Recent food success!

It's been almost a week since my last update. We have not been going anywhere except to a dinner hosted by K's new colleague, M last Sunday. Before dinner, we took a walk around the Mt Auburn Cemetry near their place which has a tower that enabled us to have a paranomic view of Boston. The weather was awesome that day despite the rainy forecast and it was the last of the warmer Fall weekend. This week has been definitely colder with temperatures below 10 deg C and Ry and I have both developed a slight cold.

Still looking fresh before we took the 90 steps climb up the tower!

View of the Boston and Cambridge skyline from the tower. Look at the beautiful colours of fall!

The scenery at the pond is so picturesque!

M has a 3 mth old baby boy who weighs as heavy as Ry now. Imagine how big he is! It was told to us that he had his daddy's genes and M was a giant baby himself. We had a nice cosy dinner at his place with baked trout (caught by M himself), baked pork chops and some side vegetables. I brought along fried bee hoon as M wanted to try some SG cuisine and apple crumble for dessert. The apple crumble was made according to Dan's recipe from Video Jug, http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-apple-crumble. Fortunately, I baked it successfully upon my first try, so did not lose face as worried by K on our way there!

Look at how chubby are his arms and ankles!

Other food accomplishments recently included my new recipe of garlicky ginger stir fried chicken with chilli, cupcakes, banana muffins with walnut toppings, oyako don and japanese curry rice with chicken cutlet. Yep, I have diversified my cooking to include Japanese cuisines as it is so easy for us to get the ingredients and condiments from the Jap supermarket here. And thanks to my friend, A, who has lent me this wonderful recipe book of japanese cuisines which has easy to follow recipes.

Banana muffins that I baked yesterday! Recipe is from http://www.catcancook.com/awesome-banana-muffin-recipe/

Here is the recipe of my Garlicky ginger stir fried chicken with chilli. This is made so that I can used up the chilli padi that I bought.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 pcs of boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat

5 pcs of chilli padi, chopped

1 tsp of minced garlic

1 tsp of minced ginger

Marinade:

1/2 tbs Chinese cooking wine

1 tbs light soya sauce

1 - 1.5 tbs cornflour

Seasonings

1/2 tbs chinese cooking wine

1/2 tbs oyster sauce

1 tbs light soya sauce

1/2 tbs dark soya sauce

4 tbs water

Steps:

1. Marinade the chicken for at least 30 minutes

2. Stir fry the minced ginger and minced garlic in oil until aromatic

3. Add the chicken and stir fry till almost cooked.

4. Add in the seasonings and cook until the sauce thickened.

Some Thoughts....

Recently, many of my SG friends commented that they envy our life here in US after reading my blog. This prompted me to write down some of my not so enviable experiences here and some of the festering thoughts that had been lingering in me for sometime.

First, not all things are rosy in a foreign land. The one thing that constantly irks us is the healthcare system in US and the complexities and atrocities in their billing and insurance system. I've often complained to newcomers to US about how much we have to pay for our medical bills on top of the expensive health insurance that we have bought. For example, one common cough and cold visit by my son can easily set me back USD $150 for co-payment, by which the bills for the same visit can come in different terms and different times that I find it hard to comprehend, considering that we understand and speak English fluently.

Since I found myself pregnant, we decided to purchase the more comprehensive health insurance from Harvard that requires little co-payment but is ultra expensive. Imagine a family of 3 has to fork out USD $15000 for a 9 month coverage. Not only that, we still have to pay for any medications and also be careful in our doctor visits so that we do not do any additional tests that are not covered by the insurance. Even then, recently, I still received a $350 hospital bill for a recent hearing test that Ry even though we were told that it was covered by insurance. I immediately called the hospital to clarify and they told me to ignore the bill as they are still waiting for the insurer to make payment. Imagine that I did not bother to make the call, I would have paid $350 in vain. That shows how fxxx-up the system here as quoted by my hubby (pardon the language here).

Besides these, we also do not have much confidence in the healthcare system here. While I was having spotting when I first discovered pregnancy, I called the doctors to schedule a visit but was told that it is possible only after I reached the 8 weeks mark. We had no choice but waited for the weeks to pass with great trepidation and fear. At the visit itself, I did not get to see the doctor but the nurse and she refused to give me an ultrasound until she found that I still have some more bleeding in the cervix. Although so far, my pregnancy has progressed well with little problems, we have little confidence in my delivery because the US doctors here have different views and practice from my SG gynae, especially after I heard about my friend's not so pleasant experiences with the gynae and obstetrics practices here.

Second, things can get pretty lonely and difficult without your familiar friends and relatives around. I have no choice but to bring Ry with me to everywhere I go even when I do not feel well or the weather is too cold outside. These are the times when I wished for someone to care for him instead. Also, Americans here are not as friendly or open as what most people think, so it is also difficult to make new friends here. But it is also the circumstances that fortify the relationship between me and my hubby and our little one.

I do agree that life here is more exciting as compared to urban SG and there are somethings that we appreciated very much as mentioned in my earlier blogs. Because of the variety of experiences that we could expose Ry to here especially after I've become a SAHM, I'm also constantly thinking about what to do with my next child, Br.

For instance, I could bring Ry to playgrounds, playgroups and classes that we enjoy together but with the second one, could I still afford to lavish him the same attention and love when I'm back at work in SG next year. I can imagine that the only quality time that daddy and mummy can spend with the kids next year will only be on weekends, which we are also burdened with other mundane household duties and in-laws visiting. How are we going to make sure we give them the same type of attention and also to divide them equally among the two of them? Also, what places can we bring them to where they can appreciate the beauty of nature besides the crowded East Coast Park and the touristy Zoo in our small island of concrete jungle?

More thoughts festered in me especially after I read two articles listed below about birth order. One mentioned that the firstborn will usually engage in more successful careers and earn higher pay due to their stronger drive to succeed while the second kid will usually be more easy-going and sociable especially if they are the middle ones, since they are usually neglected, and hence engage in lower prestige jobs since they are less driven.

The other article mentioned about the equality of love between different kids. Will parents love one child more than the other? I know now that we love Ry wholeheartedly and I kept asking myself, can I repeat the same type of love for Br? Will I be impartial in my love and not practice favouritism especially after Ry and I spend so many precious and memorable moments together here in US while I know that I could not repeat the same experiences with Br when we are back in SG? I have no answers yet but maybe as what K said after he read the article, we'll just tell the boys that we love both of them equally and we love them in different ways as different as they are.

Wondering at the back of mind: will Br look like his gor-gor?

http://www.helium.com/items/953847-loving-children-equally-but-differently

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/birthwrk.htm

Apple Picking

Our last Sunday day trip was to go to Shelburne Farm in Stow, the western side of Massachusetts for some apple picking. It was already the last week of the apple picking season and the day was chilly at 6 deg C. Therefore we thought that the farm would not be crowded. To our surprise, when we pulled up at the farm after a scenic 40 minutes drive, the whole carpark was full with cars. Fortunately, this farm as recommended by my SG friend, YM has a big compound and therefore, we did not feel the crowd while picking apples despite that we had to queue to pay for apple picking.

This is our second apple picking in our US stay here but it is the first time that we take the hayride / wagon ride as called by some other farms. The hayride was totally awesome for our little one. Ry was totally mesmerized by the ride as he stood in the front and holding on to the rails tightly taking in the passing fall foilage around the compound.

Ry was the only child who got the privilege to stand in front for the hayride.

After the hayride, we proceeded to some apple picking. As expected, most of the apples had fallen onto the ground or were already picked since it was late into the season. Those remained were high on the apple trees which we could not pick easily. Fortunately, there were ladders so this was the time for dear hubby, K to perform his duties as the man of the house and picked some nice, juicy apples for the family while Ry and I were in charge of sampling them.

Man of the house performing his duty.

Like father, like son. K says this pic of Ry's stance reminded him of the gangster stride in Chow Yun Fatt's gangster movie :>

Our turn to pose in front of the apple trees.

Of the five or six varieties of apples, we particulary like the Spencer species for its crunchiness and juicyness, so we picked mainly that. Since I also like the Cortland species for its special fragrance and aroma, we picked some of that as well. To add to the colour of the bag of red apples, we had some golden apples that look a bit like peaches. In the end, I think we had a bag of twenty -five to thirty apples. I think I will be going to do some baking using apples this week since on the same day, I bought a hand mixer, muffin cups and a big bowl at K-mart, promising K that baking would be one my activities that I'm going to engage in as a SAHM.

Daddy showing Ry how to pick an apple.

Ry imitating his daddy but has no teeth to bite through the apple yet.

Ry also loves the big pumpkins that he saw in the farm. He kept trying to carry those big pumpkins and refused to leave the pumpkin patch. In the end, we bought him one small pumpkin to carry home since Halloween is round the corner!

Music Together Update #1

It has already been 4 lessons since I signed up Ry for Music Together and therefore it is time for me to give a little update of Ry's progress. Over this time, I have also realised that many of the toddlers that we met in the playground and the library are enrolled in this program too, which therefore shows its popularity. I must admit that the lessons are pretty good and Ry has enjoyed them tremendously. He looks forward to the lessons and often participates enthusiastically in them despite the odd hour at 12 -1 pm, which is his usual lunch time. Like for the last lesson, he actually went through the whole lesson even though I knew he was extremely hungry as he kept coming back to me to ask for raisins and other snacks, which I am not supposed to give it to him in the little room.

Also, I have observed that Ry has also learnt to become more sociable and independent through these lessons. He would start to mingle around with other children and could stay away from me to participate in the activities alone. Like this morning, he actually sat alone in the middle of the room with other children in the library toddler sing-a-long session. Most importantly, I have seen his progress with the songs and actions. He could now perform some actions of the songs and could learn to follow the actions from the instructor more readily. For example, he could stomp his feet, pat his head, open and shut his palms when we do some action songs that involve them.

The last Music Together lesson involved the children playing with drums. There were drums of different sizes and shapes and the children could move around the room to beat on the drums. It was real fun and all the children enjoyed them thorougly. During the lesson, the kids were encouraged to explore the drums and parents were instructed not to stifle their creativity and curiosity. The video below is a snapshot of the drum lesson. I'm definitely looking forward to this Thursday lesson which we are instructed to bring kitchen items to the lessons for the children to make music with.

Franklin Zoo Park Trip

Monday, Oct 13 was the Columbus day and a declared public holiday in the states. For this long weekend, most Bostonians usually drive to New Hampshire or White Mountains for the foliage. However, we decided to stay back in our humble apartment so as to avoid the huge crowd and the heavy traffic. We'll probably do our foliage viewing and apple picking next weekend. Thus 3 weeks ago, I have already booked the free zoo pass from the library to visit the Franklin Park Zoo.

After having an extremely filling brunch consisting of the usual American fare of pancakes, toasts, bacons, sausages, omelettes and hashbrowns at Zoe Restaurant - one of our favourite haunts outside our place, we drove 30 minutes to the infamous and "dangerous" Dorcester zone where the Frankin Park Zoo was housed. It was a surprisingly nice visit especially since that we do not harbour any expectations, knowing that we cannot compare it to the standard of the Singapore Zoo. However, we did find the zoo a very welcoming place for family despite its small scale. In fact, we like the cosiness and the less touristy feel. Ry seemed excited throughout the trip. He kept pointing his fingers at the various animals and sticking his little face on the glass windows to look at them. There was once when he stuck his face on the window to look at the gorillas when suddenly a big fierce gorilla walked and sat in front of him to parade for all the visitors there. Ry was startled and moved back quickly but yet he did not cry. What a brave little boy he was!

Ry pointing at the animals excitedly for us to see.

Look at their similar smug faces!

Look at the white cranes behind us!

The big showy gorilla which startled little Ry!

The scenic autumn foliage we chanced upon even though we were not in the mountains!


Ry, our little cowboy!

The only pity was that we did not get to see the baby giraffe, the highlight of the zoo as the temperature was too cold at 13 deg C. However, for a free visit that saved us at least twenty bucks, we definitely enjoyed a leisure afternoon there at the zoo. In fact, we contemplated to return next summer for another visit with our 2 boys then :)

Niagara Falls

It is no wonder that Niagara Falls is one of the natural wonders in the world. After been there and experienced the fury of the falls and the thunderous rush of white water over the horseshoe fall in the Maid of the Mist tour and the Journey of the falls, I am glad that I decided to make this trip despite my bigger tummy and the cold fall weather hovering at 10 deg C.

Having heard from a friend who has made the trip earlier in Sept, we were definitely being ultra kiasu in terms of packing. Just for Ry alone, I had packed in 4 sets of clothes, 1 winter jacket, 1 fleece jacket and 1 pullover for him for a 3 days 2 nights trip, afraid that he would be soaked wet when taking the boat tour and getting cold in the ever-changing weather. In the end, only 2 sets of his clothes were used in addition to the new winter jacket and fleece jacket. We have forgotten that we are actually aclimatised to the cold weather here in Boston and hence not too afraid of the cold. Also, we did not get too wet in the boat tour as well. I guess that being parents made us more paranoid and careful when it comes to our kids.

Ry definitely enjoyed himself during the tour except when it came to putting on the poncho for both the tours. I guessed he felt weird with the plastic sheet over him and did not like the effects of the water mist falling on him. It was real funny when he kept sticking out his tongue to taste the water droplets when we took the boat tour towards the fall. Also, during our flight to Buffalo on Friday evening, Ry impressed the lady passenger in front of us by showing his angelic and cute side that she gave a brand new lobster hand puppet to him. Although we kept refusing her kindgesture but upon her earnest insistence, Ry has a new addition to his toy collection now and a new toy to play with throughout the journey.

On the whole, both K and I were exhausted after exploring the whole of Ontario side of the fall the whole of Sat so we basically did not check out much of the American side on Sun despite the clearer sky. The rainbow bridge and the custom definitely reminded us of our Causeway at Woodlands checkpoint. We were also pretty surprised by the quality of the Chinese food at the Canadian side. They are definitely more authentic and better that those served in Boston:)

Our first family portrait in the middle of the rainbow bridge between Canada and America.

The horseshoe fall and the mist generated from the power of the water.

Ry is soundly asleep in his stroller while we admire the beauty of the American Falls.

We are standing behind the horseshoe falls.

Taking a snack break.

Maid of the mist boat ride. This poncho fits better than the yellow one.

Ry's yellow jacket totally match the yellow car in front of Planet Hollywood.

The Clifton Hill behind us with all the different theme parks, horror museums, wax museum and various interesting shops.

Baby Loves to Dance

For those friends and relatives who have been around Ry should know that he loves to sway and dance to music. One of his favourite activity is to dance to Mickey Mouse clubhouse cartoon every morning that is shown on Disney Channel - something that he never fails to remind me to switch on the tv for him. To encourage his musical and kinestatic talents, we decided to enrol him in a music and dance class, known as Music Together. The fall semester of nine lessons each of 45 mins cost me a whopping USD $210, which also comes together with a song and activity book and 2 CDs of this semester song collection.

So how did the first lesson on Monday goes? Well, Ry pretty enjoyed it since he get to play with musical instruments and dance with scarves as well as various hand motions. Definitely, we can't expect a 18 mth old to follow every activity closely. There were times that Ry was distracted and went around the room touching the switches, the colourful walls and sitting on the heater.

And what about the moms and the caretakers there? We were encouraged to sing aloud, follow the actions so as to encourage participation of the kids. So at the end of the activity, I found myself more tired than Ry since I participated enthusiastically and sang loudly at the top of my voice, hoping to inspire my little one.

Overall, I am pretty proud of Ry's performance. He danced to most of the songs, did his famous quick side to side stomps, shook the rattlers and bells fervously and waved his hands as well as blowed kisses to Kelly, the instructor when we sang the goodbye song. At the end of the lesson, Kelly asked me whether we were returning customers although it was our first time there. She said that it was because Ry was so responsive that she thought that we had done all these before.

The instructor's comments made me feel that I did make the right decision to enrol Ry to the expensive class. K and I are always mindful not to fall into the trap of enrolling our kids to many enrichment classes, hoping that our kids will turn out to be a bright star someday. Our philosophy has always been that only to encourage those activity that our kids enjoy since childhood is the most important time for play. So we have agreed that no English lessons, no Chinese lessons, no gruelling piano, violin classes at preschool age - something that we have seen many parents around us doing. We will only sign up for activities that we see that they would have interest in. Hopefully, we are able to keep to our ideals and not succumb to peer pressure back home. Like what my prof in BC once said, sometimes it is the peer pressure of seeing what other parents do and thinking that your child may lose out in the long run that one would start following suit and enrol the child in many activities.



Ry shaking the eggs to the rthymn of the music and the set of songbook and CDs that we have to play to our kids at home so as to encourage their interests. A pity that I can't take more pics and videos of the lesson as I was busy participating and too embarrased to do it since I'm the only one doing it.


P/S: Ry has found the fun to twirl around and losing his balance today so he had been doing it non-stop to the music that I played from the CD. It was real cute! Hope I can video him in action one day and showed it here.