Foodie Friday - Inspired "Bulgogi Style" Beef with AirFryer!

I have not had a chance to cook over the weekends as much as I liked due to crazy schedules for the past 3 - 4 weeks! Oh, and how I have missed cooking!

At my very first chance, I took out my AirFryer and decided to cook a simple inspired 'bulgogi style' beef. You can do this with or without the foil but as I was cooking this for Dumpling, we went with foil simply because she prefers it with some 'gravy'. If you prefer the smoky BBQ taste, then please skip the foil, lower the heat to 180 and cook for a shorter period of time (I recommend checking after 6 mins)

:: Gathering List
- 200 gm of thinly sliced beef
- Half a packet of Eoki mushrooms
- Half a yellow onion, sliced
- Beef Bulgogi marinade

:: The Cookout
1. Marinate it with the marinade (coat the beef well) and let it sit in the fridge (I sealed the bowl with clear cellophane) for about 4 hours
2. Chop off ends of the Enoki Mushrooms
3. Mixed sliced onions with item (1) and placed them on a foil
4. Sprinkle the mushrooms above the beef
5. Wrap parcel
6. Cook on 190 degrees for 7 mins if you like it tender or 8 if you like it more chewy.

This is quite a simple meal to prepare and a tasty one which Dumpling enjoys. Try it and let me know how it goes! :)

On a different note, when it comes to meal planning, I try to be very organised and I recently made my own meal planner just to help me along. Here's the link to download this simple self made plan which I hope is useful for you too!

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Book Talk Tuesday - Stories in Music: Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel

Ever since attending the Jim Weiss 'Live' story telling event, Dumpling and I have been revisiting some of our audio 'books' as that is just about the only way to stop her from reading in the car. 

For this week, I would like to share with you on an audio book or otherwise known as the "Stories in Music", which is part of the Maestro Classics series. Virginia Lee Burton is certainly no stranger in our household as we have read all her titles. One of our favourite is The Little House while the other is Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. 

:: The story

Virginia Lee Burton has a unique gift in weaving nostalgic 'magic' in her stories which would usually leave me a tad wistful at the end of the tale and this story is no different. 

The story is about Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel Maryann who dug through mountains and canals and how they came to be almost phased out by new technology. In an attempt to prove that Maryann still has what it takes (where she can dig more in a day as compared to a hundred men in a week), Mike took on a challenge to dig a cellar in Popperville for its new town hall! Will Mike and Maryann succeed?

:: The Audio Book / Stories in Music CD

The CD comes in a digipak format and has a book included. The CD features the story and importantly the accompanied music (by the London Philharmonic Orchestra). The booklet consists of 23 pages and includes pages on on the music, interesting information on the Villeann pipes (a form of Irish bagpipes, which played the main melody in the CD), a music score (of the Mike Mulligan song) and even some activity pages. 

The CD has 8 tracks in total where it starts off with a narration on the story and includes information about the story. What we enjoyed must was the sections on "About the music" where there was explanation by the composer on the instruments used, hints to look for the 'hissing steam sound' and fun elements like the mimicking of airplanes, etc. After this was explained, in the next track (track 5), we then get a chance to try and identify those same elements, making it a fun and interactive segment especially during long car rides. 

A dot-to-dot activity page in the booklet

Lyrics to the Mike Mulligan song

Regardless of whether your child is already reading independently or is just learning to read, I would highly recommend this CD. Engaging, informative and fun, this CD is one prized collection which we have at home, that blends the beautiful tale with a musical experience. :)

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Through her eyes #9 - Jim Weiss 'Live' Story Telling and the tale of Hercules

Dumpling is an avid reader and has a voracious appetite for good stories. We are blessed as she started reading independently early on and this has made my homeschool sessions much easier as a lot of our themes and the books that we read are child-led.

Recently, Jim Weiss visited Singapore for a story-telling event amongst other workshops that he conducted. I do not quite recall where exactly I have heard of Jim Weiss but I recalled that all that I have read have been great reviews so far. Known as a 'master story teller' having a liquid gold voice, I bought tickets to watch him in action with the little one. And he did not disappoint. 

The hall was packed and everyone waited anxiously for him to start. He was very animated and held the attention of children and adult alike with his expressive reading style. Jim told 5 stories that afternoon - the Tortoise & the Hare, a Hercules adventure, a "wise man" tale, The Lion & the Mouse, and The Fisherman & the Genie.

It was quite an experience for me to watch him slip into the various characters of each story easily - one moment he was the proud lion and in the next second, he was totally believable as this small and frightened mouse (in Lion and the Mouse) who knew that his life was just hanging on by a thread for waking the Lion up.

Jim also has a special gift of being able to read the 'energy' level of the crowd well. When he could sense that the crowd was a tad fidgety (especially with the younger children) he had everyone participate in the story telling. In Hercules, he had everyone help out by chiming in (with sound effects) during his story telling. It is no wonder he was swarmed during the intermission for autographs!

Dumpling queuing in line to wait for her album to be autographed

Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan was amongst the crowd of audience and in an impromptu moment (during the interval), he too, shared a story.

 Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan,  Minister for Environment and Water Resources, presenting a token to Jim Weiss

While in the past, Dumpling used to read in the car, we have now managed to successfully break this bad habit by letting her listen to Jim Weiss's CDs instead. :)

Here's sharing a clip on Razor TV and you can see why this award winning story teller is well-loved by both the adults and children. I would highly recommend his CDs to encourage the little ones in reading more and introducing to them fairy tales too. 

Dumpling's recommendation? She & He: Adventures in Mythology. She really likes the story Atalanta and the Golden Apples since she is still very much into Greek Myths but her favorite Hercules tale (not told) is about the Queen of Amazons which she wrote about below.

For me, I like that Jim was able to bring the stories to a level that is easily understood by children even when the stories are on bigger topics like Myths and include classics by Mark Twain, etc. :) In addition, these CDs would complement our homeschool topics well too. We heard that talks are in the way for him to return next year and yup, both the kiddo and I will definitely be watching him in action. 

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Book Talk Tuesday - 如果地球被我们吃掉了

Originally a French title (Quand Nous Aurons Mange La Planete], the cover caught my attention. "What if we ate up the world?"

:: The story

The story, aptly titled, discusses conservation and ecological concerns in a somewhat different manner. It poses questions to the readers on the various situations to provoke them to think deeper.  

"What if, we ate up the last apple..."  

"What if we were to sell off the last few puffs of fresh air?"

Where it then leads into the moral of the story. "In the end, all that we are left with is money; money which cannot be eaten..." 

:: What we like about it

For such a big topic, I thought that it would be hard for the children to understand. But the way the book was written was to question and engage the reader into thinking deeper - through inferences made, the 'cause and effect' discussed as well as the "artwork" used. 

The artwork for the book is using a collage format where the various scenes were pieced together where children can draw further conclusions from. 

Because Dumpling is able to read some simple sentences, I also like that there is no Han Yu Pin Yin. Though it has a big message, the sentences / questions posed were kept short and fairly simple. 

:: Extended Activity

Inspiration struck and we then extended it to doing a simple 'booklet' (all of 4 pages, ha!) where Dumpling hunted, tore and cut various pictures from magazines and brochures to form the scenes she wanted to write about. 

"What if we were to finish the last drop of water..."

It was a great activity for us as it allows us to discuss the ecological concerns, food chain and how it impacts the world in Mandarin.

Dumpling understood and you can see from the below how she drew the conclusion of "What if we were to finish the very last fruit (or vegetation for the matter) without replanting them?" She then asked me "What would the animals eat?" And because we found a picture of 2 panda bears, she thought about it and said "熊猫就没有叶子吃了，就会没有熊猫了。。。"

A truly lovely book which can be enjoyed for the younger children as a "read a loud' or to enjoy the illustration but a great title for the K level children to read independently and enjoy the greater message in the title. 

I am pleased to share that Read with Me Mommy is sponsoring one copy of this title (hardcover!) for a giveaway. :)

Earn credits using Rafflecopter below (please leave your email address in the comment section too):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 (For Singapore residents only)

The more credits you earn, the higher your chances! :)

That's not all! Just for Beanie N Us readers, you stand to enjoy a 10% savings when you key in this code BEANIENUS at the checkout! 

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Disclosure: I received a copy of 如果地球被我们吃掉了 for the purpose of the review and to share my experience. 

I Theatre - The Ant and the Grasshopper Review

Once upon a time, there was an Ant, Ms. Antoinette Antonia Hill, who was ever so busy and ever so diligent.  Day after day, she’d stock up on nuts to prepare for the cold, harsh winter. And then there was Criminy Grass-hopper (with an hyphen as we were reminded in the play), who spent his days singing and dancing and well, basically singing and dancing all through the seasons…

I Theatre brings much ‘life’ to this wonderful production of the classic Aesop Fable.

Joined by Bee 1 and Bee 2 who brought much laughter and cheekiness to the play, this musical is highly entertaining with catchy songs and audience participation. The Bees costumes were colourful and with their bright personalities, they were clearly a favourite with the audience. 

I really like the casting for the play. Erwin Shah Ismail, was very convincing as Mr. Grasshopper – from his lanky frame to his costume, he played the role of the free spirited grasshopper well. 

Alecia Kim Chua, played the role of Ms. Antoinette to perfection and acted very much like the voice of conscience with her constant attempts to chide and remind the playful grasshopper to prepare for the cold months ahead. 

I like that the play was fairly true to the original tale and I like I Theatre's take on the grasshopper and how his role resembles the rebel in us sometimes. At one point, the exasperated grasshopper retaliated by asking the serious Ms. Antoinette if she has experienced winter? "Have you seen it? How do you even know that it is real? What if all these hard work is for nothing?” 

Where little audience participation is usually expected from the local culture as Singaporeans are, well, just not known to stand up and dance, this 55-minute musical had sporting parents standing up and grooving with their kiddos. 

There was adult humor with Bee 1 and Bee 2 playing on the pun of many “Bee” words and the performance of Coccinella Septempunctata, a ladybird, totally blew me away. From her flashy outfits (quite literally as you will understand after watching the play) to her dramatic exits (no less than 3  times) which were synchronised with drum beats, etc., she had me cracking up but be warned, she may not be everyone’s favourite cup of tea.

As with all of I Theatre's productions there is always much for the little ones to learn. From 'seasons' to 'life cycles / metamorphosis' (of the caterpillar), this production also touches on being receptive to changes, the value of friendship and importantly, hard work. At one point I saw a few parents leaning over to their kiddos and whispering to them “you see, there is a time for work AND a time for play.” :) Yours truly included. 

If you have not already caught it, I’d say grab your tickets quick! After all, you cannot go wrong when almost 13,000 tickets have been sold and two shows have been added on due to the great response received!

Date: 26 February - 18 March 2014 

Duration: 55mins with no interval

Most suitable for: 3 to 12 years old and families!

Venue: Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel

You can purchase your tickets from Sistic here. 

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Disclaimer: We were invited to watch the production and give our opinions of it. We were not compensated for the post. All opinions expressed are entirely mine.   

Nurturing a love for Chinese #4 - Play it!

Having established a regular habit of reading Chinese titles, singing together with Dumpling and speaking more Mandarin to her, the routine somewhat became a tad more 'natural'. To extend the usage of the language, I started doing crafts and played games to her where we communicated in Mandarin. 

Here's a fun idea which we enjoyed very much when Dumpling was young. I'd recycle some old cardboard boxes and we will make our own paper 'puppets' and act out the story as I read a loud. If your kiddo is young, the objective is to expose them to the sound of the language as well as to various vocabulary - 贴纸，黄色， 鸭子，大灰狼，小猪，木屋，石砖, etc. to asking them questions (and thus encouraging them to think and reply in Mandarin) 池塘里的水是什么颜色？

As Dumpling gets older, I am trying to get her to communicate more in Mandarin and in complete sentences. We are using the below for a Chinese story telling game!  

In each box, there are 9 different dice with 6 pictures on each side. We'd pick out 3 (randomly) and roll them and form a story based on the images. 

"有一天，一只小蜜蜂迷了路。辛好它找到了一台手机，可以打电话回家."
(A bee lost his way one day. Fortuntately, he found a mobile phone and was able to call home)

The next player can then roll another 3 dice and continue the story from there:

"当小蜜蜂要打电话时, 却发生了一件奇怪的事情! 一阵大风把它吹到埃及去！" 
(Just as he was about to make the call, something strange happened! A gust of wind swept him up and blew him to Egypt!)

Of course, Dumpling is not that fluent in Mandarin and there are many terms which she is not sure of. And that's the entire aim of this game - to expand her vocabulary, to let her imagination run wild and most importantly, have fun using it! :) 

This is part of a 10-part series:

Part 1: Read Read Read (books of a different kind)

Part 2: Speak It, Use It

Part 3: Watch It! 

Part 5: Write it! (小书 Small Book)

Linking up:

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Through her eyes #8 - Project Tooth Keeper

"When you wake up in the morning, brush your teeth. <>

When you go to bed at night, brush your teeth <>"

(To the tune of "When you're happy and you know it")

"Mama, I like the tooth fairy because her dress is pretty. I like Baby Cat because she is funny and a bit naughty, just like me!" 

 

(From left to right: Baby Cat, Sister Cat & the popular Tooth Fairy)

:: The skit
Dumpling and I had the chance to watch a short skit put up by these 4 final year students from Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. Centred around a family of cats - Mama Cat, Sister Cat and Baby Cat, the story aims to educate the little ones on the importance of hygiene and dental care. 

The skit is interactive and is filled with funny moments where Dumpling was left giggling over Baby Cat's funny antics - how she tries to sneak in candies and 'outsmarted' Mama Cat by eating peanut butter (since it is not sweet!) instead.

From a parental viewpoint, I like that the main song is catchy and the message was very effectively put across. The team was also able to establish an easy rapport with the audience (the toughest kind I'd say with a bunch of active preschoolers) and it was clear that they won the hearts of these kids with their brilliant smiles through the lovely tale.

Dumpling loves the skit and can still recall the song that was being sung. So how did she rate the skit? 

She gives it "two thumbs up"!

She added and recommends for "all mummies and daddies to bring their children to watch this because it is very funny and very cute. I like the show."

:: The History
Project Tooth Keeper is a final year project a group of final year communication students from NTU (Grace Chow, Nina Zainudin, Emily Ho & Susmitha Changaroth) on children's oral health. The project came about due to a worrying statistic that showed more preschool children in Singapore are getting tooth decay. Project Tooth Keeper, in partnership with the Singapore Dental Association, aims to promote good parenting and education on children's oral health, focusing on parents with children from 0 - 6 years old. 

So, who will win the most beautiful smile in the land? Keen to find out more? 

Join the team this Sunday, 9 March at Woodlands Regional Library, where your kiddos can learn about the importance of "Brush Well, Eat Right & Visit the Dentist" while you parents can learn more about how you can help the kiddos in the various talks at the Forum. :) 

Here's where you can sign up! 

Website: http://www.projecttoothkeeper.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projecttoothkeeper

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu4krGqONxOxsf-snzg_jcA

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Book Talk Tuesday - The Story of the Orchestra

For this week, I thought to share my thoughts on a book which is a tad different from the usual picture books. :) When Dumpling first started showing interest in music, we attended the SSO Baby Proms as well as some the SSO's Concerts for Children. She started asking me some questions about the Orchestra and showed interest in some composers which were a tad beyond me so I hunted for a book to read up with her on and I found this!

It had great reviews on Amazon and I thought to give it a go. The title that I bought is a hardcover copy and comes with an audio CD. The information was well presented and organised as you can see from the contents page. The book is separated into 2 main parts where it even explores and explains the various periods and the composers which are from those periods before delving into the Orchestra instruments.

I found the information to be 'kids-friendly' as there were bite size explanation peppered all over the pages including interesting facts too. Trivia: Do you know what's Vivaldi's nickname? :)

 For each mini section (e.g. the pages on the composers / the instruments), there is a reference back to the CD which prompted us to listen to various elements. E.g. in the Vivaldi section, to listen to the tweeting of the birds, etc., in the concerto. 

To listening to the famous compositions of Tchaikovsky where the music was written for the ballet...

Under the second main part of the book which features on the Orchestra instruments, the information was once again well organised into String Section, Woodwind Section, Brass Section, etc.

In each of these section, it then delves into the history and the technical aspects of each instrument. From Violin to the lesser known Tuba...

to the chirpy Piccolo...  (Below pic: interesting facts on the differences for e.g. between a Piccolo and  a flute were also explained in the section) 

In case you are wondering how the the various sections 'organised' in the Orchestra? It is also explained clearly in the book. Definitely a resource to look into especially if your child is learning about Classical Music. Highly recommended! :)

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