Lesson from a wise african old lady

 Echo was an 64 year old female eleplant, matriarch of the EB family living in Amboseli.  Every Monday in March, I've followed Echo on Animal planet.  I can relate so well with the behavior of the elephant family - where the female rules.  All females will remain with the family forever whereas the males will go independent and leave the group once they reach adulthood.

I've been reflecting on my feelings and thoughts in these 8 months following the birth of my son, wondering why is it that I can be so comfortable to let my family hold my son whereas I am so protective when my in-laws get near to him.  Finally, some enlightenment when I saw how the smartest land animal behave - it is basic instinct.  All animals except for humans, never get to meet their paternal family.  It is natural for a mother to be nervious when their off-springs are with anyone other than her own family.  Lions behave this way as well.

It is inevitable that one day my beloved son will have a family of his own and his wife will too feel the same way about me.  I will always remember this lesson from the wise african old lady.  I am praying hard that I will have a daughter of my own.

I was so sad when a search on the internet last night revealed that Echo passed away in May 2009.  You can follow Echo's EB family on Cynthia Moss's blog on the ATE (Amboseli Trust for Elephant) website. http://elephanttrust.org/blog/15
(The picture above was sourced from the same site)

I lived in a family of 4 sisters and my mum takes care of every single detail of home.  Seeing Echo with her family, reminded me of my mum and our family.  She is a majestic mother, grandmother and a caring caregiver for my son - my mum is truely a matriarch of my family.

Trial for the Tiger Food Jar

I did a trial with the Tiger Food Jar and it is really fuss free!

The porridge turn out to be very soft, something like those watery teochew porridge. I need to pour the "am" away and mesh up the contents a little with a spoon to suit my 7.5 months baby. I feed him the "am" separately like a soup and he loves it too!

The difficult part about cooking with this food jar is to estimate how much rice grains and water to add.

Serving size: 1 bowl of porridge

Ingredients

• 1 chinese soupspoon of rice grains, washed
• 300ml boiling hot water 

Method

1. Washed the food jar and pre-heat it by pouring some boiling hot water into it. Set for 10 mintues
2. Pour out the hot water
3. Add in the rice grains and pour in the boiling hot water.
4. Close the cap, wait for 4 hours... Voila! It's ready to eat.  

Tip: It is best if you can put the rice grains and water in a pot and heat up until boiling for 5 minutes before pouring the contents into the food jar. This will reduce the waiting time to 2 hours.

  

If you are looking for something that whip up those sticky cantonese porridge, this gadget will not do the job.

See also Sweet potato porride in Tiger Food Jar, Lazy mummy's cooking method

My Tiger Food Jar

Finally... Got my hands on the Tiger Food Jar which was highly recommended on SMH Aug09.
Thanks to Auntie Suzanna, whom managed to help me grab it from the Isetan card member's private sale!

This gadget can cook porriage on-the-go, then I can make porriage for Bay when we're in Chengdu next week. hohohoho!

Can you believe this tag? The original price is $109 and I got it for $39.90 during the sale.
The original price should be about $65 (Actual selling at BHG)
  



 
See also Trial run for Tiger Food Jar, Sweet potato porride in Tiger Food Jar, Lazy mummy's cooking method

"Kiiron" has arrived!

After Mark decided to name our boy "Kiiron", we did a search on internet and found out that "Kiiron" is a location of a highly secret military base in the book "Kiiron" by Trisha Johnson

Behaving like the usual tacky parents, we placed an order on 21st Oct 2009 with Borders so that our little boy can have the book that shares the same name with him.

I collected the book today, after almost a 5 months wait for it to be shipped from US.
Brought us back by $49.95 + $6.95 for shipping charges.


Book Summary
Karl Dornik, military specialist turned drifter, crash lands on Iskinar, a desert planet in the Veil Nebula. He is arrested and taken to Kiiron, the location of a highly secret military base. While being transferred to Midpoint Haven, the military government’s command center, he manages to escape and is rescued by the beautiful Treecia ven Willem, a trader on her way home from worlds deep in the heart of the galaxy. She is tall, blonde and fiercely independent, but she has a dark secret. Dornik is determined to penetrate the mystery surrounding Kiiron, and he and Treecia return to Iskinar, where they are befriended by the diminutive Corrua, whose people have been taken captive and transported to an unknown destination. They offer to help find Corrua’s wife and children and become involved in a mesh of politics and intrigue, implicating both the Confederation (the original, civilian government) and the Protectorate (the military rulers). Whether you’re a science-fiction adventure fan or not, you’ll be turning the pages of Kiiron to see what happens next!