It’s pretty self explanatory from the pictures shown above.
Just shape the pillsbury biscuits to look like a donut. Spray the air fryer tray and the donuts with some pam spray. Bake it at 375 for 6 to 8 minutes. Make the donut glaze by combining icing sugar with a little milk or cream. Spread the glaze all over donuts and it’s time to DECORATE!!!! 😀
This has been a topic that I really wanted to write on since starting my blog & for whatever reasons, it is the topic that I just can’t seem to start on. Maybe because it’s such a broad topic and also because I really wanted the insights to be helpful for a mom flying with her baby solo over long haul fights. It feels like a pay it forward kinda thing to me because before we flew for the first time with my 5 month old baby, I did so much research and was so nervous about it. And while I received so much help from various mommies, I wish I didn’t have to visit a bazillion websites to research on what I needed. Thus, this page when I first started my blog. I wanted it to be useful to moms like me who has to fly solo with a baby over long haul flights.
First trip we took was when baby was 5 months old and it was going to be a total of 3 flights over a total of 38 hours (including layovers). Granted that we had Daddy with us for our very 1st trip, I still had to fly solo back with baby to Canada.
Still am clueless on how to possibly transfer all my learning to my blog but here goes what I feel is an important topic:
WHAT TO PACK IN YOUR CARRY ON LUGGAGE WHILE FLYING LONG HAUL WITH A BABY
Diapers – I brought 30 for the 1st trip & realized that was wayyyyyy to many lol. Even with flight delays, he only used 6 diapers and one was because we got it dirty by accident with Ryan’s what I can only call “Poop Explosion” hahaa. To be safe, I would still bring at least 1 diaper for every 3hours of trip so for our 38 hours, i just rounded it off to 15 diapers. With COVID and all the restrictions around flying now, it just plays to be safe than sorry and if that means having less space for my own stuff, so be it. You would think it’s easy to buy diapers in international airports if you do get stranded but international airports are usually huge and while there are many amenities, remember that you are alone with a possibly needy baby
Light Changing Pad – When I was pregnant, I registered for Nestle Baby & me Baby Pack and they mailed it to me. Inside the free Baby pack included samples, coupons and a super lightweight changing pad that doesn’t take any room in my backpack so I used that for any long haul flights with baby.
Blanket for Baby
Plastic Bags/Ziplock Bags – you never know when you need them…like when your baby has a major poop explosion while passing customs lol
Baby Wipes – I love the Kirkland ones from Costco & I use them for everything….not just for wiping his bum bum
Sanitizing Wipes – To be honest, I find myself rarely using them to clean plane areas. Personally, I think it is kind of pointless but it does give me peace of mind to at least have a small packet of it
Toiletries for Baby – Travel Size Baby Lotion / Travel size Vaseline. Instead of using a specific diaper cream, I just bring Vaseline as it can multitask as a diaper cream, lip balm, for minor skin cuts or even to moisturize your face, hands, and more.
2 wash cloths – again, it can multitask as cleaning the baby or even when you are trying to burp the baby after their feeding. Place it on your shoulder while burping baby so if he spits up a bit of milk, your clothes are safe
Fav Toys – This warrants a post on its own so for now, I will leave it
3 outfits for baby – For this, you would have to gauge what your baby needs. Does your baby get cold easily? Our first flight, I packed so many warm clothes for him thinking he will get cold in plane but turns out, my baby has my body temperament. We are warm blooded animals lol. We sweat in planes so for me, that was a great thing cos one less thicker jacket to bring
At least a change of outfit for me in case baby spits up on me
Baby socks
Baby Formula – Okay some moms would totally disagree with my method. To each their own. Just because this works for me doesn’t mean i think it works for everyone. Do what is best for you. I merely am sharing my experiences. I knew right from being pregnant that me and baby would be flying long haul quite a fair bit so I started prepping baby months before we flew. When he was born, he had a mixture of breastfeeding & formula. I wanted him to get used to different milk so he is more adaptable in the plane.
Baby’s solid food (Canned Baby Food appropriate for their age, banana that can be easily mashed & baby rusks) – We started him with baby food when he was 5 months old (just a week before the flight). We didn’t push for him to try a lot of solids…just the mashed banana and maybe one canned baby mushy food. We did that to make sure he was ok with both types of food so we can give him some on plane if he is interested.
Baby Cutlery & Plastic Bowls – Bring those that are small, easy to clean and dry. We used it to mash and feed him the banana.
Medicine for Baby & Me
Baby Carrier (Tula)
Stroller – Make sure your stroller fits size requirements of gate check in.
Mommy Sanity Bag – Origins Peace of Mind/ Ear Plugs / Halls / some small fav snacks for me
Passports with valid expiry dates
Birth Cert of Baby with Full parents’ names
Signed consent form from spouse (if you are travelling alone with baby)
Travel Insurance Paperwork
Flight Itineraries – you might think that you dun need the printed copies cos everything is on your cellphone but believe me, when all our 3 flights were delayed and i had to make many calls, it was easier to refer to paper copies
Wallet
Cellphone, charger and fully charged power bank
Headphones
Re-sealable plastic bag for Liquid items – Baby formula, baby food and milk or juice if travelling with children two (2) years of age and under are usually exempted from the liquid restriction for most airlines but make sure you check with airlines prior to packing
And REMEMBER to request for a bassinet for your flights so baby has their own space to sleep and rest without paying for an extra seat. There are usually limited bassinets in a plane so make sure you make a request and confirm if they have it for you. If they don’t, that might change what you need to bring on plane. As you can see, Ryan was perfectly happy in the bassinet.
There you go – my very 1st post on flying with a baby 🙂
What else do you pack in your carry on luggage when flying long haul with your baby? Let me know if there are things I have missed.
ALL COOKED IN JUST 1 PAN!! LITERALLY A LIFESAVER FOR A WORKING MOM!
Because I love seafood and because I have so many freezers lol (2 big deep chest freezers and 2 fridge freezers!!), I always always have plenty of frozen shrimps. So when I am lacking in inspiration and simply do not feel like cooking or washing a lot of dishes, one pan dishes like this one is really appealing.
It’s a super easy recipe and you can use black pepper instead of white pepper. But I love love love white pepper so I use it in everything. Minced garlic is a must and be generous with it. It’s really what makes this pasta so yummy.
Ingredients:
Linguine (enough for 6 servings)
2 tablespoons oil
1 stick butter cut in half
Lots of Minced Garlic
3 Tbsp Cajun Spice
Large shrimps
Fresh Mushrooms
Salt and White pepper
Spinach
Instructions:
Boil water in the big pan and add pasta. Once cooked, drain pasta and place aside for now
Using same pan, heat oil and half of your butter. Add garlic and cook until garlic is slightly brown but not burnt
Add in shrimp, mushroom, cajun spice, salt and white pepper to taste, and stirfry until shrimp and mushroom are cooked
Add spinach
Return cooked pasta to the pan and add remaining butter.
Let’s face it. Work from home (WFH) never looks this relaxing, tranquil and cool. Well, unless you have the perfect home, no kids or you simply are one of the moms who has all her shit pulled together. Not this mom. In fact, most days, my house looks a mess. I call it organized chaos 😛
First off, my coffee mug in the morning never looks this small. Just the refills would be a waste of my time. I have one of those uber big mom mugs that I set on my coffee table in the morning and it gets cold before i can get to drinking half of it because there goes “Mommy Mommy Mommy” roll eyes emoji plsss 🙄
I have been super slack in blogging since the start of the pandemic. Don’t get me wrong. I am so very grateful that the nature of my position provides me the flexibility to work from home during this pandemic and keep not just our family safe but my colleagues too. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t struggle at all. And after so many months of working from home, I think I have a much better handle on it for sure.
The first month, I would say was the hardest. I have a really supportive team and boss but it wasn’t them as much as it was my own expectations of how work should look like. And my traditional definition of work life definitely doesn’t include feeding my kid, cleaning my kid, answering my kid, swearing at my kid, yelling at my kid, pacifying my kid etc…you get the drift.
I like and hope that I’m someone flexible enough to consider all aspects when it comes to doing my work but at the heart of me is a traditional me that has never wanted to even consider the option of working from home. My home, in my mind has always been the separation between work and life and it has always served me well. I like the roads well travelled for myself. I don’t need many close relationships but the few ones I value, I believe are deep, real and authentic and I find them easier to forge and maintain face to face vs working from home. As an INFJ, I need to take some time alone now and then to decompress, recharge, and process my thoughts and feelings and home is where I do that so when home and office becomes one, I need to adapt and find a different way to recharge.
I like my going to work and being in office routine. I enjoy seeing my co-workers and my team. I like that I have a reason to get myself decently dressed to go to the office. I like that during those work hours, my child is safe and happy and engaged somewhere else (& by that, i meant far far away from me 😂😂 lol). I like that my work hours are filled with adult interaction. So many likes I can give you about going to the office. I like that when lunch time comes, I only need to think for myself and not try to fix a meal for a very vocal toddler 😏😏
So when Covid happened and I started working from home, my work life as I have always known significantly changed. Most people around me think I love change. I don’t actually but I do think I adapt quickly to changes. And it isn’t because I like change. It definitely isn’t because I am just naturally an adaptable personality. I. AM. SO. NOT. LOL
I think I tend to adapt quicker because even though I don’t like it, I accept that Change is a part and natural of life. Acceptance of what is natural of life cycle is, in my mind key to ironing the kinks and embracing the changes. In today’s world or some cultures, acceptance has a more negative or defeatist connotation as if to tell you to expect little of life or to be happy getting less of what you feel you deserved. In my mind, acceptance is the complete opposite. Acceptance sets the ground to uncover underlying opportunities that you would not have seen otherwise. Acceptance is owning that the situation isn’t always going to be what your vision has been but instead, it can be better. Acceptance is quickly identifying how to not only make the best of your work situation but how to make it better. Now, all the above is in the context of work. My personal life and acceptance – HA! that’s a totally different story. My hubby would probably tell you my acceptance level for personal life is super low lol. Hey, I never said I was perfect. Acceptance takes practice. Buddhism is all about diligently practicing. And nope, not a Buddhist but I do find that the older I get, the more I love reading up on Buddhism beliefs.
So let me not digress further. After all these months of working from home, here are some of the things I do to make sure I stay productive and sane. Bear in mind what works for me & my family might not work for yours but hope it helps 😘😘
Setting up a designated work area just for work and making sure it is comfortable but also has privacy when needed
Always always keep my boss and team posted of my schedule and work. That’s just basic respect
Be upfront and transparent about challenges encountered while working from home but always always bring a solution and not just the problem to your boss
If possible, take a short walk around my neighbourhood during lunch (ermmm, this one needs a lot more practice on my part lol. I am very very very guilty of never wanting to walk 😂😂)
Make ahead tons of freezable breakfast choices during my weekend so when my son is “HANGRY” on my busy workday mornings, pop goes a frozen breakfast sandwich or mini pancakes to the microwave and he has something semi healthy to eat within 5 mins.
Plenty of snacks. Can’t emphasize that enough. My 3 year old is constantly eating!!! If i had to stop work every time he wants a snack, I will never get any work done. I have an area where i place all his easy to eat snacks and juice boxes. My son is a pretty clean eater but even then, messes happen when he eats. I try to strategically buy snacks that doesn’t make as much of a mess e.g, popcorn, applesauce, small bite size crackers/cookies, nuts etc. Unless I want a reenactment of the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel where the children leave a trail of bread crumbs, I try to reserve the crumbly big muffins for after work or lunch time. And I try to just cringe & roll my eyes a hundred times internally, breathe and let it go when he accidentally makes a huge mess.
Keep the kid entertained. During the weekends, I also try to plan out some easy & small learning activities for Ryan throughout the week. And I get all the daily supplies ready on Sunday and make sure those activities take only 15-20 mins of my weekday time. When all else fails, I give him my Ipad. YES. He calls my IPad his IPad. There’s also Netflix and YouTube lol
Unless you have to self-isolate, I still would sign Ryan up for daycare, babysitter or preschool. And make arrangements for him to go to a family member or a mom friend (in your social bubble) on some days for a playdate so you get those alone time at home to work
Plan for interruptions especially when I have a busy toddler. I don’t believe I should subject my co-workers and supervisor to my kid bugging me non stop during a meeting. Your boss might not say anything but it ain’t right and it sure ain’t professional. Doesn’t mean it will never happen but at the minimum, planning for that would minimize such situations from happening. I always try to make sure Ryan is with someone else when I have video meetings. People would only give you grace for this long & really, why would you expect your coworkers and boss to be okay with that?
Unless the whole family is on a self-isolation order or daycare is simply not available due to Covid, working from home is not a substitute for child care entirely. Sure, some moms might prefer to keep their kids at home entirely. If it works for you, great. That doesn’t work for me at all.
Be honest. WFH doesn’t work for everyone.
And most importantly, cut yourself some slack. Am I doing enough for work, enough as a mom, enough as a spouse? So many questions.
And really, stop feeling guilty or the need to explain myself why I give my kid my Ipad. This is a really odd year for everyone so let’s just cut ourselves some slack. No one is going to do this perfectly. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. But if your kid uses too much Ipad, watches too much cartoons or eat too much junk processed food this week, it really isn’t the end of the world for you or your child.
And lastly if you walk into a room full of tissues all over or if your kid spills juice over the couch for the 15th time, just try to LAUGH & breathe ☺️☺️
At least, he helped to clean up lol
Do you work from home? Share with us your challenges, successes and tips in the comments! Would love to hear them 🥰
August is a month of many birthdays, starting with my mom’s birthday, followed by my nephew followed by Singapore Birthday! And this year, Singapore is turning 55!! HOO HOO!
Last month, we celebrated Canada Day with a chocolate cake so I was cracking my brains on what to do for Singapore Day that I could involve Ryan too. Turned to Pinterest but everything look more complicated than the level of energy I had lol. While I love creating indoor activities with Ryan, my criteria is that it can’t take too much time to assemble it. Otherwise, I be tired even before he starts the activity.
I know I know! We sing Happy Birthday for every occasion we can think of lol
Took a look at my pantry. TA DA!! I have Frozen Toaster Strudels!! Yeah to frozen convenience food lol.
They will do. They are rectangular in shape and will make do as a flag Ha! I am so impressed with myself lol especially since I just forgot to pick my son up from daycare last week. Turns out most mommies have done that before lol but I digress.
Here is my easy Peasy laZy mommy Singapore National Day Activity for Ryan.
Ingredients:
Pillsbury Strudel as the Flag
Store Bought Red Icing or Strawberry Jam
Store Bought White Icing
White Bread for the stars & crescent moon
Cookie Cutters to cut out “I Love SG”
There you go. An easy Peasy way for him to learn about the Singapore Flag.
And while Ryan was not born and didn’t grow up in Singapore like I did, it’s so important to me that I help him understand and get to know Singapore culture and traditions.
And while I get sad at times because all my family are in Singapore and I wish he could be there for his grandma birthday, his cousin birthday and every milestone of his Singapore family, I’m going to choose to focus on how lucky Ryan is that in spite of the long distance, so many people in Singapore adores & loves him, that he’s been flying since he was 5 months old and how lucky he is to be exposed to 2 awesome cultures – Canada & Singapore!
Never celebrated Easter before. Certainly have never colored Easter Eggs before either. If there is anything I have learnt from embarking my motherhood journey, it’s that there are so many things, songs, activities for kids here that are very different compared to if Ryan was growing up in Singapore. Sure, there are many similarities too but definitely a lot of differences as well. I think differences are great! They allow our kids to learn and be exposed to so many different experiences 😀
Back to Easter. Easter and Good Friday has never meant anything to me except they were statutory holidays. I sometimes worry if I would be a good mom because there are so many Canadian childhood rituals that wouldn’t make any sense to me. It wouldn’t be intuitive for me to create a Easter Egg hunt for Ryan & his buddies. Neither would it be intuitive for me to go Trick or Treat with Ryan on Halloween door to door or carve out a pumpkin lol. But my worries are unfounded, so far at least. If anything, it gives me the opportunity to be as excited as Ryan because it wouldn’t just be Ryan’s first time coloring eggs. It would be this Mommy’s first time too ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ .
While we weren’t able to meet up with family for our usual Easter Dinner, we had fun and we are grateful that we are healthy and are all together. At the end, that’s all that really matters.
We hope you enjoy our little Ryan video of us coloring Easter Eggs for the first time & of course, HAPPY HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE! 😀
I still remember the first time i packed a kaya sandwich in Ryan’s packed lunch to daycare. When I went to pick him up, the awesome daycare ladies asked me what was the green stuff in his sandwich 😛 . They probably wondered why any mom would slather green food coloring to their kid’s sandwich LOL.
So, Kaya is a Southeast Asia jam that basically consist of eggs, coconut cream, sugar and Pandan Essence. Pandan Essence is made from Pandan leaves which is in abundance in Singapore. Not so much in where we live in Canada. So next best thing – I brought back Pandan Paste and Pandan extract 😀 . I mean…what’s a girl gonna do to get her favorite jam fix? 😉
Pandan Paste Vs. Pandan Extract
Pandan Leaves
For those of you who do not know what Pandan Leaves are like, they are a tropical plant that grows abundantly in Southeast Asia. You can read more about the plant at thespruceeats.com if you like but it is known as a “fragrant plant” because of its unique, sweet aroma and growing up, my mom uses it fairly often for baking. It’s got such a sweet and fragrant aroma i love just sniffing the bottle LOL. And Kaya Sandwich is to me like how PB&J sandwich is to my Caucasian friends 😀 . Well, until now where every kid’s packed lunch has to be nut free anyway.
Traditional Kaya Jam takes at least a couple hours to make. It is really a very easy recipe with less than 5 ingredients. Challenge is it requires a lot of patience slaving over the stove using a double boiler to cook it slowly, making sure you stir it constantly over low heat. The patience is what makes good kaya jam smooth instead of lumpy. Well, I like to think I have many virtues but patience is not always one of them
So I decided to use the same ingredients as I would in a traditional recipe. Except that instead of a double boiler, I just cook it in a pot directly over stove on low to medium heat. Took way lesser time to get it to a jam kinda texture. Sure, it wasn’t as smooth but it didn’t affect the taste one bit. In fact, it taste every bit the same ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ as I remember growing up eating that for breakfast made by my adorable mom.. I wonder if Ryan thinks I’m adorable too lol.. probably not 😀 . What matters is he loves his kaya toast as much as I do & that’s a win for a lazy mommy trying to integrate him to his Singapore roots.
Best way to eat it – spread margarine and kaya on your toast 😀
Ingredients:
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup white sugar
1 cup coconut cream (full fat version please)
1/2 tablespoon Pandan Essence
Instructions:
Add sugar, coconut cream & essence to the lightly beaten eggs in a pot
Cook the mixture directly on stove over low to medium heat
Keep stirring constantly until it becomes the jam texture you are looking for
When it is cooled, you can store in fridge just like you keep your store bought strawberry jam
Honestly, never even really occurred to me where egg tarts actually come from… as in from which culture. Growing up, I always remember eating them when my parents would bring us to go eat dim sum on weekend mornings. Those were very fond memories indeed. These days, you can pretty much eat dim sum any day.
But this I do know – while it is a Asian dish, it has influences from the Portuguese. Might be the reason why some Asian places call them Portuguese Egg Tarts.
So usually, I will try to make my own crust and I have a really wicked awesome flaky pie crust which I feel will work great for the egg tarts but this weekend, Ryan and I weren’t feeling really well so I just really didn’t feel like making it from scratch so store bought ones will have to do for this weekend 😀
And really, Tenderflake Tart Shells works perfect with Egg Tarts.
There are many many egg tart recipes but remembering that this is a Easy Peasy one, so I did skip some steps such as straining the egg mixture. Straining the egg mixture/filling helps remove any lumps and ensures your custard filling comes out looking smooth & pretty.
Also, it usually ask you to chill the filling in fridge first. Again, skipped by this mommy. One thing to note too that my original recipe usually uses evaporated milk but sometimes when I dun have that, I use my coffee cream instead. I just use 2 tbsp of coffee cream instead of 1/4 cup evaporated milk.
Since I am baking for my family and not to sell, I really could care less about straining it. Maybe when I have more time or when I decide to see if anyone will buy it from me at the Farmers Market lol
Here goes the super easy ingredients:
1 box of Tenderflake Tart Shells (12 tarts)
4 beaten eggs with a pinch of vanilla extract & salt
¾ cup hot water
6 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
My Easy Peasy Lazy Mommy Recipe:
To make the custard filling, stir in sugar in hot water and let it cool slightly
Once water is cooled, add in your beaten eggs, vanilla, salt and evaporated milk. If you don’t have evaporated milk, I would just add 2 Tbsp of coffee cream or half & half
Mix it all up thoroughly
Strain it if you want your custard to look smooth and pretty and without lumps but I didn’t.
Pour it into the 12 tart shells till about 80% full
Bake at 400 f for 20-25 mins. Mine came out at 25 mins Cos I filled the tart shells to the brim lol. But if you fill it to 80% full, 20 mins works suffice
And that is it. Super easy. Super lazy recipe. And now my son gets to have a taste of what my parents would bring me to eat on a Sunday morning 😀 and he ate 2 for breakfast this morning so I’m gonna call that a Mommy Win!
I have always disliked making a whole Chicken. Despite my best friend telling me it’s the easiest thing she does in her home, I still don’t like making it. But the few times that I have made a whole Chicken, I have done it using our oven and I always either undercook or overcook the chicken to death 😀
But it was so easy to use my Vortex Plus to do this that I am pretty certain that this is going to start being a Regular in our household. And for whatever reason, Vortex Plus just makes me feel like a little girl who just got an Easy Bake Oven toy as a present LOL.
I must have somewhat feel intimidated about using it cos hubby got this for me as a Christmas gift and while I have used it to make Chicken Wings (which are fabulous by the way) and cookies, I haven’t touched the Rotisserie function at all.
Well, let me assure you that my initial fear is definitely unwarranted. The rotisserie function is so easy peasy to use. If a Lazy Mommy like me can use it and succeed on her first try, so can you 😀
This Bad Ass Vortex Plus is definitely not going anywhere!!! I love it! 🙂
When I have the time, I would make my own seasoning for the chicken but a mom’s gonna do what she’s gonna do and sometimes, there just isn’t enough time in a day to get everything done – well, not for me anyway cos you know, Netflix is important too for my sanity LOL…so ermmmm definitely no shame in using shortcuts lol
So a few lazy mommy tips for this recipe. To save time, I use onion soup mix as my dry rub for the chicken. Also, I know every recipe always calls for adding the food after the oven has been pre-heated but honestly, I don’t find it such a significant difference for some dishes so I just skip that part and just add the food. For the Vortex Plus, the 40 mins only starts after it’s been pre-heated anyway. Another thing – if you are concerned about if the chicken is fully cooked, temp of fully cooked chicken breast is 165 and cooked thigh meat should be 185. But 40 mins definitely did it for my 3 pound chicken. It was cooked fully but also super moist.
Ingredients:
Whole Chicken (must be Under 4 Pounds. I used a 3 pound bird)
1 Packet of Onion Soup Mix
3 Tbsp Melted Butter
Dash of white pepper
Dash of black pepper
Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the onion soup mix with the melted butter
Pat the chicken dry & make sure the cavity of chicken is clean. Remove any gizzards & tie the chicken with kitchen string. I was lazy and just bought a chicken that was already tied up.
Rub the onion soup mix seasoning all around the whole chicken, including the cavity
Everyone does it differently. For me, I find it easier to insert the left rotisserie fork to the rotisserie rod first. Then I insert the rod through the chicken cavity. Lastly, I insert the right fork to the rod and Ta Da! It is now ready to go into the Vortex Plus (dun be intimidated by my written instructions. Just watch the video. I promise you the video shows how i do it and it’s actually quite easy)
Some users wait till the Vortex Plus is pre-heated before adding the chicken. I honestly just add the chicken right in, close the door before I start pre-heating the Vortex Plus. I find no significant difference in it but you do what you prefer 😀
40 minutes at 375 F and I eagerly remove my chicken. Yum!
To ensure you get a super moist chicken, rest the chicken for 10 minutes. This is important.
Enjoy! 😀
Enjoy the video & let me know how it turns out for you or share with me your favorite Roast Chicken recipe!
All I know is that my son, my hubby & grandpa all gave this Roast Chicken the Thumbs Up! 😎 😎 😎 That make this Lazy Mommy soooo very happy
As I sit on my couch this weekend nursing my cold while slurping my spicy kimchi instant noodles, I asked my also sick hubby whether he wanted me to make him some. Something in his face expression tells me he isn’t too impressed with my food choice 😀
Got me thinking about comfort food and what that means to different people. Whenever I’m sick, certain food like my trusted instant noodles always come to mind & they come to mind not because always of the food itself but more importantly, the memories attached to it.
According to the World Instant Noodles Association (and yes, I actually can’t believe this is a real website lol), Asians are the biggest consumers of instant noodles.
And instant noodles really have come a long way from its humble beginnings of just chicken or beef instant noodle. You can pretty much find any variety you like these days – the choices are endless. Well if you head to a western supermarket in Canada, you will still likely only find the beef, chicken & maybe one or two other variety but head to any supermarket in Asia or a Asian supermarket in Canada, you are gonna see a whole lot of variety that you never see before.
So our obsession is not the only reason why instant noodles is my comfort food. Because you are right. They are completely unhealthy and in no way provide any form of nutrition. But it’s not like I’m eating it as a staple food. I only eat them once in a long time such as when I’m feeling sick.
I think I started eating instant noodles when I was a teenager and when you are a teenager, nutrition was the last thing on my mind lol. But not my mom.
The way my mom made us instant noodles – it definitely didn’t feel instant at all. In fact, she always put so much work to pack so much nutrients in those noodles. I actually remember mocking & teasing my mom that if she had to put so much work in making instant noodles for me, it might as well not be called instant noodles. Kinda feel like a jack ass now lol. Never really appreciated her for all the things she did for us.
So how my mom would cook our instant noodles – instead of using the seasoning powder, she would use homemade chicken broth (not Campbell chicken broth but made from scratch wholesome good chicken broth). Instead of using any artificial ingredients that came along with the instant noodles, she packed it with tons of fresh green leafy vegetables, egg and healthy protein. See how much more extra work that took for her. Best mom ever. I love you Mom!!
My Mom with Ryan
And this is why instant noodles is one of my comfort food 😀 . Because now that I’m so far away from my mom, making food the way she does makes me feel closer to her. And now that I’m a mom, I finally understand why moms do the “extra” things we do for our children like how I tried to add vegetables to Ryan’s meatballs or chia seeds to his blueberry muffins.
So for my instant noodles, I cheated and used Campbell no salt chicken broth lol. I mean I call myself a lazy mommy for a reason. But I added tons of green leafy vegetables, fresh mushrooms, crab meat and instead of the artificial dehydrated kimchi that came with the noodles, I used real kimchi to make the broth a bit spicy.
So there you go – slurping my instant noodles. What’s your comfort food? What’s the first thing you crave for when you are sick or when you are having a bad day? I bet that comfort food is tied to some pretty awesome memories 😀 .
How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!
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LAZY MOMMY GUIDE 