Want to play or not? Yes, albeit the bad English, that was how as children, we approached the topic of play. Nothing has changed very much since, until the arrival of computers. Computer games like Nintendo,PlayStation, PSP etc have since changed forever our kid's idea of fun and entertainment. They no longer need to play in groups as their choice of interactive partner is reduced to a machine, chips, disk and memory cards.

Computer expert they have become. On the downside, they have turned into social nerds, hermit, outcast as they spend so much time with themselves. At the most, only one more child will join them in the odyssey of fun.

Back to this morning, playing wasn't planned this morning. We had organized an outing of breakfast, then to an early morning movie with an old friend of ours. Since that failed, I reminded Siddharth maybe there was an unfinished chore to attend to at home, which was scrubbing the foldaway mattress.

Out came the high pressure host and the bottle of Holy Cow. They swept the yard, cleaned of dried leaves and twigs, cleared the area and started hosing. As Siddharth has done this quite a number of times, this was an easy task. Next, with the mattress was finally hung up and shouts of," Wrap up everything and get ready for lunch .....", Junju came running and asked " Could we spray ourselves with the hose?".

What a blast they were having the whole morning. They hosed themselves and everything in sight wet. The child in me would have love to join in the fun if I did not have the house to attend to. Both soaked to their bare skin, giggling, laughing, screaming, shouting and of course the unavoidable bantering between brother and sister was obvious. Of course, shouts of "I hate you", " see what you did .... cause me to fall down", could be heard but that could easily be silenced by "this is great fun and the best morning I've ever had", when everything ended.

Yes, that's what real fun is, simple joy of spending time, sharing love and sibling bonding. Etching memories that will withstand the good times and bad,

Fun is rather priceless, isn't it. So, want to play or not? Please say yes.

Still unschooling or not??

Whenever another homeschooling parent asked me if I have or am I using a particular school curriculum, my answer would always get a puzzling response.

What or how do I teach them? Do I follow the Singapore, British or the American syllabus? Occasionally, after answering all their queries, I look into the mirror and ask myself do I really know what I am doing at all? 8 months have past since April, the kids and I have made some headwind in our homeschooling journey.

Coupled with tremendous willpower, we decided to make changes in our studying habits and techniques. As a result, unnecessary study materials have been replaced with more suitable ones covering a wider variety of topics and musical activities, given more prominence in our daily routine. Unfortunately, the few tutors who did not share my sentiments have been given a sent off. I am grateful for their service but they are best suited for other children. Expertise and experience are not the only criteria for holistic imparting of knowledge.

So it's back to the drawing board to look for Mr, Mrs, Miss Right Teacher for these young minds. As the saying goes, ..."Seek and you shall find." It's definitely about finding the person who understands your perspective and appreciating that life is more than chasing for paper qualification but ultimately, nourishing the 'mind and spirit'.

Finally, progress ...

Both the kids were enrolled in the EDISON language program, ran by the delightful Miss Amy Delphino and her team of capable teachers. The results have been amazingly satisfying and we have already enrolled for the next level in January 2010.

In the meanwhile, I have started using websites such as the British Museum, Geography 4kids, Surfing the net with kids, which offer research materials and the all important games for free. These interactive games will guarantee to get kids thinking with lots of fun thrown in. So, check it out!

Aside from some serious studying, we have started some simple art and craft projects. The first was pebble/rock painting and next, we quickened the pace in our ongoing scrapbook project. For pebble painting, all we did was to purchase some inexpensive PLAKA acrylic paints, which by the way was on offer and cleaned up rocks from our garden. With some easy internet tutorials, the kids came up with some designs, creating their own masterpieces. Doing the scrapbook is a bit costly but we tried using scraps of paper from old stuffs we found around the house. But at the same time, found a bookstore in Taman Tun that has a nifty haberdashery section selling a wide range of trimmings/ribbons & lace, buttons, papers and knick-knacks.

All would not be possible without huge doses of imagination, creativity, passion which came from the magnificent organ, our BRAIN.


P.S. Remember those dictation days we had in school, it's a great way for mom to take a break while the kids teach themselves reading, spelling, handwriting and even drawing. Let them grade and comment on their own ability. Try this and watch them have fun!

The Internet - Super Highway

Yes, I am back again, after 2 month of absence. Certainly I have been spending the bulk of my time reading about Malaysia's latest political controversies on The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini more than anything else.

Hey, who can deny the intriguing 'sandiwara' currently on air and on the internet. Our politicians are now becoming well-known, aren't they? Their humour and comical antic can rival those of the Taiwan ministers during many of their infamous senate sittings. Of course many of us have are familiar with our very our own drama, " The Ripping of the Perak Speaker's Robe" for instance. In fact, our politicians could well audition for the adult version of 'Kids Say the Darnest Thing' for shooting their mouths off so very often. If that fails, they could try 'Mind Your Language', the good o'l British sitcom, at least everyone practice speaking English and get along jolly well with Mr Brown. It is all centered on this principle "don't engage mouth before brain is in gear"

As a result, I detoxed myself from Astro's 'Asian Food Channel', my lifeline (I am a food stylist!) and detached myself from my 'lifeguru' Miss Oprah Winfrey. I am now completely addicted and hooked onto this new 'drug', the internet news. Reading The Malaysian Insider has become my morning coffee and Malaysiakini my toast 'n' bacon. The family can wait! Or they can walk over to Lotus for their 'thosai' or 'roti canai'. The downside of being online this much has caused me to overuse my monthly internet package, ever since the 'All the President's Men' (MIC, MCA, DAP, PKR, UMNO, GERAKAN, MAKKALSAKTHI) series started.

Much of my time is spent searching for political videos of opposition member being punched, cow's head dragged on streets, protesters sprayed by water canons, 'beauty suing the beast', the deadly tsunamis and typhoons, all happening and vying for my attention, at the same time. In the meanwhile, our local bigshots continue to play the 'Deal or No Deal' game.

The INTERNET is a great force with immense resources. The SUPER ALL POWERFUL tool! It is two dimensional, the 'good and the dark side'. The good side, we can learn, read, view, hold a conference, chat, talk to our families, run a business, buy lipstick, email, chat mail, post home-made video all on the net. Practically everything, except eat the machine itself. But wait, didn't they invent the prototype that can send smells & scents over the net provided you buy a particular software? On the dark side, bad news of corrupt politicians whose scams can be read ahead of your daily morning paper. I'm afraid newspapers are soon to be redundant.

For us homeschoolers, it provides hours of fun 'n' games, history, science, geography materials and help us to connect to the rest of the homeschooling community.

In the meantime, life goes on as normal as we can. We will wait and see what happens next as all of us are tuned on the current episode of 'Deal or No Deal'. The suspense is going to kill all of us, while anticipating the risky outcome.

My "Moove..ment"

"Movement" : a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social or, artistic ideas.

Most of us champion our ideas everyday, right from the breakfast table down to the company meeting room and even in the bedroom. We suggest, propose, coerce as well as argue to have our thoughts or ideas accepted and implemented.

Many do not understand the course that we are fighting for or simply WHY we do it? Living in the real world, "walking into the blank wall" frequently happens but some of us may not willingly "throw in the towel" when faced with such negative responses. Faith, conviction and perseverance are the motivating factor for anyone who has a course to fight.

So,
what's my movement ?

1. Saving our planet earth
It started 4 years ago when I brought back reusable bags from a supermarket chain in Melbourne and started using them everyday. I highlighted this concept to the newly opened supermarket in Bangsar and soon the ideas caught on like wildfire. They had replicated both the Coles bag and the chiller bag which I saw 2 years earlier in France.

I earnestly congratulate Bangsar Village Grocer for having the guts to pioneer and start this recycling movement. (Of course, all other hypermarket and supermarket started riding "pillion" on this recycle, reuse wave.) I wasted no time suggesting that they should also charge for plastic shopping bags as practiced in some European and one Asian country, though I did have to wait awhile for that to happen.

This August, they managed to surprise me with their "no plastic bags" campaign.
Well done !! Hopefully the lackadaisical but "kiasu"attitude of many Malaysian would change to make the earth litter free.

2. Live, eat healthy, organically.
The human race has never been so poisoned, ever. Polluted air, earth, water and food among all. We have to installed air cleaner, ionizer, water purifier, sanitizer, all in the quest to keep a pollutant-free home. So, shouldn't we have the same concern for what goes into our body? Unfortunately, eating organic food products seem to be unaffordable for many. In the past, mainly terminal illness patients were seen promoting the organic as well as the macro-biotic life-style. Not many of us were convinced. Unfortunately it has to takes the current surge of diseases, eg: heart, digestive, toddler allergy, wheat allergy, milk allergy and a host of other ailments to act as the wake-up call for many.

Modern medical diagnostic methods have also enable us to improve ill health otherwise tolerated by the sufferers for years.

A good example is my eldest who suffers from milk allergy which escalates to a severe sinus problems if unchecked. Although I have resorted to giving him organic oat milk I realized that milk alone may not be the culprit. Additives in processed milk, food fed to commercially- raised dairy cows and the environment could be one of the many reasons. With a series of medical test, a bit of food detective work (keeping food journal) and diet restructuring, my family now consumes about 80-90% organic food.

YES, they look and taste different....
Organic vegetables come with the hint of earthiness which many may have forgotten or never experienced. Root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, turnip, celery, parsley) simply taste deliciously sweet. What an incredible sensation to your taste bud as you bite into it. None of that unnatural sweetness of non-organic vegetables.
(eg: commercially grown carrots are genetically spliced to have a higher sugar content.) They may not look perfect but you do spend less time washing of all the pesticide residue. They are less wastage as you don't need to peel the skin of the carrots, apples, cucumbers where an incredible amount of nutrition is stored.
Kids can safely benefit from eating vegetable in its natural raw state.
but
Please don't take my word, instead do your research before making up your mind to go organic. The good news is, prices are coming down, becoming competitive compared to the mass grown produces and may be cheaper than imported vegetables. More outlets are being established in and around KL, PJ, Subang, offering discounts for regulars customers as well. Buying organic spices, fish or poultry, grains, flour, eggs, baby product, Chinese herbs, detergent right down to cosmetics are not an issue.

The organics lifestyle change, I admit is not for everyone at the moment. Regardless, do take a moment to consider the future we will be leaving for our children...

Eggs, Egg, Eggless

Personally I adore eggs. Scrambled, pan-fried, deep-fried (as in Sambal Telur), soft-boiled even the occasional hard-boiled, I simply love my eggs. My signature breakfast is my egg white omelet with mushroom, plum tomatoes, shredded potatoes spiced with chili, cumin and coriander. Going meatless for me clearly narrows down my option for finding food with a good source of protein, nutrition and taste other than the overly publicized TOFU or soy protein powder.

Recently, eggs have been a welcomed option in our family meals. On days that the kids feel like skipping breakfast, a "special" will be served. It's a hot cup of organic oat milk with an organic egg whisked in till frothy, sprinkled with a dash of cinnamon powder and sweetened with honey.

When I feel indulgent and in need of a little palate pampering, it's definitely the french toast. Slices of danish dipped in vanilla scented egg/milk concoction, grated orange zest, pan-fried to golden perfection and served with maple syrup for the kids. Of course, I enjoy mine simply, with a dash of cinnamon sugar, paired with a cup of Earl Grey.

If there are awards to be given in the super-food category, eggs would get my vote. Growing up in a Chinese home, I've always enjoyed eggs cooked in different ways. Braised tea eggs, eggs custard with mincemeat (chicken eggs, century eggs and salted eggs), chives and egg frittata, fish 'n' egg rolls, barley egg drop "tongsui" just to name a few.

Aside from being a gourmand's choice, eggs have their "other" uses eg: treatment of fever, bruises, bumps in traditional medicine. According to old wives tales and Chinese customs, a hard-boiled egg inserted with a copper coin will draw out toxins from a feverish patient. Rubbing the patient's abdomen will bring down a fever. Nowadays I use the ice-gel bag for fever, microwave bead bag for my aches and pains. If nothing else works, pop some pain killers or consult the doctor.

Unfortunately, eggs have a rather unfavorable position in my husband's family. For any vegetarian who hails from southern India, eggs are considered somewhat taboo however garlic and onions are acceptable. For all the right reasons, the queenly egg will never grace any of our family meals. In the past, during the occasional birthday of any family member, traditional sweetmeats were served. All that has now been overshadowed by the glamor of having a western cake. A cake would be ordered from one of the few Indian ladies who made egg-less cake in the neighborhood. Often they came overly decorated, piled with icing made from margarine in the most unhealthy way.

So the last straw over the camel's back was the horrible soggy cake I had during my friend's party. It was the start of my journey to discover a new horizon in the quest for the egg free cakes.

My very first attempt at egg-less cakes was the strawberry coconut muffin. Then the pandan cupcake and the very challenging semolina cake. Dolly the neighborhood specialist , used to sell her sugee (another way of calling semolina) cake in the neighborhood supermarket and it's always been my hot favorite. The semolina cake is a popular Ceylonese recipe, a rich and decadent masterpiece requiring about half a dozen eggs to make. Many love the richness of this particular cake. To others having sensitive noses, the smell of the eggs is repulsive, let alone eating them. As they say, one man's meat is certainly another man's poison!!

Through trials, errors and countless web searching, I've managed to tweak many cake recipes, turning them eggfree. A foodie friend (He owns 5 restaurant) couldn't even tell the difference with the lemon poppyseed cake. Of course, using good quality ingredient, having the right combination in taste, texture, and the look of the finished product is so very important. The bravado of matching exotic ingredients that goes against traditional ideas can result in newer and sophisticated flavors too. All these I hope, will convince you that the egg-free cake you are biting into is as delicious as the rest.

My next quest? Definitely molecular gastronomy and for that I will have to pick the brain of my dear friend, Chef Horst Futterer.