Bao Bei Updates

Below are the results after 5 weeks in Bao Bei Reading Wonderland - 3 times a week, 1-1/2 hour a day. Basically, I have learnt that these kids are utilizing their right brain to capture these words in the form of images. They are learning through images method rather than the true understanding of the word itself. For those kids who are already speaking in chinese at home will definitely have a better understanding of the word compared to those non-chinese speaking children. The question once again raised in regards of the effectiveness of the center in delivering results. My answer is "YES", Chloe brings home a set of cards of 7 to 9 new chinese vocabulary on weekly basis. Let's count how many words (images) chloe have learnt so far.

1. 饼干 - bing gan - Biscuit
2. 羊 - yang - Goat

3. 花 - hua - Flower

4. 哭 - ku - Cry

5. 天 - tian - Sky

6. 糖 - tang - Sweet/Sugar

7. 猫 - mao - Cat

8. 喝 - he - Drink

9. 拍 - pai - 

10. 姐姐 - jiejie - Elder Sister

11. 妹妹 - meimei - Younger Sister

12. 白 - bai - White

13. 面包 - mian bao - Bread 

14. 大 - da - Big

15. 马 - ma - Horse

16. 哥哥 - gege - Elder Brother

17. 爸爸 - baba - Father

18. 眼睛 - yan jing - Eyes

19. 外婆 - wai po - Grandmother (Maternal)

20. 外公 - wai gong - GrandFather (Maternal)

21. 手 - shou - Hand

22. 爷爷 - yeye - Grandfather (Paternal)

23. 飞机 - fei ji - Aeroplane

24. 鼻子 - bi zi - Nose

25. 奶奶 - nai nai - Grandmother (Paternal)

26. 狗 - gou - Dog

27. 头发 - tou fa - Hair

28. 弟弟 - didi - Younger Brother

29. 黑 - hei - Black

30. 妈妈 - mama - Mother

31. 口 - kou - Mouth

32. 车 - che - Car

33. 鱼 - yu - Fish

34. 来 - lai - Come

35. 衣服 - yifu - Clothes

36. 门 - men - Door

37. 水 - shui - Door

38. 玩具 - wan ju - Toys

39. 鸟 - niao - Bird

40. 嘴巴 - zui ba - Mouth

41. 雨 - yu - Rain

42. 人 - ren - Human

43. 老师 - lao shi - Teacher

For now, I am happy with the result, and I don't mind to chauffeur Chloe to Bao Bei despite it is quite a tiring task. It actually takes me 1 hour to get home from work and then send her to Bao Bei from home. Then, 1-1/2 hour of waiting. But, it is all worth it. Oh, I usually revise these vocabularies every first Bao Bei Class of the week, and I would ask her for the meaning of the words. She got the 90% of the meaning right, except 雨 and 鱼 because both pronounced as "yu". I always emphasize to her that the one with more dots which looks like rain drops is "RAIN". Can you guess which one? Chloe sometimes mix up between 面包 and 嘴巴. To her, she said these two words look very similar. Do they? Hmm??

Busy Busy Busy...

Judging from the numbers of post lately, my friends would know that I am either very lazy or very busy. 

Yes, so busy NOT lazy! Busy @ work and Busy @ home!!

Help!!!!!!! :P I got so much to catch up.

- The Shichida Parenting Course

- The Shichida 1st Term Review for my girls

- The BaoBei Updates - DONE

- Bangkok Trip

Coming Soon!!!!! *hopefully*

My Beautiful Little Cub...

Clarisse put on the Tiger Mask, and came to me.

Clarisse : MaMa. See! 

Clarisse : ROAR!!!!! Grrrr..... I am a Tiger!

Then, she tried very hard to "turn" her little hand to tiger claw!!!

My Cute Little Tiger! Muakz!

Dessert Class @ Ecole De Pastisserie

(A) French Macaroons

Ingredient :-

Icing Sugar 113gm

Ground Almond 65gm

Egg White 55gm

Castor Sugar 30gm

Method :-

1) Blend Ground Almond and Icing Sugar until fine. 

2) Do not blend too long as Almond produces oil under heat. Blend for approximate 5 seconds.

3) Whip Egg White until Soft Peak. I learned that Soft Peak means you will get a curve soft egg white when it's done. CURVE not STIFF. I also learned that never use COLD Egg white.

4) Gradually beat in the sugar until SITFF to form the meringue

5) Fold the Almond mixture into the meringue in three parts.

6) Continue to fold the mixture until it form a shiny and thick consistency batter. However, do not overfold which will turn the batter watery. 

7) Add in colour as desired.

8) Pipe with a plain tip into macaroons on a non stick parchment paper or silicon mat.

9) Use wet fingertip to flatten the peak of the macaroons.

10) Let it dry for 10 - 15 mins before sending to the oven.

11) Bake in a preheat oven at 130 deg C for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Cheese Filling

Ingredient :-

Soft Butter 175gm

Cream Cheese 175gm

Icing Sugar 60g

Method :-

Cream all ingredients together until light and fluffy.

(B) Orange Mousse

Ingredients :-

Part 1

Sugar 80gm

Water 25gm

Glucose 15g

Egg White 50g

Part 2

Orang or Grapefruit Juice 80gm

Lemon Juice 1/2  no.

Gelatin 7g

Water 35gm

Whipped Cream 170gm

Method :-

1) Boil sugar, water and glucose to 120 deg C - use thermometer or until the mixture can produce bubble through blowing the piping tip.

2) Whisk Egg white until fluffy

3) Gradually pour syrup into the egg whites while whisking constantly

4) Whip until cool to form meringue.

5) Soak Gelatine in water for about 3 minutes. Melt Gelatine over a bain-marie and set aside.

6) Combine together the orange juice, lemon juice and gelatine.

7) Gently fold the whipped cream into the juice mixture followed by the meringue. Do not OVERFOLD.
8) Refrigerate it before serve.




(C) Poached Pear


Ingredient :-
Pears (3 - 5 pears depending on the size)
Water 500ml (can be replaced by grape juice/apple juice/wine etc)
Ginger 5g
Lemon Juice 1no.
Lemon Zest 1no.
Cinnamons Stick 2nos.
Sugar 300g
Vanilla a dash


Method :-
1) Boil together finer, lime and cinnamon in apple juice.
2) Add sugar and reduce to a simmer
3) Peel and Core pears
4) Place pears into poaching liquid until pears are tender but not too soft (20-30mins)

Addictive Shopping Habits

Internet Shopping is definitely not something new, and the latest trend of Internet Shopping is via Groupon/Dealmates etc. My advice is - don't START! It is seriously addictive. Since my first purchase two months ago, I have done quite a number of other purchases almost on weekly basis. It is the simple word "DISCOUNT" makes me hooked on scrolling their new offers EVERYDAY, and then proceed with two simple click "BUY" and "AGREE", then it's a Done Deal! 

Let me recall, the first purchase was - err - oh Reader's Digest. RM 90 for 12 issues. Isn't it a bargain? Then, everyday, Groupon sent me mail after mail with many many attractive items ranging from dining deals to grooming deals to traveling deals etc etc. 

Then, I purchased something that I don't even know If I ever have the chance to go - which is a Dining Voucher for 4 for RM 36.00 at the Egyptian Restaurant in Changkat Bukit Bintang. Hubby is not a very adventurous man, he has no interest in trying EGYPTIAN food, plus he hates traveling down to KL after work. In fact, given a choice, I wouldn't want to go through the massive jam too. This dining voucher is expiring in August, and somehow I feel this dining voucher would be wasted eventually. 

Then I purchased three number of Baking Class vouchers @ RM 98.00/each. which the original price was RM 150.00/each. Hahaha... and I have not used them at all. Expiry Date is Early Nov. It seems like I still have many more months to use up the 3 vouchers that I bought. The fact is July has no classes that fit my schedule, and I don't see how I can make it during August since it is going to be a Holiday Month - SORT OF - You know - Malaysian Style - Ramadan then Raya. 

Then I also bought Bun Making Class which I have scheduled it on the 2nd Sept 2012. How come I didn't use the voucher. SMART! Because this class is offered from a different center. Then I also bought a dessert making voucher which I just attended last week (which I will be sharing in my next post). 

The most recent purchase is just TODAY! I bought an INTELLIGENT ROBOT VACUUM CLEANER @ RM 399.00 which they claimed I have saved RM 700.00. So, I am the Intelligent one who spent RM 399.00 for something that is worth more than RM 1,000.00 and guess what, the not so intelligent issue here is I have maid to sweep and mop my floor every day. 

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - By Amy Chua

I didn't buy this book because of its popularity. I have to shamefully admit that I am such an ignorant on what's happening with the world. I had no single idea about this book when I purchased it. I was attracted to this book for the simplest reasons : (1) It was on 50% discount (2) The author has two girls just like me, and I would like to get some tips in raising my girls too.

Infact, I bought this book from Borders in early 2012. I didn't touch the book until last month when I saw it laying on my desk collecting an inch thick of dust. Yeah... also another indication to show that I don't even go near to my desk for ANY BOOKS or ANY ACTIVITIES. I didn't know it is actually the hottest controversial book that everyone in the world is talking about. Even my sister, who is not a mother yet, knew about this book. She happened to see the short interviewing on BBC while she was browsing the Astro.

The author really cracked me up with her parenting style, or it could be the way she described with her humor sense. The best part is reading some of the reviews from all over the world, from both extreme - HATRED & ADMIRATION. Some actually commented that the author should be prosecuted for child abuse - and I think this is so funny.

I don't think I will ever employ her parenting against my girls. Firstly, her way of raising children in her "Chinese" way is absurd, in my opinion, or I should just say I don't have her quality to raise my girls the "Chinese" way she referred. The author is no ordinary woman, she is intelligent and strong-willed. There is no doubt about her children genetically inherited the family's IQ from both maternal and paternal sides.

I agree with her to some extents. Talent is definitely not in-born. Talent means 4-5 hours of practise, and extreme hardwork. Anyone can be GOOD, but not everyone can be TALENTED. Honestly, I really don't see myself in her position with such preseverance and patience to guide my girls, but I want to at least try to MAKE THEM TO BE SOMEONE IDENPANDENTLY USEFUL as such they can utilize their "skill" (be it ballet, violin, piano, drawing etc) in the future for a simple living. I don't expect them to be academically intelligent, as I mentioned before, neither hubby nor I are in that category. Of course, it would be very much rewarding if they could excel academically and surpass us. HOORAY!

The author is no doubt an extra-ordinary good mother. She spent all her times understanding the every score that her daughters play, up till the very tiny-bitsy little details like the composer's background, the genre, the atmosphere, the tempo, the fingering, the posture, the history, etc etc etc.... her approach to drill every music piece with her daughters was daunting and tiring, JUST BY READING IT.

Halfway through reading, I would murmurred words like these "Jesus Christ", "Oh My God", "HaHa...Sure Bor", "Walau...this mother is so scary.." etc...

Well, it is an interesting book to read, definitely not for me to adopt her "Chinese" parenting. I love the "Western" way of parenting with a little essence of Strict "Chinese" way. That's why I love P&J, the Montesorries Way. Haha... Learning through play is definetely a big NO NO to those strict parents. I belive in BALANCE, and still struggling to achieve it. Bleah...sounding so good but acting so badly. I still can't control myself from threatening and screaming at Chloe and Clarisse when they did somethng against my will. :P

Anyway, thanks to the author. She inspires me that I should AT LEAST work something out for my children. She is a working mom, and she could spent so much time with her daugthers practising piano and violin. I don't see a reason why can't I spend some times EVERYDAY to work something out for them. At this age? Sure! There are plenty that I can do, practising reading aloud, playing puzzle, learn to count, learn to sing, learn to write, learn to color, learn to paint, so many more.

My Little Princess Clarisse - 4th July 2012

Chloe's School Theme Day

The Theme was : PLANT

The very first thought that struck my mind was SUNFLOWER when I received the notice.

Coincidently, when I asked Chloe what plant she would want to be? Without much hesitation, she exclaimed : SUNFLOWER! 

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any SUNFLOWER costume for Chloe. I find it very hard to find costume that is suitable for our weather. Most of them which are available in Party Shops are very thick, they are definitely not suitable for my children to put on such thick clothes on a HOT and HUMID weather in Malaysia. Anyway, they are very costly too. I don't mind paying a little more for the fun of it but somehow can't find something that I think is worth paying for yet. The selection here is extremely limited. Attempting to buy them online which are definitely heaps cheaper but the bad news is they don't deliver them to Malaysia. Sob Sob Sob!

Ta Ta ~ This was how Chloe dressed for her Plant Theme Day.

Sorry, this is the best shot I got. She was too sleepy for the camera, totally no mood pose for good shot. She attempted to *SMILE*, but it was not very flattering SMILE.