Camping with the cousins

Another first for H. Her first backyard camping, grilling smores in the firepit and seeing real life fireflies.

H had been asking us to go camping ever since we read Richard Scarry backyard camping story. My sis in law asked if we wanted to go camping in NJ, but my hubby is not a big fan of camping. So we settle by camping in the backyard. Hubby can sleep inside and the kids can sleep outside. Everyone happy. And so we did =).

Pitching the tent was a big family affair. H and A was busy *helping*. Once the tent is up, H and A were busy testing the sleep pad and enjoying the big backyard that we don't have at home.

Finally nite time!! R, my newphew, the B.I.G bro, showed H how to make fire. H was so proud being near such a *big* fire and passing along the sticks. She was sad when she burnt her first smores, but hey... second one was a success.

There was no time for scary story since everyone passed out really early from having too much fun during the day.

We did it again the next day and we grilled our u picks: Corns, eggplants, peppers, peaches... yummmm....

Nothing beats fun nite with cousins. Hands Down !! Thank you to R and my brother's family to make this such a fun FIRST CAMPING FOR H !

First 5K Color Run

We visited my brother in East Coast last week. My sister in law, the best travel planner on earth, scheduled our families to do the 5K Color Run together. I was skeptic at first because H did not even finish hiking 2 miles by herself earlier this summer. But I went with it anyway - it's all about the family time rite =P. And I am so glad I did.

H really enjoyed this 5K *Color Walk*. She was so happy racing with her cousin brother, rolling in the ground to cover her body with the colors, climbing the structures on the sides of the route and off course checking out other people's fun clothes. I vote for the brides with long tutu and colorful flower bouquet.

A was sleeping half way because he had to wake up at 6 am so we can leave the house at 6:30 am. Something that he never did even as a baby. He always wakes up after 7 am. But he happily walked the first 2K holding his uncle's, his auntie's, or my hands.

And to my surprise, my friends from Toronto joined us there too. Nothing beats familiar faces with purple and pink powders. What a great day !

So if you're ever thinking to do a color run with your preschooler, I'd say," JUST DO IT !" and if your sis in law says she will wear a tutu with you in the run, I'd say, "DON'T BELIEVE IT !"

Yogurt honey arugula salad - Nothing beats fresh cut arugula from the garden

Last weekend we celebrated our anniversary. I told my hubby that I want to have a date at home and so we did. It was the best date and anniversary dinner so far.

I dropped the kids at our friend's place while my hubby cleaned the house and cooked for me. He picked lettuce and arugula from our garden and made this salad. I LOVED IT ! First of all... if you've never eaten arugula fresh pick then you've never eaten arugula =P. With lettuce, I like that I get a fresh batch each time I pick from my garden. But with arugula, the taste is way different from what I get in the store. This is the first year we planted arugula and it was so easy to plant too.

I am not much of a salad eater, but I like this yogurt dressing. It's low fat, light, refreshing and so easy to make.

So I am sharing this idea with you. Maybe it's obvious for many people, but we never used yogurt for salad dressing before and we sure will continue to use it.

Veggies: Arugula, lettuce, red pepper, red onion, cucumber

Dressings:
- Low fat plain yogurt
- Honey to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredient.

Sorry there is no exact measurement. This is my hubby cooking. He never use exact measurement.

And off course he cooked more stuff. But that's for another post. See you next time !

Coconut chocolate oat bite

Coco Oat Bite

Coco Choco Oat

Vegan. I am not a vegan, but I am trying to reduce processed food. This one is easy and my son loves it. So why not =?

Kid approved. My preschooler loves making this with me. Rolling the dough into a ball. It's almost like a play dough consistency - a bit stickier and chunkier.

You will like this if you like dates and you like chocolate. I happen to love both =). It's like chocolate bites but a bit sticky because it uses dates as opposed to sugar.

Hubby loves this for healthy energy breakfast.

Ingredients: 
- 1/2 cup of oat - ground until fine in food processor. You can also mix wheat germ in the oats if you want folic acid.
- 1/2 cup of pitted dates
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup of almond butter
- 2 - 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup of shredded coconut or additional 4 tbsp of cocoa powder for dusting.

Instructions:
1. Ground oat in food processor until fine.
2. Add dates, cocoa powder, almond butter and vanilla extract in the food processor and ground them again.
3. Roll them into 1 - 2 tsp size ball.
4. Put the shredded coconut in a bowl. Lightly cover the chocolate bite with the coconut shred by rolling them in the bowl of coconut shred.
5. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr. Enjoy.

Homemade French Toast Challah

For those of you in Seattle area, you should try the French Toast Challah in Portage Bay Cafe. I love love love them so much.

Finally after seeing the recipe from Kudos Kitchen by Renee, I brave myself to make one this past weekend. I  must say I am proud of myself. The challah bread was easy to make and french toast is french toast. I just thawed berry mix from Costco to add to my french toast and voilaaa.... The only thing missing from the french toast is home made whip cream. There is always next time and there will be =). Yummm...

Avocado Butter Chocolate Cookie

No butter chocolate cookie

I love avocado. When I see a post that we can replace butter with avocado - I am super excited. Then I see a lot of post on using avocado as butter for chocolate cookie. That's IT !! I am doing it.

It's so easy and it's really yummy too. Proven by my kids (seen above enjoying the cookie) and my hubby.

I used the recipes from yummyeasyhealthy.com - minus the chocolate chips.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
• ½ cup avocado, mashed or pureed in the food processor
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a standing mixer bowl, blend the brown sugar and Truvia. Slowly beat in the coconut oil. Add in the mashed or blended avocado, egg whites, and vanilla. Blend on low speed until smooth.
3. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips and blend on low speed until the dough is just combined. Dough will be crumbly. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 300º F. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll the dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Flatten slightly and bake for 17-19 minutes (do not over bake!) Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Enjoy!

Remlinger Farm

Summer is almost here! I am creating this year summer activity bucket list and cherishing what we did last summer.

As I go through my pics, I came across this one. We went to Remlinger Farm 2 years ago with a Groupon deal. This farm is definitely one of the biggest farm we've visited so far. Going with a 2.5 years old and 3 months old, we did not get a chance to do all of the attractions.

H was really into backhoe and transportation at that time so that's all we did. Haley really enjoys playing the manual backhoe. I don't think we've seen it in other places.

They also have petting zoo, but H was not really into petting at that time so we just stopped by. I did not recall seeing pony ride there, but I just saw it in their website now. Maybe it's new.

I love that they have food stand in the middle of the farm and that they have plenty of shaded area for me (mom carrying the baby) while dad is playing with the toddler. They also have a small farmer market section selling fruit and produce from their farm at the entrance.

Overall I think our kids was too small to fully enjoy this big farm at that time. I wonder maybe we should try this year since A and H are bigger now. I guess I'll watch out for Remlinger discount. What's your experience with Remlinger farm for 2 and 4 years old? Have you tried doing strawberry picking there?

Make your own pizza

Cooking pizza for kids

H loves pepperoni pizza and she had been asking for it many times. I thought why not make pizza with her. It's easy and fast enough that she can do it end to end. And it's FUN.

We tried it. We loved it. And we've been doing it together many times already. I even made H birthday party at our home as Make Your Own Pizza party.

The tips is to use tortilla as opposed to pizza dough because it is faster to bake so the kids don't have to wait a long time for their creation to get done. Plus we love the thin crispy pizza so tortilla is the thinnest you can get.

So here it is. Do you have other recipes that you love to cook with your kids?

Ingredients:
- Pepperoni (If you have a toddler, you may want to buy the small size pepperoni so they can eat it)
- Shredded cheese
- Tomato sauce
- Tortilla (I use the medium size to make it easier for the kids)
- Tomato sliced

Steps:

1. Me: Put each ingredients in bowl. Lay down the tortilla in a plate. Pre heat the oven to 400 F
2. Kids: Spread the tomato sauce. 
3. Kids: Put cheese on top
4. Kids: Decorate with pepperoni and tomato
5. Me: Bake it in oven for 12 mins.

Tiramisu Oat for breakfast? This overnight chocolate oat taste like one !

Tiramisu Overnight Oat

I love oatmeal, but not so for my hubby. I try the overnight oat because it is easy and I don't have to wait for it to cool down for my kids to eat; I mean it's the right temperature right of the bat.

To my surprise, my hubby also loves it. He actually begs me to make it almost daily, which I am happy to do. My daughter is also proud to *cook* healthy food for her dad.

I've seen so many overnight oat recipes with fruits online, but I am not a big fan of berries. So I use chocolate yogurt. Yes yes... some people may find that chocolate and yogurt do not match, but you gotta try this. Here it is our fave overnight oat recipe. What's yours?

Ingredients:
- 1 cup chocolate yogurt (I use Brown Cow). I tried using non fat yogurt but I find the result is not as smooth.
- 1/2 cup of oat or oat bran. My hubby likes it better with oat, but since oat bran has more fiber I sometimes mix them both.
- 2 tsp of chia seeds/wheat germ/flax seeds
- 2 tbsp milk

Steps:

1. Mix all ingredients in a glass jar. Stir well.
2. Refrigerate overnight.
3. Enjoy in the morning. Optional: My husband adds sliced almond in the morning before he eats it. 

Grow a grass head: *Gardening* for toddler/preschooler

Grass head 

H got this something similar to Grow-A-Pet Dog "Spike" from my sister in law last week. So perfect for her! She is such a nurturing girl (not sure where she gets that gene from). She loves watering our plants outside everyday. Our lettuce has been growing well because of her too. But lettuce, bulbs and others takes time to grow.

This grass head toy is so easy and perfect for toddler and preschooler. She watered it for two days and it's growing already. We did not even put it in a sunny location. You can see that she needs a hair cut by day 3 already, which is super awesome. Both H and A love scissor. I wish I had this a year back when H sneaked out and cut her own hair. Anyhow, the piggy got a hair cut from both H and A. And I think she LOVES her new hair cut.

Coconut crepes with blueberry fillings

Coconut crepe with blueberry yogurt

I saw a bag of coconut flour in Costco and I thought I should buy it. There must be a lot of Indonesian cakes recipe that use coconut flour. WRONG !!

So I searched for coconut flour recipes and I found this one from Kitchen Stewardship.
And I am hooked !

I am not doing gluten free diet and I don't like cherry so I modified it a bit. It is so yummy and easy to make. It tastes much better than regular crepes in my opinion especially if you love coconut smell. Top that with: My picky eater hubby loves it and it is LOW CARB - yayyyy !!! I've made it a couple times since.

Here is my modified version:

Made: 8 crepes (small ones - I would say for 2 adults)
Cooking time: 20 mins

Crepes:
- 2 eggs - put in warm water if you're just getting it out of fridge.
- 2 table spoons coconut oil coconut oil - melted
- 1 tbs maple syrup or agave
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbs coconut flour; sifted
- a pinch of cinnamon
- 1/3 cup of whole milk
- 1 tsp of vanilla

Filling
- 1 cup of yogurt (plain) or blueberry
- 1 tbsp of cream cheese (I use lowfat)
- 1/2 cup of frozen blue berries
- 2 tbsp of honey (if you use plain yogurt) - if you use blueberry yogurt then you don't need this

Steps for crepes:
1.  Whisk eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. It's nice to have room temperature eggs, because coconut oil solidify fast so having a warmer egg will prevent that.
2. Add coconut flour and milk. Continue stirring until there is no big lumps.
3. Heat up small frying pan on medium heat. I use 8 - 10" non stick pan. I would say you have to use non stick pan because this batter breaks easily.
4. When hot, I scrape the left over coconut oil and brush it on the pan. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter and tilt the pan to spread out the batter.
5. Cook until dry (1 - 2 mins). Flip it for a short time (half a min).

Steps for filling:
1. Put all ingredients in blender.
2. Pour 2 - 3 tbs for each crepes. Fold the crepes. Enjoy...

For presentation, I sprinkle powder sugar on top, but honestly... it does not make a different. We ate ours without the powder sugar =).

Pacific Science Center: For the budding engineer and scientist

Butterfly garden

Raptor and dinosaur footprint

What I love about Pacific Science Center is: you get a little bit of everything in 1 place. It's a great rainy day activity - my go to place in Seattle weather.

• Aquarium experience. It's a small section where kids can touch sea creatures. It's not to be compared with Seattle Aquarium, but it's enough for my toddler.
• Insect section
• Butterfly garden
• Dinosaur
• Planets
• Toddler play area (water play, slide, blocks and many others)

And it's not only for the kids. I find them interesting for me as well. They have Live Science Stage with rotating shows from Human Space Flight, Live Snake Shows and many more. I always learn something new every time I go.

Tips:
- They do have small cafe, but I usually bring my own sandwich or snacks because the cafe is a little bit out of the way.
- The general admission only price (it does not include IMAX and exhibition): Adults: $18 and Kids (3 - 5): $10
- I usually park in Pacific Science Center parking itself. If you have bigger car, then it maybe better to park outside. It's cheaper and probably has bigger car space than the ones in Pacific Science Center.

New Castle Beach Park

Yesterday was a sunny day. H had asking to go to the beach for the longest time so we decided to go to New Castle Beach Park. She went right into the water. A opted to play in the choo choo train in the park first. It's great that the park is next to the sandy beach area. Last year they renovated the park, but it's done and open to public again now. I also like this park because it's right off the freeway, parking is  free and the restroom to wash up after playing in the beach is very close.

Since it was a weekday, it was not too crowded yesterday. We actually got a spot in the shaded table, but H preferred us to sit on the sandy area. So we laid out our picnic blankets on the sand, ate our ham sandwich and cantaloupe while watching the kids played in the sand and in the water. It was perfect. She even had a free kayak ride. A kayak er stopped by, brought an extra life vest and gave free kayak ride for the kids.

Tips for going during sunny weekend:
- Parking in New Castle Beach Park during sunny weekend maybe tricky. You can always park on the street but be prepared to bring a stroller to haul your stuff.
- I saw some people bring small tent. During crowded times, it maybe hard to get a shaded spot.

Enuf said. The picture says it all.

Our pet: the ladybug

Our LadyBug pet

One of H favorite book series is Ladybug Girl. She loves Ladybug Girl at the Beach, Ladybug Girl and the Big Snow, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy and others. I also love this series because it reminds me to see things from H perspective. Things that small or simple for us may not be so for her. A short walk for me may seem long for her, a small up step may look like a hill for her height.

When I saw this at Amazon before Christmas, I thought this Insect Lore Ladybug Land will make it more educational. I bought it for her Christmas present along with the Ladybug books. It came with ladybug larvae mail in form, but I lost it while waiting for Spring time. Bummer. But my hubby caught one outside his office last month.

The kids had been having so much fun with it. They (and I do too) are learning about what lady bug eats. We read from the web that ladybug eats bug (doehh). Since we are not having much luck looking for the bug to feed her, we tried to feed her our leftover fruits. When we're lucky, we feed her the small bug we found in the veggies we bought from the store.

I also show H the ladybug lifecycle stages in the picture. She does not seem to be that interested at this point. That's fine ... maybe next time.

H is so proud to take care of her ladybug. Last weekend, I saw someone offering their pet bunny in FB. I thought H will love it, but my hubby shut the idea down right away. I was a bit disappointed, but H was so sweet. She said: Thanks Mom! I want to have a pet bunny, but it's OK mom. I already have one pet. My ladybug. Awww...

Pet store (Petco or Petsmart) visit

A so fascinated by the mouse moving the wheel.

My kids love to visit the zoo (Woodland Park Zoo or Kuger Mountain Zoo), but it gets kinda expensive and it's not as fun when it's raining. Most of the time, we just go to Petco or Petsmart. When they are this small (toddler and preschooler), they get a similar kick by just visiting a pet store. A always squeals like crazy when he watches the mouse spins the wheel. H had a phase where she loves watching the birds. It's free rainy day activities and it's close by. They can spend more than half hour with daddy, while mommy goes shopping =).

Train Ride with Thomas - 2014

The ticket for Summer Train Ride with Thomas in Issaquah Northwest Railway Museum is out. The price is $23/person for non member.

http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/CalendarListings.action?venueId=13481&pl=thomas14

Has anyone tried this with their toddler? If so, let me know what your experience is.
I am thinking next year is a better time for us.

Issaquah Barnes Nobles, Peaceful Pond and the Dragon Castle

I loved going to the book store as a kid. One of the best birthday treat I had was going to the big book store in neighboring town. I could spend hours in the book store.

Now I have to admit that I am not an avid book reader anymore. Even when I read, I get it digitally. But I do want my kids to have the same bookstore love before they become a historical concept someday. I am lucky that I live close to the Barnes and Nobles Issaquah branch. It's not a big one, but it has a good kid section varieties. The location is also very convenient. We can walk around the peaceful quiet pond behind it afterwards. My kids love to play in the small fountain, checking out the ducks and crossing the bridge to go to the other side of the Pickering Place.

H loves the story about Curious George protecting a castle from a dragon attack. She loves to protect the Pickering castle (stone walls area) from the dragon (my lil one =). They can spend almost an hour running around the area. I can have a peaceful conversation time with my hubby inside the castle while H is busy guarding us from the dragon.

When it's time for dinner, we can just walk to Red Robin. Literally, we're 1 min away from Red Robin.

It's our fall back relaxing family time when it's not raining here.

Free boat ride in Lake Union from The Center of Wooden Boat

Last month, we went to The Center of Wooden Boat - Lake Union (near Mohai Museum) so the kids can see different type of boats up close and personal.

And we got much more than that. We got a FREE boat ride. They have free public boat rides every Sunday. You reserve by signing up in their booth (no calling) in the morning. The boat ride startsaround 11 am ish. We went there around 10:30 am and there were still spots for 12:30 pm boat rides or later.

They have six different boat types that you can sign up for: sail boat, steam engine, etc. Since we have 2 hours before our ride, we played in the dock, went to have lunch in nearby restaurants, let our kids played in the park and came back just in time for our free boat ride.

It was a beautiful sunny but cold Spring day. Luckily we brought thicker jackets for the kids. The captain was really nice and knowledgeable. He told us the history of the buildings around the lake, the tax difference for a boat house vs a boat, and history of Seattle in general.

The electric boat only has 2 horse power engine, but it was running surprisingly fast. The 45 minutes went by fast and we had to turn back to the dock. Towards the end of the ride, the captain showed us the house where Tom Hanks lived in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" shown above.

H  had a blast. This was her first time experience riding a non ferry type boat. We may go there again in Summer and try different types of boat.

Car wash anyone?

I know car wash is cheap, but my kids (the 4 years old and the almost 40 years old) love it so we do it ourselves sometimes. I mean c mon - they gotta play with water, they have an excuse to make daddy wet and they are doing grown up stuff - what's not to love.

Originally, H wanted to go to the park after Easter church and lunch. I told her to go with daddy because I had tons of errands to do at home. She told me she'd rather do car wash at home so she can be with us both. Awwwww... Kids... they really don't need fancy stuff.

So here it is: free activity for large motor skill =P - car wash. We did it once with her and she had been asking to do it again with  many times. I must say she did a really good job.

My lil one is not so fond of car wash yet (just like me). While sissy was busy scrubbing, he was occupied observing the ants *colony* near our drainage.

Apparently, .5 hr car wash and ant observation did not burn enough calories for them. So monkey style swing time...

It was a perfect Sunday family time. Sun + fun + outdoor + getting dirty = happiness. Ciao...

Got left over Easter Ham Bone ??

Got a left over ham bone? Don't throw... 

I tried this recipe and they are so easy and yummy. It's so similar to the red bean ham soup that my grandma used to cook when I was a kid. Maybe it is the same =). I use black eye pea since I don't have red kidney bean - still yummy.

Chocolate Avocado Popsicle

I love avocado. What's not to love... it's smooth and full of the good fat. I tribute my high HDL and my non traceable LDL from my love of avocado (ha ha ha =!). I've been trying to get my family (esp hubby) to eat more of the good fat so I was so happy when I saw this chocolate pudding recipe using avocado from PickyEater blog. I tried it and I loved it, but my hubby and my kids are not a big fan of pudding. Since my family loves ice cream, I thought I modify the recipe to make it as the base for ice cream.

And Yes Yes Yes !! They love it. If you know me, you will know why I am so happy that they love it. My cooking skill is non existent compared to my hubby's.

So here it is, the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1/2 ripe banana
- 4 tbsp agave (or sugar/honey equivalent)
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder

Steps:

1.  Put all ingredients into blender. Blend until smooth.
2.  Put them in Popsicle mold. Freeze for 1 day or more. 

Paccar Open House for the Boys and Tulips for the Girls

Everyone knows about the Tullips festival, but not many people knows about the Paccar Open House nearby.

We went to both this year.We went to the Tulip festival early to avoid the traffic jam and arrived there around 10 am. It was nice and peaceful. By the time we left the tulip field (around 11:30 am) - it was crowded already.

Afterwards, we headed to the Paccar Open House close by. It is nice. It's kid friendly but it's also entertaining for us adults (engineers). As soon  as we enter, my kids were busy checking out and asking other visitors about the components in the truck engines displayed in the receptionist.

And off course, they saw someone holding a balloon and they wanted one too. So we had to go to the kids area where they have truck theme coloring sheet, trucks printed with your name, and miniature truck to take your kids' picture.

On the grown up section, my husband checked their factories and their labs. Gosh - Their mpg goal is 10 mpg. I mean, my diesel car runs on 39 mpg.

And last but not least, the kids gotta go up in the big trucks. EVERYBODY should go to Paccar Open House and there will be LESS JACKKNIFE accidents on the road. They have an area set up for us to show how much the truck's driver see from their seat. It's amazingly scary. how little they can see. It made me respect all truck drivers.

My family actually enjoy the Paccar Open House more than the tulips. We're engineers after all.

Here is the link to Paccar Open House:
http://www.paccar.com/company/PTC_open_house.asp

Where to go Easter Egg Hunt in Issaquah

Not sure where to go Easter Egg Hunt in the EastSide?

Here are some fun places to do egg hunt in the Issaquah Area this Saturday April 19, 2014

Adventure Kids Playcare Annual Spring Festival (Target complex in Gillman) 

You get free easter egg hunt, bouncy house, laser tag and others. To top it off, you get free snack for the kids - they usually hand off sample kid snacks (last year they had ice cream too) for promotion.

We went last year and my kids had a blast. The earlier you went the better because there is no line to the egg hunt and the bouncy house. I love this because we can walk to nearby restaurants for lunch afterwards.

They are open from 10 am - 4 pm. I suggest coming there early so you don't have to wait inline for the fun.

EastRidge church 

We do not go to this church, but we went for their egg hunt last year. I did not feel any pressure from them to join their church too. It was pure family fun event. And Yes, we did 2 easter egg hunt last year. 

They have different place for different age so if you have smaller kids, they are not competing with bigger and faster kids over the same eggs. I think they have more Easter Egg compared to Adventure Kids Playcare. At least, my kids got more eggs from here.

Last year, they also have free choo choo ride, inflatables, face painting and others. I must say they have more entertainment than Adventure Kids Playcare.

They are open from 9 am. They have scheduled egg hunt at 9 am, 11 am and 1 pm.

Gillman Village

We've never been here. But who does not love walking around Gillman Village so I bet they must have lovely egg hunt there too. Let me know if you goes there.

Angsio Tofu

Best tofu dish in my opinion. Nothing beats deep fried egg tofu. Hard on the outside and soft on the inside ... yummm...

Ingredients: 

- 2 pack of egg tofu

- bean sprout (optional)

- ground pork / chicken

- lettuce

- oyster sauce

- sugar and salt

Recipe:

1. Cut the egg tofu. Each piece is about .5 inch thick. Deep fry. 

2. Prepare plate. Put chopped lettuce on the plate and the deep fried tofu on top of the lettuce. 

3. On other pan, stir fry chopped garlic until golden brown.

4. Once the garlic is golden brown, put in the ground chicken. Stir until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add in oyster sauce and a little bit of water. Add sugar and salt to taste. Pour this on top of the tofu and lettuce. 

Enjoy 

Pink Klepon - Javanese Better Than Mochi Rice Cake

I have sweet tooth and I love mochi rice cake. Klepon got them all. I bite into a soft pandan/frambozen heaven then POP !! The sweet palm sugar water flows into my mouth. All in a bite.

So when my friend made this - I have to learn to make it myself (Thanks Hellen for sharing) Nothing beats fresh out of the batch klepon. And rather than using pandan, I choose to use rose/frambozen flavoring. Just because I love pink =).

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 3 oz glutinous rice flour
- 15 gr palm sugar
- 1/2 tsp rose flavoring or pandan flavoring for green color
- 10 tbsp Grated coconut

Steps:
1. Start boiling water in a pot (about ~ 1/2 of the pot height).
2. Grate the palm sugar. Using your hand, take ~1 tsp of the grated palm sugar and roll it to a ball (each ~ 0.5 inch in diameter).
3. In separate bowl, add water into glutinous rice flour and mix it until it has a play dough like consistency. Once the consistency is achieved. Add rose flavoring
4. Take ~1/2 tbsp of the rice flour dough and roll it to a ball. Flatten it out, put one palm sugar ball in the middle and cover the palm sugar with the rice flour dough. The palm sugar ball is inside the glutinous rice flour ball now. Continue with the rest of the dough.
5. Put each glutinous rice flour ball in the boiling water.
6. Spread grated coconut in a small plate.
6. Once the rice ball floats in the boiling water (let it sit for couple more minutes). Roll it on top the grated coconut.
7. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Indonesian Fried Chicken (Savory with crunchies) - Ayam goreng kremes

Cook time: 1 hr
Total time: 2.5 hrs

Ingredients for the fried chicken:
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 shallot (big)
- 4 inches of lemon grass
- 2 inches of galanga (thai ginger)
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground tumeric
- 12 chicken drumsticks
- salt and pepper to taste
- water (1/3 cup and 750 ml)

Ingredients for the crunchies:
- 3 tbsp tapioca flour
- 1 tbsp rice flour
- 250 ml broth from boiling the chicken and paste (see step 6 of the fried chicken)
- 1 egg

Steps for fried chicken:
1. Ground all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Add a little bit of water (1/3 cup) to make the paste smoother.
2. Pat chicken dry
3. Rub salt and pepper to chicken and the paste. Leave for at least 1 hr.
4. Add about 750 ml of water and boil the chicken with the paste.
5. Let it boil and simmer (med low heat) for .5 hr
6. Take the chicken out and save the broth to make the crunchies.
7. Let the chicken cool to room temperature. Deep fry the chicken in hot oil (canola oil) until golden brown.

Steps for the crunchies:
It is recommended to deep fry the chicken before the crunchies because the oil will have the crunchies in it.
1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Deep fry in the hot oil (canola oil) until golden brown and strain.

Tips:
- To make the crunchies, the consistency of the broth is not thick at all. It may seem unintuitive to deep fry watery like broth, but it works.