A day out

Next week I will go to Japan. This time Hiro won't go with us, so there will only be Iki and me. To train myself going on a trip hugging Iki by a cuddler while bringing a big heavy bag, we went to Seoul last Saturday.
Whoops...it was not easy :p. Somewhat Iki and the bag were getting heavier. As we arrived Seoul, I gave up and put Iki on his baby car, and handed Hiro the big bag (@_@). God will help me next week :p

Iki likes to see aquarium. Whenever I took him to his doctor, he doesn't want to go back home quickly because of the small aquarium in the waiting room. Therefore in Seoul we went to an aquarium, seaworld in 63 building.
As predicted Iki was very very very happy. He got really excited and screamed a lot to express his happiness :p


In front of penguins

Then we went to Gyeong Bok Gung, one historical palace in Seoul. We just walked along the park surrounding the palace because Iki was sleeping (the palace's floor was too rocky for the baby car). The leaves are turning red and yellow. For a girl from a tropical country, well, this is a very beautiful view!



Then we ate samgaetang, and rushed to Yongsan st. where I could change Iki's diaper and feed him.
Bringing Iki on a trip, the 6 hours trip planned turned into 10 hours :p. Exhausting yet exciting.
That trip was such a refreshing for me, eventhough I had Iki with us. Going away from a routine was what I needed.

Poor time management

These days I feel so tired.
As Iki grows up, he begins to have such a big curiosity towards many things. And as he has this high demands on my presence beside him (read: almost all of his wake up moments), I lost my time management. Once I stand up quietly (even only for taking a drink), he will yell "MA!!!!!", and that means I have to go back playing with him in a second.

Sometimes I feel like I got my patience tested. You know, I WAS one of the most unpatient persons. I could blow up for a small matter that doesn't fit my expectation. But now.....I can't blow up just like that. I must struggle controlling my emotion, and put a smile on my face instead.
When Iki doesn't want to eat, when he throws away food on my face, when he can't stop crying for no reason, when he doesn't want to let me go even for having lunch, when he doesn't want to sleep, etc etc, and the list will go on and on...

Besides taking care of my small boy, I have to take care of our house. I also want to have some time and "needs" for myself that I can't fullfil. I don't want to list them here, but in short, I feel so tired. Physically and mentally.

I want to be able to manage my time. I want to be able to manage my self. I want to be able to control my emotion.

These three days Hiro's helping me out with the dirty dishes, I'm happy yet guilty for having him in my kitchen after working for a whole day. If it's one of the solutions, then may I know other possibilities?

Hello mothers all over the world. How would you manage your time.....?

Supposed-to-be Midnight surprise

Tomorrow is Hiro's birthday.
I'd been thinking for weeks what kind of surprise I could give him.
Then I came up with a plan to bake a small heart shape cake and a simple greeting card to be given to him on the birthday eve. Hiro only knows that I will bake him a cake (he chose the cake from the recipe book) for birthday present tomorrow afternoon so that he could help watching Iki for me.
I planned to manage baking the surprise cake this afternoon during Iki's sleeping time and hide it until midnight.
So then I browsed here and there for the cake, until then Yunita gave me the Banana chocolate cake recipe. We still have some bananas here so it would be a perfect choice :p. I already imagined his smile on his birthday eve getting that surprise cake.

But then....
Yesterday I GOT the surprise for him!!
"Shierly, tomorrow I'll drink with my colleague"
I was like: WHAT?!?!?!?!
OK....So he'll not be home on his birthday eve!!! Huaaaaaaaa
I felt like my knees lost power. Bye bye midnight surprise plan (T_T)

Yet the plan must go on. I don't want to waste my "weeks thinking time" hehehe
So I baked the cake, put it on his desk with a greeting card. Plus a note written that he MUST eat the cake tonight, even only a bite while saying a birthday wish.
I'll sms him at 00:00 wishing him birthday and asking him to take a look at his desk before sleeping.



Phew.....
Happy birthday, dear Hiro.
Hope you like my supposed-to-be midnight surprise :p

Tahu Tek Tek

Because of reading about "telur petis" (omellete with shrimp paste chilli sauce) posted by yun, I missed Tahu tek tek (beancurd with shrimp paste chilli sauce).
Tahu tek tek is one of hawker food from Surabaya. One of the cheapest food with thick incredible taste I've ever known. One of my fave food that reminds me of Surabaya.

Remembering that I still have shrimp paste brought by Pei last time she came here, I browsed here and there for the recipe. I had to use peanut butter instead of roasted peanut, silk tofu instead of fried indonesian "hard" tofu, and Indonesian shrimp crackers (kerupuk getoo) instead of garlic crackers. But the taste was sooooooooooo incredible (hehehe at least for me), that it could kick me out of reality. That I was in Surabaya, ordering a plate of Tahu Tek Tek at a hawker beside my former office CDU. What a food orgasm :p


Tahu tek tek ala imoet


Indonesian traditional way of making chilli sauce

Which one?

Ever since Iki was born, this "which one" question is often raised in our home.
Like last night, when I forgot to prepare Hiro's night wear after he's bathing Iki.

Hiro: It's OK. I know you ONLY love Iki
Me: Soorrryyyy. I love you both. It's just you've finished bathing him when I was about to take your cloth from the closet.
Hiro: Hahaha what an excuse :p. If both Iki and me got drown, which one will you save?
Me: Of course both of you! I can't choose one
Hiro: Really?
Me: YES. Hmm what if Iki and me got drown? which one will you save?
Hiro: Of course Iki hahahahaha

[My mind was: WHAT?!?!]

What a blunt answer! (_ _o)
But eventhough he saved me, I'll definitely ask him to save Iki instead

I will give my life for him, if needed.

Electric Fryer

We both like to eat fried food, but unfortunately there're always "little" accidents happened whenever I cook fried meal. One fatal example was when I broke the oil temperature meter. Since then our fried meal were so messy. Therefore to minimize unexpected errors, we bought this electric fryer.



Today for the first trial, we tried to make koloke. I can say...W.O.W.
The result was far beyond expectation. The oil temperature was so stable, no oil dirt anywhere in my kitchen, time saving, the koloke were not oily at all and were oh-sooo-crispy!!



Lots of fried food are on my menu list now hehehe. I give two thumbs to this fryer. Really recommended for a busy housewife who wants to serve delicious, not oily, and crispy fried food in just a few minutes.

Home sweet home

Am back from Japan yesterday night.
And so the holiday finished, back to real life again.
Home sweet home.
No matter how much fun did I have during holiday, it's always good to be home ;-)