My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

On Saturday after work, we attended my cousin’s daughter, Monique, 1st birthday. It was held in a hall of a club.

When we arrived, the girls were immediately invited to join the crowd at the stage with other children for some entertainment by a hired clown. Both didn’t even complain and just sat down among strangers and watched; while Daddy and I joined my other family members at a table.

Girls were taking care of each other, and I was very glad to see Zaria participating in games and dance without any of us adults coaxing.

Here are the photos of the day.

Zaria watched the clown intently when he was doing some magic tricks (the stern look stayed on the face for a long time).

Zara and Zaria were watched over by Sam or Ally.

Girls joined in action dance with the clown leading, and also went on stage to dance together with the other children.

The clown actually caught hold of a few people to dance on stage alone, and even put a mask on them. Zara was one of them, and she got the Whoopi Goldberg’s mask, and without hessitation, she danced away. (Gosh, she’s a brave one)

Zaria loves the toy that Zara got for going on stage.

Monique, the birthday girl, waiting to cut her cake.

The entertaining clown.

My cousin’s girl friend.

And Zaria, finally smiled and laughed, when she made a mess with her cup cake.

Saturday was a busy day for us all. Besides working (yes, it was a working weekend for me), we attended the girls’ sports day in the morning and my cousin’s baby’s birthday party in the evening.

The girls have been practicing for the sports day events in school daily in the morning for a month. Daddy, who’s the one who sends the girls to school told me our girls can really run and do all the sporty stunt. I was looking forward to see for myself.

We arrived at the rented hall and met with a good crowd, had some breakfast and waited for the event to start.

Zaria all prep-ed for the event. And you can tell that she’s in Red Team (and so was Zara)

The sporting events started after some speech giving, and good that they kept that short.

1st event, the kids have to run a short distant, crawl under a bench, run another distant, u-turn back and run to the same bench, crawl under it and run back to the team.

2nd event, the kids have to hold a bean bag with their chin, run a distant, u-turn back and run back to their team.

3rd event, the kids have to hold a ball, run a distant, u-turn back, and run back to their team.

4th event, the kids have to use a hoop to drag a ball a distant, u-turn back, and then drag the ball bag to their teams.

I have to say I was very impressed with both girls. Both could really run, and have good coordination. When Zaria returned from the crawling-under-the-bench event, her teacher and some parents came to tell me, “Your girl is really good, and she’s so fast”. Some other kids needed the teachers’ help and guidence, while Zaria did that on her own, and she’s the youngest in school. *beaming with pride*

And Zara runs like the wind (actually I call her Dash, after the boy in The Incredibles). All our daily trip to the park, and getting them to race in the park for exercise does help.

My only regret, our lousy camera couldn’t get good photos with the girls in motion. (Just see how crappy the photos look like).

(Luckily these came out ok, but that’s also because they were going slower)

After the 4 events, they have a short break.

They had so much fun when the principal asked “Do you want more”. Zaria replied loudly, “YESSSS!”

The parents then joined in the fun.

Mummies formed a human chain, and passed rubber bands with straws. See in 5 minutes, who passed the most rubber bands.

Parents joined in baloon fight, see which team remained with unburst baloons.

And then there was also family drawing competetion.

Although Red Team came third place overall, everybody got their prizes, and everybody had a fun day. Well done, school! And Bravo Girls!

I made soy milk or soya bean again on Monday. The amount of soy milk I’m consuming will probably give me nice skin even without using any expensive night cream, and so I hope.

I thought I’ll share the recipe, so that those who are interested, especially Malaika’s Mummy, can try it out.

Soak Soy Bean overnight.

Put soaked beans into blender, and add water. Ratio : 1 cup soaked soy bean : 3.5 cup waters

Blend the bean and water mixture until smooth (~1 min high speed). Put the mixture into a sieve (I used a cloth one as it’s quicker to sieve, but you can also use the normal wire sieve), and squeeze out all the milky liquid into a pot.

What is left behind on the sieve is Okara. Keep it for making homemade burger, or other dishes or just use it as fertiliser.

Add screw pine or pandan leave for added flavour (I heard you can also add black sesame or vanila) and put on stove to boil, stirring occasionally. Add sugar (or you can also make sugar syrup separately). Turn off the fire immediately once the soy milk starts to boil, and it’s done!

A bowl of hot soy milk. It looks a bit darkish yellow here because I used brown sugar instead of white.

The girls prefer it chilled of course.

Btw, I tried it with black bean (and I skinned it so that the soy milk didn’t appear greyish), and I find it’s creamier and tastier compared to the normal soy bean (which I didn’t skin).

Notes (added 8th Aug) – Pei Sze left a comment to say the soy milk must be boiled for 25mins at least and have the beans skinned. I’m not sure about skinning the beans, I guess that’s your preference. However I googled boiling and this came back, “The cooking time is important, as raw soybeans contain a factor known as a tripsin inhibitor. Essentially, this means that the protein contained in the beans cannot be properly assimilated by the body unless the beans are well cooked. Soy milk should be cooked for at least 25 minutes from the first boiling time. “
So take note. And I’d been feeding the family something that they cannot digest.. baaah.

Last year, my RM99 cake mixer broke down on me half way creaming icing for the cupcakes I made for Zara’s birthday celebration. Since then, I’d been asking myself the question, should I get another RM99 cake mixer? Or should I go for a good one?

I’d been looking at the Kenwood models, wanting to get one which is made in Italy or England, but I found the RM2xxx ones are all Made in China. No way I’m going to pay so much for a China made machine.

I asked around those baking gurus, most of them are using KitchenAid, and if they were not, they planned to get one in future. Then I saw the KitchenAid Artisan mixer in Tropicana City, and that’s it, my search for a mixer is over. KitchenAid it is! Fully Made in USA (except the bowl which is from Korea), it’s beautiful, and comes in various colours.

We didn’t get it immediately because Singaore is selling almost RM700 cheaper, and we were wondering if we should make a trip down south to get the mixer.

We made about another 4 trips to the same shop in Tropicana City looking and touching the machine, waiting for a price reduction (and contemplating at the same time); even Zara started questioning, “Why do we keep coming back to this shop?” and she even learnt, “Not everything I want, I should get. You like the cake mixer so much, you also didn’t buy, right?” 🙂

Anyway, last weekend, I told Daddy, enough of waiting, I want to get it!! And we did! So happened there was some promo running, and we got another RM100 reduction on top of the promo price.

And here is my new toy…… (oh by the way, Zara insisted that I should get the pink one, but we didn’t listen to her, and chose a colour that matched our Oak-coloured kitchen).

What a beauty, don’t you think?

I tried it out yesterday, and baked a butter cake using a simple recipe from Donna Hay.

Put all ingredient into the bowl and mix it.

So easy, so quiet, so smooth…

Baked it for an hour +, and viola.

Daddy is expecting some bread to be baked soon. o.O”
Tell me if you have a good and easy country bread recipe to share.

The girl one day just declared, “I’m not getting married to an Italian any more. I’m going to get married to Ling Jing my boy friend.”

o.O”

Me : “Who’s Ling Jing?”
Zaria : “Ling Jing is jiejie’s boy friend la, in kool (she always leave out the ‘s’ for words with blending sound starting with s).”
(oh.. so even Zaria knew about it)
Me : “In kool?”
Zaria : “SSs-kool. Ling Jing is jiejie’s boy friend in school.”
Zara : *smiled shyly* “He’s from the 6 years old class. I like him.”
Me : “Why? Is he handsome?”
Zara : “A little bit. But he’s nice.”
Me : “Why do you say he’s nice?”
Zara : “He always smiles. And he always greets all the teachers in school.”
I was wondering if this was the boy which had lost some teeth and was always grinning.
Me : “Is he the boy with some teeth missing?”
Zara : “Some of his teeth fall off already.”
(I’m rather glad she likes some one for his ‘goodness’ rather than for his looks).
Me : “Did you tell him you like him or not?”
Zara : “Ya. I told him he’s my boyfriend.”
Me : “What did he say?”
Zara : “He just smiles.”

Hmm… I thought it’s just for that one day she thinks she likes this Ling Jing fella.

Then she drew this.

Zara : *shyly* “Mummy, look. I draw (drew) Ling Jing and me. See. He has flowers for me, and he’s holding my hand”
o.O”
Me : *tried to sound cool* “Nice picture. Why is he thinking about himself and you are thinking about yourself?”
Zara : “No. He’s thinking that I love him, and I’m thinking he loves me.”
o.O”

Zaria not to be left out, also said, “I also have boy friend you know. Benjamin is my boy friend”

o.O”

I think this girl really has the potential to be a lawyer.

Zara sometimes see a nice wedding scene on magazines or her TV show, and she’ll talk about getting married.
Initially, she said she wanted to get married to Daddy’s boss, because Daddy’s boss is extremely handsome (so mummy told her). However we told her by the time she’s old enough to get married, Daddy’s boss will be too old for her.
We offered her alternative. She loves pasta and cheese and hence we told her she may want to get married to an Italian.
Few days later, she said, “Mummy, how am I going to get married to an Italian?”, she sounded very worried. “I cannot speak Italian.”
It seems she’s been thinking about our proposal. o.O”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I told Zara over the weekend, “My eye sight is getting bad. I think I need a pair of glasses made.
Zara casually asked, “Did you get your book yet?”
Huh?
I answered, “I need a pair of glasses, not a book.”
She replied, “Did you get your book yet? You know, a book to give you instructions to make a pair of glasses?”
Oh, she probably thought glasses (which no one in the house wear one, thank our lucky stars), can be made following instructions from a book just like cake making or biscuit making.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While checking out my SIL’s new house which is bigger, and more spacious, Zara sulked and said, “I don’t like people’s house to be bigger than mine you know.” and then she added “I don’t want them to pity me (and my small house).”
o.O”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s always hard trying to get Zara to finish her homework before dinner. Yesterday, while we were going to the park she told me, “I like to have fun first, then later, do my homework.”
I teased her, “In that case, maybe mummy also should have fun first, and do my work later. Then maybe mummy’s boss won’t be happy and won’t pay mummy the money to buy food or clothes for you.”
She considered it for a moment and replied, “Mummy, don’t listen to me ok? You follow what your heart tells you to do.”
o.O”

Long long time ago in England, I had tasted Linda McCartney’s soy burger, and I absulutely loved it. They didn’t come cheap, and was more expensive than the meat burgers, but that was one of the few indulgence I allowed myself.

A week ago, Daddy used his credit card points to claim some voucher, and bought a high end Philip blender for me during the Harvey Norman sale.

Since then, I’d made 10 cereal milk (十榖奶) and also soy bean milk (豆奶) a couple of times at home. The first time I made soy bean milk, we used the pulp which is called okara as fertiliser. On my 2nd attempt which was on Saturday, I kept the okara, with the intention of making soy burger with it.

For lunch today, that was what I did. Here is what I’d used (in estimation):
1) a cup of okara
2) one big onion diced
3) less than half a cup of corn kernels (freshly scraped out from a cob)
4) a stalk of spring onin diced
5) a stalk of coriander diced
6) a lightly beaten egg
7) some corn flour and flour to made the patty less runny

Mix them all up in a bowl. Add soya sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Add extra flour a little at a time so that the patties can be formed (but expect it to be a bit on the soft side).

Fry the patties in a pan. (The 1st one Jelly actually deep fried it like an Indian wadai, and after that I had to take over the frying)

And viola, our lunch.

It was quite good, probably as delicious as Linda McCartney’s. *ahem*

Lunch was served with a cup of home made soy milk.

(The girls had left over pizzas instead, since they are not keen on any meat burgers, I didn’t think they will like the soy burger, what more, it was my first attempt. However, I will definitely feed them this the next round).

Btw, I have been getting contradicting information about soya bean. Is it good, is it bad? Does it give you health benefits, or actually harms you? I really don’t know. As I like the taste, I’ll continue to make them.

In a recent trip to the mall, when I brought Zara to the toilet, she pointed to the gents and said “Penis goes there.” And then to the ladies, “Pet Pet this way.”

o.O”

My in-laws have just moved to a house ~2km away from ours (and leaves me many tales to write about). After picking up the girls from school, on our way, I sent some packed char siu (Cantonese : BBQ Pork) rice over. My FIL was working in the garden topless when we dropped by.

Zaria : Why yeh-yeh never wear baju (Malay : clothes)?
Zara : Because he’s feeling hot. His body is very hot, so he took off his clothes.”
She added further : His penis is not feeling hot, that’s why he didn’t take off his pants.”

o.O”

Remember this photo? Which I posted here when Zaria was 15months old?

Her love for my belly button hasn’t reduced even at 30 months. She doesn’t really ‘depend’ on it for comfort, but she loves to poke her finger in my belly button, or wriggles her finger in my belly button.

When she watches TV and if I sat next to her, she would put her finger in my belly button.

At night when I lay on my stomach to read to her, she’ll try to lift my shoulder up (and sometimes make the dramatic sound as though she’s exerting herself trying to do that) so that I’ll lay on my side, and then she’ll have access to my belly button. While I read to her, this happens :

Sometimes when we’re out and about (in public places), she would lift my t-shirt to reach for my belly button. After many times of telling her not too, now when she has the urge, she’ll say, “In public cannot poke poke belly button right? At home only right?”

Normally at bed time, I’ll tuck them in then I’ll go for my shower. At times, Zaria will tell me, “Can (I) poke poke your belly button first?” So I’ll lay next to her and let her poke my belly button for a while.

Nowadays she even wants to control what I can do with my belly button. If I appled lotion after my bath, and the belly button caught some of the lotion, she would tell me off, “Why got cream in your belly button? You cannot put cream in your belly button oh-kay??!! Next time don’t put huh?”

If I wear a dress, she will tell me, “Why you wear dress? Now I cannot poke poke belly button already.”

If I go to sleep at the same time with the girls, with Zara on my left, and Zaria on my right (yes, we’re still co-sleeping, with Zara on her own bed parked next to ours, and Zaria on our bed in between us); Zara will ask me to hold her hand or put my hand on her tigh (as long as I’m touching her); Zaria will ask me to turn towards her so she can poke my belly button. Imagine how uncomfortable it is for me? With me lying on my right facing Zaria, and my left hand stretched towards the left to touch Zara until either one fall asleep?

On our way home from school, just for the sake of discussion, I asked the girls if I can have another baby.

Here is a gist of how the conversation went.

Zara : NO!
Zaria : Cannot
Me : Why?
Zaria : *very quickly*You can only carry me. You can only sleep with me. Oh-kay?!
Zara : If you want to have another baby, then you must get married again, then I will have a Step-father. I don’t want to have step-father (I have been telling her you have to get married then only can get pregnant).
Me : I don’t need to get married again. I’m already married. Remember or not, when mummy have mei-mei, did mummy get married again?
Zara : Oh.. You just went to the doctors only right?
Me : Yah.. So, can I have another baby?
Zara : NO!
Zaria : NO!
Zara : If you have another baby, sure you will have a boy one. I don’t like boys. So naughty.
Me : Maybe it’ll be a girl. Then you’ll have another mei-mei.
Zaria : I don’t want mei-mei. I don’t want baby.
Zara : I got mei-mei already. You have another baby, then you will have no time for us any more.
Me : You two can play together right?
Zara : But we still need you to play with us. If you got baby already, then you will forget about us.

Not that I’m considering having another. I have closed shop. But it’s nice to see their reactions. 😛