Aisan Style Steamed Bun Hamburger

I've always enjoyed eating my dad's homemade steamed buns as a child. I remembered his strong hands and buff arms as he kneaded the dough on the kitchen counter for a long period of time. Even though I thought 'why not try to make the buns on my own', I do not have the arm muscles like my dad's to knead the dough by hand.  So I cheated a little bit by using the Kitchen Aid mixer. It worked just as well, fortunately! 

First, I mixed a packet of yeast (1 1/4 teaspoon) with about a cup of warm water to let the yeast become active. 

In the mixer, I put in 4 cups of all purpose flour,

1 1/2 cup of warm milk

then the active yeast mixture.

Meanwhile, I started cooking a red wine short ribs stew, which the meat will be used to eat with the buns in the end. 

After the dough was kneaded, by the mixer, I let it rise in a bowl for 45 minutes.

Look at how much bigger it grew.

Then I rolled the dough into little round shapes and let them rest another 25 minutes until I actually steamed them.

By that time the meat was also done.

The meat was so tender and fell right out of the bones.

I also prepared lettuce leaves, and cilantro to make the bun hamburger, or a bunburger. ^^ It was a hit!

Brandon surely liked it!

Outdoor Toys

I was wondering about what I should get for the kids to play outside in the lawn now that Spring is here, and Summer is just around the corner. I came across Sassafras. It is a US company that has been around for 36 years. Their products meet all the national and State standards and safety requirements for children's toys. They want to create products that are environmentally friendly and have minimal carbon footprint. 

The products I bought from them are all made from natural wood. I am very pleased with the things I picked when they arrived at our front door. Let's take a look:

The first one is a Duck Croquet Set. It comes with 4 sets of wooden "duckets" attached with ropes, 4 wooden balls in different colors and 2 wooden mallets. 

Aren't they cute?

The mallet fits comfortably in Sophie's hands, and the length is just right for her height. 

The game of croquet is easy to understand and to get started. Sophie was immediately attracted to the colorful wooden balls rolling around on the lawn. She tried hard to chase after one, but putting a ball through the roped arches accurately is another skill all on its own. She was too cute! I adore her no matter what.

Next item is the Frog Bowling Pin Set. This one is also very easy to understand and play. 6 frog pins with one red ball, all made of wood. All you need to do is line up the pins on a hard, flat surface in a triangle fashion, and try to knock the pins down using the red ball. 

Next item is the Stripe Ukulele. The nylon strings can be tuned!!! To a musician mother like me, this is a must. I was constantly trying to chase Sophie down so that I could tune the ukulele perfectly for her.

Was she rocking it out like it was an electric guitar?

Or was she holding it like a violin? With the winds blowing on her hair, she looked like Vanessa Mae on stage. ^^

She also uses it to sing us Do, Re, Mi song acting like Maria in Sound of Music, and we often had to act as the Von Trapp children sitting across from her while she singed and played her instruments (whatever she thinks it may be). ^^

The last item is the Leaf Tree Swing. It is so very cute and full of details.

The hooks to the tree have these adorable wooden ladybug balls attached. Love!

On the side note, Sophie actually saw a real ladybug while we were putting the swing up. 

We all loved this beautiful addition to the side yard.

Who could be happier than this little girl who could actually swing in it? ^_^ (Brandon tried to sit on it, but he was not ready to enjoy it yet, so we'll have to wait on that!)

Cheers to a new week!

Saturday At Home

Every week we would try to take the kids outside to see new things and try new food. This week, the weather hasn't been too good. It has been raining for 3 days straight, and then today it is just windy. On top of the weather, Sophie is coming down with something, and her temperature is on the rise. So we stayed home. We decided to make marshmallow stick models. It's so easy and affordable, and most importantly, fun!!! Both kiddos enjoyed eating the marshmallows more than making the models. ^^

All you need are some toothpicks and some marshmallows, then you can let your imagination take over. 

This helps the kids with 3-D concepts. What's great about this activity is that it could get more complicated as the children grow. Maybe in the future we could build a whole marshmallow house with giant marshmallows and bigger, longer sticks.

Hopefully, Sophie will heal in no time.

Recent Doodles

The kids and I draw and paint very often together. I remember myself loving drawing and painting as a young child, but my mother would always get so mad at me for "wasting time" and not doing more studying with my school textbooks. I would always feel so torn and guilty whenever I drew or painted. After becoming an adult and now a mother, I can now say this with a relief that drawing is actually good for kids. 

"Drawing is not primarily a creative means of expression," says Eileen Adams, education officer for the Campaign for Drawing. "It is an intellectual activity -- a way of understanding the world. Just as pre-verbal infants babble, so young children make marks and squiggles in an effort to order and refine their thoughts. Ideas that are either unformed or only partly formed at the beginning gradually take shape and develop through the process of drawing." 

"The visual imagery that children acquire through drawing is vital to their later understanding of subjects such as geography and maths. Without an ability to map components or make sense of symbols, children's development in these areas is likely to be severely restricted."

I am confident to say that drawing is not only good for kids but it is good for people of all ages. In fact, without the making of art and without the appreciation for art, this world would be an even sadder and uglier place than it has already become in many aspects. 

Recently, the kids really enjoyed reading the picture book Best First Book Ever by Richard Scarry. So one day as we were doodling, I drew Lowly Worm for them.

Sophie helped me fill in the colors for Lowly Worm.

There he was! We also drew Mr. Frumble and Sally Cat, etc., all from the same book.

The next two were 100% by Sophie. She is 3 years and two months old as of today. She told me she was drawing Grandpa with glasses in this one,

and a snowbear (instead of a snowman) in this one.

We were also reading Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, and so I drew Little Blue with the big green toad on top.

We also drew random things like flowers and people.

Sometimes, we'd explore with watercolors, too. First I would mark the outlines with a gel crayon.

Then I'd let them have a go at it with the watercolors.

The following three were done by mommy ^^

This one is again, all Sophie

 Sometimes, it was the result of a collaboration.

The left one was drawn per Sophie's request, and the right one was drawn per Brandon's request. I could clearly see that they like very different things. 

They'll continue to grow and develop in their own unique ways, and someday they'll go their separate paths in a good way, but I hope they'll remember this precious time where they shared many hours being with each other and drawing together.