Nian Nian You Yu

The Chinese idiom 年年有余 "Nian Nian You Yu" means literally, "every year having surpluses". And this first week of Chinese New Year, our boys were overjoyed when they got an unexpected holiday from school for not one but TWO DAYS because of snow and sleet!

"Yu" is also the sound for "fish" (鱼), and this salmon dish worked for an impromptu lunch with our young friends and their dad who drove over and lent Vern a hand with the shoveling. The children all got to play in the snow, the first time this winter when there was finally enough accumulation to go sledding in!

So, in every way, it's abundantly more than we could ask for! The headaches' also more though -- think, the child who only wants to play and calls homework "an everlasting pain"! But I'd better not go into that!

I gave this recipe a try: Eli's Asian Salmon with lesser soya sauce than called for. It's fancier than using Teriyaki sauce out of a bottle. But it is Chinese New Year after all =).

You probably have the familiar ingredients at hand, and if not panko, dried breadcrumbs are the substitute.


However, it's not really about the breadcrumbs. See the charred parts, from the broiling reviewers suggested? I got over-enthustiastic there, and had to scrape most of them off! No matter, the marinade itself was made the fish flavourful! 


I paired the salmon with noodles, shrimp, and broccoli -- boiled together, then drained and seasoned.  Easier done than stir-frying, which is tricker with the baby to multitask with my other hand.

Poised

Poised is Kait during tummy time!

It's hardly the word to describe me though. "Frazzled" is more like it -- on any day! But I'm trying not to think of it that I only have a window here and hopefully another one there (when she'll go down for her catnap) to do this and that, or not at all!

It's the eve of Chinese New Year Eve. I have decided it's OK if scooping up our messes from the floor is the closest we'll get to springcleaning!

An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth. - Bonnie Friedman

Meanwhile, here's wishing everyone an OX-picious year poised for opportunities and possibilities, the poor economy notwithstanding! Hope, not fear, I'm encouraged by Barack Obama who paved the way as the first African American President.

GONG XI FA CAI! WAN SHI RU YI!

Bow Chicka Bow Wow

Probably the best way to wrestle with our children when they wrestle with us parents, is...

with humour, and love! Tough love included (and that's the tough part), and also, that extra measure of kindness -- read: grace and mercy, I know my kids won't mind! ;p

It's no secret that they have been driving me up the wall, because they clearly have minds of their own. And not that the wrestling has stopped, but I'll spare you the details. And for my own sanity, I'm including this post for the smiles that my "Da Gua", "Zhong Gua", and "Xiao Gua" (three stooges, large, medium, and small) do thankfully also put on my face!

And here, from the cartoon "Phineas and Ferb" is the Bow Chicka Bow Wow song, Jon and Ben have me singing with them to entertain Kait. Especially when she's crying away, but for some very good reason she's not attached to me at that point. The song ends aptly with, "Gitchi Gitchi Goo means that I love you!"!


And it's on this happy note that I'll like to congratulate fellow blogger, and mommy of En and Xuan, on the arrival of baby Bao Rui! =)