why making food cute / fun for kids...

Recently I have a few friends who've been browsing through my facebook photos, asked me the same question, "How do you have the time to make cute breakfast for your son every morning?!". So yes, after Renzo entered Primary School since January 2016, I've been preparing his breakfast every morning and some time around the Lunar New Year period, I challenged myself to make cute "Monkey" breakfast to welcome the year of Monkey. Then I decided to get more adventurous and started to make his breakfast cute and fun. You can view all pictures on my instagram page @breadfastforkids

And here are the reasons why:

1. To give him a wonderful childhood memory
My mother isn't a breakfast person so I remember my dad being the one who wakes up early to prepare breakfast for us since young. My mother-in-law doesn't cook so Daddy Chan's breakfast is usually just 2 pieces of bread with jam. Well don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about anything and our parents are the greatest in our eyes! What I am trying to say is, I want to create this memory for the kids that although mummy needs to work and cannot be at home with them, I still try my best to cook for them whenever I can, after all, happiness is home made when comes to food, at least that's how I feel. Now when I ask Renzo about what makes him love mummy, one of the things he would definitely mention, is that Mummy makes yummy food, especially cute breakfast for him!

 

2. To allow that extra 10-20 minutes of sleep
Nope of course I am not referring to myself, I need to wake up 30 minutes earlier every morning just to prepare Renzo's breakfast. But that allows Renzo to sleep in for an extra 10-20 minutes at least. His school bus comes at 645am and I usually wake him up by 620am, so he has maximum 15 minutes to finish his breakfast. Parents I know of mostly complain about how hard it is to get their kids ready during their morning routine. And Renzo being a rather slow boy in doing everything, will probably take 30 minutes to finish his breakfast, if I do not serve him something that can perk him up instantaneously.  By giving him a "wake up surprise", usually he gets excited and more awake to bolt down his food very quickly.

3. To make up for not being able to make lunch bento
I started off by packing his lunchbox for recess, but after a week, he told me he prefers to buy food at the canteen, which is definitely a great news because everyone knows that packing food is really not easy. Especially if I want something better looking, all the cute stuff I put inside his lunchbox usually cannot survive till recess. So I told myself to make those cute stuff for breakfast instead, which is indeed a lot easier as I do not need to worry about him getting an "angry bird pizza" without eyes, or a "Olaf" egg that looks like "Baymax" in a frozen themed bento.

4. To get him appreciate life more
Yes this is like a bonus point which I didn't expect initially. Our morning chat during breakfast gets more and more interesting nowadays when Renzo started guessing about what ingredients are being used for making the character. And once in a while he would make little twists here and there.
He once turned a plain pancake into a "cookie".

He once turned a Donald duck into a "rooster".

He enjoyed making burger for himself and Daddy.

He borrowed a cooking book from library to try out different recipes.

"自己的生活如此苟且，孩子怎么会有诗和远方的田野. 一个没有幸福感的母亲，怎么会培养出有幸福感的孩子。漫漫人生路，若是没有一颗快乐心，那孩子的未来会成个什么样！一个阳光快乐的妈妈，就是一座鸟语花香的天堂。谁也没有资格，在孩子心里种下灰色的种子"
I believe providing him with nice food is a way to demonstrate my attitude towards life in front of him.  So that he understands with a little bit more efforts, we can turn simple bread and butter into something beautiful and lively. Although it's tiring, we can do it as long as we are willing to. That's the way to cultivate resilience and perseverance in children. I do wish he could get influenced by my positive vibes and apply that to his daily life too, so he will always strive to perfect his work and life.

And, just a few tips to share with those mummies who might be interested to try:
1. If you want to make something elaborate and intricate like these:

You need at least 30 - 60 minutes, nope I am not kidding but cutting Nori (seaweed) can get harder than expected if you want certain kind of result that even stencils can't help to achieve (eg, Elsa's eyebrow). So I would say it's not worth the efforts especially if you are new in making cute bentos. By the time you are done, food are usually cold.

2. Nicer looking food = more healthy. Sad yes but that's just the truth. I already avoided processed meat like sausage and ham, even Nutella is banned although it's one of the best ingredient for making easy and quick bento, and kids would sure love it but nope, after reading about how unhealthy it is, I stopped buying it completely.

I made these toast arts for one week, and some of them, like the Captain Jake and Ice Cream cone, were made with food coloring. Seeing the colors being added into food, is quite... gross.. I totally do not want to make them once again, unless I am willing to source for natural food dye options using fruits and vegetables.

3. The easiest ingredient to work with in my humble opinion, are white bread, breakfast buns, seaweed, hard boiled eggs and fruits. Quick ones take about 10 minutes so it's not hard to make, the hardest part is to think about what to make, often I tell myself to repeat my menu especially when my creativity as running thin at time. So when I started with Disney Tsim Tsim theme, it kept me inspired for a good 3 weeks easily.

Will I continue when school re-opens in another week time? Of course, why not?!

Renzo's development - Month 09

Renzo has just turned 9 months a few days ago, and this time, again Win brought him to Polyclinic for the checkup, there's no injection this month, but a series of assessment tests done to test his physical development. And our boy has passed all his tests with flying colors!
09 Month vs. 08 Month
Weight: + 0.4kg
Height: + 1cm
Head Circumference: +2cm (vs. 06 Month)

I start to get used to the fact that I am not able to bring Renzo to clinic as usual. And now Win becomes the one who spend more time with our boy instead. He has really sacrificed a lot for our boy, he's been working half days for quite a while, reason being that I am too busy with my new job and not able to come home on time every night. Now it is my turn to receive Renzo's photos at work from his proud father.
And on last Thursday night when I returned home after work, I was amazed to see that Renzo was able to recognize quite a few objects. He knows where is the fan, the light, his potty, his alphabet chart, cousin Cherry's photo, Mickey mouse wall sticker and the Kangaroo on his Numbers poster. We've introduced Renzo to a number of objects since a few months ago, and now our efforts finally got paid off. Of course we must thank Ayeaye for her great contribution as well, I am sure Renzo learned Mickey Mouse sticker from her at least.

Major development
1. He has a total of 6 teeth (top 4 and bottom 2).
2. He is able to pull himself up to standing position while holding onto something.
3. He is able to recognize a few objects (as per listed above).
4. He tried egg yolk on 8th May for the first time, no allergy.
5. He tried cheese on 9th May for the first time.
6. He cruises when we hold his arms.
7. For the very first time, he slept from 9:50pm to 5:30am without waking up in the middle on May 14 (too bad that was the one and only one time).
8. He tasted chocolate ice-cream and durian (super tiny amount).
9. He is able to pass objects from hand to hand.
10. He is able to throw objects using his hand (he seems to have more dexterous left hand, well, like daddy like son, LOL)
11. He enjoys "crab walk" in his walker

Renzo's diet is pretty healthy so far (well yes you might think I've been feeding him too much, in fact I am not, and I also make sure whatever I give to him is good to his body). He has tried outside food for only twice (when I was lazy to cook and having a crave for dim sum). It is tiring to prepare his food during weekends, so usually I spend a Saturday morning, and cook the stock and dumplings that can last him for about 2 weeks.

The stock I make for his daily meal usually contains 7-8 items, such as:
- Spinach
- Celery
- Asparagus
- Carrot
- Pear
- Papaya
- Mushroom
- Winter melon
- Pork

As for the dumplings, I use things like:
- French beans
- Mushroom
- Chicken meat
- Threadfin fish

And he always has fruits (1 banana or 5 grapes or a few pieces of papaya) after breakfast and lunch, and 1 cup of yogurt after dinner. I just can't wait to introduce a larger variety of food to our boy in another 3 months time!

Renzo's Feedtime Videos!

Ever since our little poopersaurus laid his little round finger on his first biscuit, Renzo has been wanting to taste different things, including Daddy's thumb, Mummy's hair, his toys and basically anything within a reachable 30cm radius from his butt.

We get as much enjoyment watching him munch through his snacks and much as he enjoys the snacks themselves... Below are a few vid clips of the little guy in action!

Here is our little hero eating bananas...


A Cookie Monster gnawing on his Morinaca manna baby biscuits. I LOVE IT when he claps after finishing each biscuit. ^_^


Lastly we have him showing off his motor skill dexterity by picking up his little GERBER® GRADUATES® Puffs from his plate.

Renzo wants food... REAL food...

We were happily eating our dinner yesterday... Chicken wings, french beans and all. Renzo looked at us with such adorable puppy dog eyes from his little rocker. He licked his lips a couple of times and mimicked a chew, and hastily proceeded to grab one of his toys and chewed on it. Feli carried him over to our dining table and Renzo could see clearly what was laid out on the table. He stared at me every time I put a spoonful into my mouth.

Teasingly, I held a piece of chicken just beyond his reach and slowly asked, "Renzo~ If you want to get solid food, raise your hand" and I slowly raised my right hand with his bounty in my left.

Renzo looked into my eyes, then shifted his focus to my raised hand. Then OMG !! he slowly lifted his left hand in acknowledging fashion. It was such a cute moment.

So being parents of our words. We immediately set out to shop for cereals, purees and rusks (though eventually we only bought cereal and brown rice powder).

No chicken and french beans for you yet Renzo but these should be just as yummy~!

Daddy Chan is a great cook!

I smelled nice food while walking down my corridor, yeah yeah!! Win was cooking dinner!!!

These were what we had, ribeye steak + lots of vegetables + mushroom soup + red wine (2 sip for me though)..
Wow the steak... BRAVO!!!
The meat was pink with no blood oozing out, the natural juices that gushed out with each chew was really a mouth watering experience. And I couldn't believe that the knockout flavor of the steak is a simple mixture of olive oil + garlic + rosemary leaves ONLY, no blackpepper sauce at all (Win forgot to add that in..haha)..


Okie I am not here to write a review for hungrygowhere.com. I am just overjoyed that the food taste great, at the same time, the nutrition value of this meal is really high (in calcium, iron and magnesium) to my knowledge at least.. Great stuff for our little Renzo.. Daddy Chan rulez!!

High Tea at Ritz Carlton

The wait for the bus was unusually long this Saturday morning. We made our way to the bus stop and reached at about 0715am. We thought that if we did indeed miss the 0714 bus, it would be about 0736 when the next one is scheduled to reach. But to our dismay, the damned bus came only at 0750, a full 35 minute wait... and to think that express bus sets off from the interchange, which is like 4 stops before mine... sheesh...

Anyway, due to the bus wait, we reached the tow yung clinic at 0855, and already, the clinic was swarming with people... Young excited couples chatting amongst themselves, nurses and clinic assistants walking about, preparing the next couple for their attendance with Dr Lim. Before long, it was our turn and Dr Lim greeted us with his usual megawatt smile and like the previous few visits, did a quite scan and says that everything looks alright and measured Renzo's head (8.5cm !). He also mentioned that by now, it being the 32nd week, Feli should be feeling Renzo's kicking/punching about 10 times a day, which Renzo does... =P

After our visit, we decided to head on down to Takashimaya to get Renzo's milk bottle sterilizer pack (which came with a free thermal bag) that Feli's sis recommended (and in fact that's Renzo's gift from Kelly, haha..) and then to Marina Square to use our free movie tix at GV cinema there because Feli wanted to have high tea at Ritz.. more on the high tea later..=P

Looking through the list of available shows, the only title that attracted me was "The Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past", the other being "Transformers 2" but the show was such a sell-out that by the time we wanted to get the tix, the earliest available show was at 1700pm and no way am I going to hang around for 6 hours just for a movie. "The Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past" turned out better than I had expected. The classic romance comedy genre that never fails to kick Feli's mood up a notch.

Our perfect timing meant that we could take a leisurely stroll down to Ritz Carlton to the main event of our day, Ritz Carlton's High Tea Buffet at the Chihuly Lounge.

Ritz Carlton always bring sweet memories back to us, we loved them ever since we had our perfect wedding hosted there 2 years back. And this time, they didn't disappoint. For S$40 per pax (UOB card holders have an additional 10% off), we were treated to a wonder spread, though the variety of food serve might not be impressive, but everything that were served was of superb quality.

The high ceiling and natural sunlight made the whole dining area a marvel and there were these live music performances that just made the ambiance a 'wow'. Each guest could get a free flow drink of their choice. I order hot chocolate while Feli went for Lemongrass tea (made more sense considering it WAS a high tea buffet..heh). Anyway, we chatted and soaked up the atmosphere and when we were about to leave for home with another wonderful Ritz experience, a funny little incident caught our attention... A group of teenage girls (BIG GROUP) waving a little yellow flag with red Korean characters came running through the lobby screaming from the main doors all the way to the lifts. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask the door attendant who just arrived... Turns out that some Korean boy band (T-Max i think) just flew in and will be residing at Ritz.

*note: The staffs at Ritz Carlton have my sincerest sympathies should these idol fans come tearing down the lobby during this duration...=P

Wonderful decor

Happy Daddy Chan

Happy Mummy Chan

Round 1

Asparagus wrapped in Beef (all-time favourite... woot !)

Live Performance

Yummy ~!

Feli's Pot of freeflow Lemongrass Tea

A heartful sugar...=P

Chocolate Soup anyone? (in a pot not in the pic)

Desert Delight !

Okay okay.. i'm getting to carried away with my pic posting... shall stop here..=P