Tuesday, November 5, 2013

一個罐子跟兩杯咖啡

Someone shared this to me recently. It is a very meaningful article and hence putting this here in my blog to remind myself. It is true that we have been busy for whole life, but are we focusing on the right priority in life? Family, health and loved one are more important than work, house, car or tiny little things in our life. But somehow we forgot about this and tend to spend time on things that less important or not urgent...

這一天的哲學課,教授站上了講台,他卻不發一語,只是從講桌底下拿出了一個空的美乃滋瓶罐。
接著他拿出了一袋高爾夫球,他把整袋的高爾夫球塞進了美乃滋空罐裡;然後教授就問學生同不同意這個罐子已經是滿的了學生們當然是同意。
接著,教授又從桌子下拿出了一杯小小的鵝卵石,他慢慢地把鵝卵石往罐子邊倒邊搖, 不一會兒所有的高爾夫球間的縫隙,竟也都填滿了鵝卵石。
這 時,教授又問學生同不同意,這個美乃滋罐子已經是滿了?學生當然是同意。可是,話才剛說完,教授又從講桌底下拿出了一杯細沙子,教授又用同樣的方法,邊說 邊把沙子填滿了鵝卵石之間的小縫隙。教授又問了大家同不同意?這回罐子是真正的滿了?同學說應該是全滿了,沒有空間了。
想不到同學才剛答完話,教授又從講桌下拿出了兩杯咖啡來,開始徐徐地往美乃滋罐子裡倒,直到兩杯咖啡全部到進罐子裡,一滴也不剩。倒完咖啡後,教授笑著對同學們說:『現在的美乃滋罐子才是真正的滿了啦。』同學們也跟著笑了起來!就在整個教室的歡笑聲裡!
教授說話了:『你們知道我今天做這個表演,是要告訴你們什麼嗎?我是要用這個美乃滋罐來告訴你們一個道理,一個關於我們一生的哲理。這個美乃滋空罐就是我們的人生,高爾夫球就是我們生命中的一些大事情,例如:上帝、家庭、小孩、朋友、健康,還有你的摯愛。
生命裡沒有那些小鵝卵石或沙子是沒關係的,可是要是缺了這些大事情,我們的生命根本沒有意義。小小的鵝卵石就是我們生命中的其他的事情,例如:工作、房子、車子等等東西。至於那細沙子就是我們生命中的小事情,那些細微不重要的瑣事。
今天我的表演...如果是一開始就先把細沙子灌滿美乃滋罐子,那就根本沒有空間好放入高爾夫球跟鵝卵石同樣地,如果我是先倒鵝卵石,那也是會沒有空間好給高爾夫球。
我們的生命就是這樣的,如果你盡是把寶貴的時間花在細微的瑣事上,你就不可能有時間去處裡重要的事情。
所以,我們該多花時間去注意那些,會關係到我們快樂與幸福的事情,多跟我們的小孩一起。多去陪陪我們的父母、祖父母,多些時間給家人!多注意自己的身體健康,不要擔心家事做不完,不用擔心房子還沒粉刷,不要擔心花園還沒整理,我們會找到時間來做這些事情的!先多花些心思在那些重要的大事情上吧!

生命只有一回,我們把事情的輕重緩急跟優先順序弄清楚,生命才會有意義 ,教授說到這裡,有個同學舉手了...教授,那兩杯咖啡又代表著什麼呢?
『我很高興你問這個』教授回答道:這兩杯咖啡就是要告訴我們,不管我們的美乃滋罐看起來是裝得多滿,我們總是可以有空間跟朋友一起享受杯咖啡的!

我們的一生似乎總是這麼的忙? 那麼多的事情要處裡,似乎是一天的 24 小時總是不夠用?如果你還是這麼想的話,想想『一個美乃滋罐子跟兩杯咖啡』的故事吧。




Thursday, September 19, 2013

I miss Oregon

We recently relocating to California for temporary and have been here for almost 2 months by now. One day when I was driving back to apartment, I suddenly missed the rain. I haven't see any rain in California since we were here. I used to hate Oregon's rain especially during fall and winter. I described that period as 'darkness' because the day is short and it always cold and wet outside. So I love late spring and summer as the 'darkness' is over and I will have sunny as well as dry day. Surprisingly that I miss the rain in Oregon now!

I miss my kitchen too whenever I read people's blogs on cooking/baking. I miss my kitchen appliances like bread maker and mixer. There are so many recipes I wanted to try out, but I only have a few basic kitchen gadgets and ingredients here since we will be here for temporary and wanted to keep everything as simple as possible.

Chun and I always joke that we both are "kampung" people since we love country style life compare to city life.  We prefer a slower pace and more relax life with a lot of greenery and friendly people. I remembered when my brother in law who staying in LA visited us in Oregon 6 years ago, he described Oregon as enchanted forest for vampire (that's why Twilight was filmed here) and he felt like sleeping all the time because of the cloudy, rainy and colder weather. Haha... California is more crowded. More people, more cars and more houses every where. It reminds me of Penang because there are so many apartments here and cars parking on both road sides due to lack of apartment parking. House price here is also crazy like Penang.

I used to think Oregon has too much rain and wish I could have a California weather in Oregon. But now, I think I can give up the sunny weather for the rest of the goodness in Oregon. Oh Oregon, I miss you so much!!!


Thursday, September 5, 2013

Loke-Xuan's 3rd birthday

This week is my son's 3rd birthday. Time flying, it seemed like yesterday when I was in labor room giving birth. Can't believe that it already three years. Loke-Xuan is growing fast. He learnt a lot of new words, can communicate with us with full sentence, can recognize some letters and numbers and he is fully potty trained. :) He is so lovely and is the best gift I ever have in my life! 

We had a simple birthday celebration for him with his uncle who visited us over the long weekend. We got him a chocolate cake and went to Target to get birthday candles where he saw a cute little birthday hat. Surprisingly he wanted to wear it, he usually don't want to try new stuffs. So we were more than happy to get it for him. 

Loke-Xuan loves the cake and the gifts from us, my brother in law and Wai Yee. 

Here are some of the photos we took:
Enjoying his chocolate cake

Thanks Wai Yee for sending him all these gifts. He loves it so much!

Thanks to my brother in law for the teddy bear and clothes for Zai Zai.

I love this photo!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Steamed chocolate cake for Father's Day

For this year Father's day, we didn't have any special celebration. We spent family time relaxing in a park and playground. After that, we went to ColdStone for an ice-cream feast since the weather was so warm.  I also made a cake for Chun. Initially I wanted to make pandan layer cake. But it actually involves more works and I have to give my hubby a rain check to do it in future, probably for his birthday. I did a steamed chocolate cake for him instead and did some chocolate frosting to put on top of it. The cake turned out to be really moist and soft. Chun was very happy and satisfied with the cake. He ended up taking more than 1 piece and started to complain that he gained a lot of weight. :)

Anyway, happy father's day to my hubby. Thank you for being a caring daddy taking good care of Zai Zai and me!

Here is the recipe for the cake:

Ingredient:
180g canola oil or butter
180g castor sugar
200g evaporated milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten using fork
100g all purpose flour
50g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Methods:
1. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla extract and oil/butter in a saucepan. Stir in low heat till sugar is dissolved and butter is mealted. Turn off fire and set the mixture aside.
2. Add beaten eggs into the slightly cold evaporated milk mixture and stir till well mix.
3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Then pour the eggs mixture over the flour and stir still well mix. Cake batter should be runny.
4. Heat up steamer.
5. Lined and greased a 8 inch round baking pan.
6. Pour the batter in the baking pan and place the pan into the steamer. Cover loosely with a piece of aluminium foil.
7. Cover the steamer and steam over medium heat for 45 mins or till skewer came out clean.
8. Cool the cake before putting the chocolate frosting.

Frosting:
100g chocolate, chopped into small pieces
30g milk

Method:
1. Double boil the chocolate and milk until chocolate melt. *
2. Pour onto the cake and chill the cake.

* Add more milk if the mixture is too "thick" so is easy to apply on the cake surface
Steamed chocolate cake with frosting

My son can't resist to try it using his hand!

daddy and zai zai - precious in my life.


yummy

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Strawberry picking

Last Saturday, we brought my son to a nearby farm for strawberry picking. This was the first time for us to u-pick strawberry even though we had been in Oregon for a while. Usually we got a lot of rain in spring. So instead of picking own strawberry in a muddy field, we usually opt for a easier solution - buy the ready pick strawberry from grocery stores. This year the weather was so sunny and the temperature was just nice for a outdoor event. Most important, the field was dry. :)

We reached the farm around 9:30am and the car park already almost full. We were lucky to get a wagon for us to put our stuffs and have my son sat on it. He thought it was a train and enjoyed the ride. There were two type of strawberry: Hoods and Valley Red. We can't really differential these two species. They are so sweet and fresh. They really different compare to the strawberry we brought from grocery stall. My son couldn't resist and ate a few strawberry as we picked it. We should have wash it before letting him tried but he can't wait. 

We picked about 4 lbs of strawberry and each lb costed $1.50. So cheap! After done paying, I asked my son if he likes to pick strawberry. He said: "Yeah, can we come again tomorrow?". Hahaha...



I made strawberry swiss roll with the strawberry we picked. My son loves it so much! Yummy...

Spread the whipped cream and strawberry before rolling it.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

After 3 days...

After 3 days, this is what left. My son loves this cookies so much. When I showed him this empty jar and said I will do more next time, he jumped and said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah!".



Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Oatmeal coconut pecan cookies

I usually prepared some healthy snacks at home for my son and hubby. Both of them sometimes will need to snack before bedtime. Instead of eating crackers, I thought homemade snack probably more healthy. So far I did granola and biscotti. I usually kept them in a jar which only lasted for 3-5 days before my hubby and son finished them. 

Another snack idea I have in mind is oatmeal cookies. I have not bake this for a while. I think the last time I baked it was when my son was few months old. The reason is I was the only one like this oatmeal cookies. Chun thought that this cookies is too dry.

I decided to try again today but add a different ingredient such as coconut in it. I toasted the shredded coconut so it will be more aromatic. Chun came back for lunch and tried this fresh from oven cookies and he loves it! Let see how long this snack gonna last.

Ingredients:
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, melted.
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 2 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup of toasted shredded coconut
1/2 cup of pecan nuts

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress.
2. Melt the butter and place it in large mixing bowl. Stir in brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix till well combined.
3. Add in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and shredded coconut. Stir until blended. Stir in oat and pecan nuts.
4. Use a spoon to drop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake till golden brown. It takes about 15-20 minutes.