet

-snail holding a balloon

-chick & chicken

-bunny on a balloon

-sunny day

-foxes holding hands (ellie looking on)

-miss mouse

-ellie and bunny playing soccer

-ellie (= elephant)

I love all your drawings Leigh, I titled them as you told me what they are.

How pretty and fun your drawings are, they will always be in my little museum.

Love you everyday :)

Lunch box for Leigh

2011-06-01T20:50:00.001+09:00

Another lunch box for Leigh... I keep forgetting to take picts though I make them twice a week.
Here is one :)

-Pumpkin mayo salad
-Strawberry
-Boiled brocoli
-Sauteed sausage and mushrooms
-Mini salmon rice balls
- Oh, and laughing cow cheese cube

tomato sukiyaki

2011-05-23T21:36:00.001+09:00

You must be thinking 'tomato?!?!'
My answer is 'yes, tomato!'.

One of out guests from the lunch party brought us some sukiyaki beef as a gift, so we digged in on the next day :)

Anyways, this is how it's done.
Peel off tomato skin (by immersing the tomato in hot water) and simply place the whole tomato in the sukiyaki pan while you cook your sukiyaki as you always do.

dinner table...

vegies close up

ready to put on the fire

dig in! :)

The difference is, tomato makes the whole sukiyaki experience less oily and it gives off a light tomato flavor in the sauce but nothing like tomato sauce. After all, it's only one tomato :)

We learned this on a tv program and I was really skeptical when K said we should try it. what a waste of good sukiyaki meat if it wasn't good! now I am glad we tried it. :)

name tags

2011-05-23T19:57:00.000+09:00

Leigh's school cotton name tags for everything from lunch bags to all school clothings, hankies and you name it.
3cm by 7cm it looks some what like what Nazis required from the Jewish... that's a nasty way to put it but I couldn't help thinking it that way :p

the blue pen ink disappears when sprayed by water... real water mark!

she did all those!

embroidered! :D

I was going to need at least 20 of them and I really didn't want to make them... such tedious work! cut the cotton fabrics out and fold all sides and sew them up? 20 of them? and that's minimum! I mentioned it to my ma, and she made a little over 30 of them and 10 of them had embroidered names on them. Oh my Gosh, such saviour!! thank you so much!!!!! :D :D :D