Learning to Write Chinese

Having come from a Kebangsaan School background, I do not read or write chinese. Not that I am complaining, but since my pre-school kids are having chinese (or Mandarin to be exact) as a subject, I decide I should also learn some too. Luckily, I can speak and understand chinese, mainly due to using it at home (Hokkien), watching the Singapore TV dramas when growing up in Johor (Mandarin) and being forced to speak Cantonese while living in KL/PJ. Now I can even understand Hakka, cuase my hubby's family is Hakka, though I can't speak it yet.

So here I am writing basic chinese in my big square excercise book. I figure if I learn 5 new words a day during the weekdays, I will be reading and writing chinese like a pro soon. NOT.... I don't seem to remember them after I wrote them down. Signs of getting old I guess.

But I will persevere. I have to know more than my pre-schools kids. I am their mother!

Cooking & Baking Time

I have always enjoyed cooking, and now with 3 kids, I enjoy it even more. The thought of my little ones eating the wholesome meals I prepare for them is really enough to drive me to cook more often.

On and off, I will try something new that I think my kids will enjoy like the vegetable dahl recipe which I got from the web. Here's a picture of how it turned out. We all liked it that I have cooked this recipe twice. The roti is the frozen ones you get from the supermarket.

I also enjoy baking since I became pregnant with my baby girl in 2007. Some kind of instinct, I guess. And once again, Chinese New Year is near and cookies baking time is here again. Am planning my weekends to enable me to bake a few types of cookies. At the same time, I am planning to bake and decorate my baby girl's 1st birthday cake which is in the end of Feb. So I will be trying my hands at making fondant this weekend. Looks like my weekends will be really busy....