I vaguely mentioned to C that Coke could be used for cooking and she has been intrigued since.

Today, she asked if we could make this dish and so we did. :)

She happily ran down the aisle that had all the soft drinks and picked up a carton of Coke. Then it was chicken from the meats section. C has always followed me to the supermarket; unless it's during term time and my groceries are done after work, so she is rather familiar with where-to-find-what now.

When we got back, she hastily opened a can of Coke and emptied its contents into the pot with the chicken. Then the meat was left to soak in there for a good 3 hours before we started cooking at 6pm. Well, it wasn't too bad considering it was her first attempt. Her eyes widened when she bit into the chicken as the taste of Coke "exploded" in her mouth. Haha. 

The children was wondering what they were going to have for dinner and I said, "How about sushi?" Instead of getting the regular ingredients for sushi, we decided to improvise and got some food that the girls like.

 We had ham, roasted chicken, crab sticks, sausages, lettuce and pork floss. There was the nori sheets and of course, a lot of rice. 

 They were so happy. 

Then they started.

 nicely done.

Dinner was served. 

C usually takes a week to finish a book but when the book is not as thick, she can finish it in a day and she has been doing so for 2 weeks now. Some times, she re-reads those that she owns and often she gets her new ones from Sans. I have kind of given up on buying new books (unless they are really good) because of the rate she is going and since we live near a library, it makes perfect sense to borrow books from there too.

She almost cleared out the shelf of this series. Yes, she sits there and reads one book after another and she could effortlessly read 4 of them a day.

It was only in the evening when we made this discovery: there was 1 missing from the lot! C got all flustered as she knew the books didn't belong to her but the library. I had to calm her down and told her to recall the events that had happened. "Toilet! I must have left it there in the cubicle." We called up the Customer Service at the mall to ask if anyone had found and handed them the book but the person who answered our call said no. 

By this time, C was visibly upset and in tears. She was angry with herself for being so careless and insisted on us visiting the mall the next day, in the hope that the book would still be sitting in the cubicle she had left it in. I assured her that we would do that and told her that I would also check our library account to find out if anyone had found the book and returned it to the library. 

Then this greeted me when I logged in this morning. "Thank you so much!" 

It was a simple fare of fried noodles for dinner this evening. C was wondering what she could prepare and I suggested this dish.

We had some ingredients left from our previous session so we only needed to get some fresh meat and vegetables. By now, C could easily manage the marinating of the meat as she knew what to use. Then I got her to make the seasoning for the noodles too.

 She was definitely more confident this time round though she still complained of the heat. The noodles went in not long after the ingredients were cooked and then when all was done, we placed the food in a thermal container.

Daddy was home around 7 pm and we tucked in to the meal of healthy fried noodles. :)

We are always looking forward to C's art class as she usually will come out of her class with a project she had completed. Some times, it would be a complicated drawing on the canvas and other times, a simple sketch of water colour, or charcoal.

Today, it was a landscape painting of the river view.

It was just C and me that day and we were not too keen to walk out for lunch. C said she wanted something simple so we took whatever we had from the fridge and put this together.

Cutting and slicing is something that C can manage quite easily now. Then it was all into the soup for a quick boil before adding the noodles.

That is her with her lunch of soup udon. She finished everything in the bowl and even had seconds. :)

These books are up for sale!

 They are very specific skills that a child needs for reading comprehension. With the new English syllabus, these skills are particularly important when it comes to comprehension reading. 

These are sample pages of the units covered. The passages are short and the questions on the corresponding pages refer to the specific paragraphs. C had a great time when she was using them. Now that she is moving on to the next stage, I am letting these books go.

I have 2 sets of books to let go at $240 per set. Yes, I know that they are costly; I bought the brand new set at $300 and these books, though used, are in mint condition. Self collection is preferred and I would want the books to be bought as a set simply because each book covers a specific skill. It only makes sense to get the entire series. The series are suitable for 8 year olds (primary 2 pupils), or primary 1 children who are good readers.

Drop me a mail should you be keen. :) Thank you!

It's the last day of the school. 

C received her results for the year and Daddy and I must say that we are proud of her not just because she has done well. Precious has grown and matured into a fine young lady who is considerate and more importantly, kind. She is also a keen observer. 

Next year will be quite a different ball game with an additional subject, Science, to manage and C will have to know how to manage her time wisely. But for now, we shall just busk in her achievement for a while. :)

Daddy was home and we decided to cook lunch instead of eating out.

A short trip to NTUC and we came back with the stuff we needed.

  Washing the rice and getting the water level right was something C learned this afternoon. She was a little squeamish when it came to washing the chicken and I had to take over for a while. 

Another meal prepared for us! :) The vegetables was easy enough and I taught her to prepare the sauce.  This wasn't bad for a first attempt. :)

C was so inspired by her first attempt at preparing dinner that she requested for another try-out. This time, Princess was really ambitious; she wanted steak and it must be "medium rare". We tried getting the steak from an NTUC near home but I guess the outlet was a really small one hence we only managed to find chicken and fish. C then decided that chicken and fish were good enough for dinner in the evening.

 She prepared the salad and went on to cut and boil the vegetables. 

Then when Daddy was almost home, we started working on the meats. C tried to pan fry the fish but it proved too much for her to handle. The oil spattered and she was slightly scalded. Hot tears welled up in her eyes and they streamed down her face. She didn't dare to say that she didn't want to continue further and I had to assure her that such incidents do happen when we cook. I took over the preparation of the meats while she stood close. When the meats were done, she placed the side dishes on the plate and prepared the dining table.

Bon appétit!

As we were washing up, she commented that the dinner we had prepared this evening was more "fun" compared to the one we had yesterday. :) Well, it was definitely more effort and work.

C was given a pretty pot of plant by Aunt Ven and she felt inspired to want to grow more.

Hence we went to get the materials she needed and finally, she got down to putting everything together. They are her precious plants now. :)

Yes, C was the one responsible for our dinner.

She had expressed her desire to eat spaghetti for dinner so we went groceries shopping in the afternoon and got some of the items she needed. She listened attentively to instructions as I told her how to cut up the ingredients and what seasoning to use.

C wasn't tall enough for the stove so she stood on a stool. Her brows were knitted together as she fried the ingredients. She later told me that she was afraid of the fire and how hot her hands felt. 

She specifically asked for portobello mushroom to go with the pasta because she said she loves them with cheese. 

She was one happy girl and we had a simple yet fulfilling dinner. I was thankful that despite her initial fears, she didn't give up. She was encouraged and said she wanted to cook more often. :) We will try simple Chinese dishes in the future.