Travelling with a Toddler + Chinese Almond Cookies (Paleo, Gluten Free)

During my travels, what I missed most was having the familiarity of my kitchen and ingredients that I know can sit well with our values, principles and food philosophy. I do believe in diversity and regardless of where we are at, our body needs a break from the usual routine. Food included.

I was really impressed with how Asher was with food. He ate pretty much anything and embraced the local food delights. From a typical breakfast of Indian Thosai, to different kuehs -he tried it all. He was a little hit and miss with durian. He didn’t love it but neither did he dislike it. I would just have to keep introducing it to him. 

Another thing that we were most proud about was how well he behaved on the plane. We did not need to use gadgets-though we brought it and prepared it in advanced. We put together a goody bag of new puzzles, books and drawing materials. We had small little toys still wrapped up for him to open up on the plane. The funny thing was, it was the safety card at our seat that generated the most interest. He was literally studying it on each flight. Otherwise, snacks, conversation about the plane, reading, toys and nap time kept us sane. 

We had quite a lot of misses on the toileting side of things on the plane- to be expected. We brought heaps of clothing but on the way back, we conceded defeat and put him in training pants to reduce the pressure on him and us. Lo behold, he went to the loo on the plane when we stopped asking, and kept his pants dry mostly. He asked for the toilet when we landed and that was sufficient till we got home.I don’t blame him. I’m not a fan of air plane loos myself!

Among the few things that Asher pick up during the trip were

1. Eating ice cream
2. He tried some juice
3. Local fruits like Jambu Air, Jackfruit and Dragon fruit
4. Smother in love from his grandparents
5. Sharing food! 
6. Some cookies and chocolate 

Thankfully, I have always kept an open mind that Asher will experience the above some time in his life time. Besides, what’s life without chocolate, cookies and ice cream? Now back at home, Asher continued to eat his usual foods without much complains but was excited about some custard and instant blue berry ice cream (Cue: frozen bananas and blueberries). 

I created these cookies as an adaptation of the Chinese Almond Cookies that my family loved for many years. The original recipe was almond meal and icing sugar. This version uses honey. The glaze is what made the yellow of the cookie stands out. My grandmother loved this and would have asked me to make it over and over again. If I could turn that time, I would gladly make them daily…just for her..

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White and Black Sesame Cookies (Gluten Free, Clean Eating, Paleo) + Chinese Traditions

Every year I say that I will endeavour to write and note recipes BEFORE Chinese New Year. It doesn’t seem to happen these days. Nevertheless, if you are following my Instagram, you would have noticed that despite my lateness- it didn’t mean that I have stopped baking cookies. I did! I just didn’t document it in time!

This year, I felt the immense sense of lost as we approach my grandmother’s 2nd year death anniversary. It is also the 2nd year we are celebrating CNY without her. As we were grieving last year, we hardly thought or did any celebrations. This year though, we attempted to do some spring cleaning, filled our cookie jars with some clean cookies and even attended a lunch with friends. 

As Asher grows, I am reminded by how far removed he is from family and friends. The slight fear that culturally, his knowledge will be even more diluted than ours. While we can, we decided that there will be a few things we would do to at least let him know his roots and where his ancestry is from.

• We attempt to teach him CNY songs and wishes. Still a little early but he did say a sentence or two!
• My parents forwarded some lion dance puppets
• We followed some traditions like having tossed salad, saying greetings to friends and families, and the all important red packets
• We connected to extended family members via face time.
• We dressed him up in red and in new clothes. 
• We took Asher for a hair cut

In time to come we will visit our family and friends in the festive season. 

This was one of the cookies I created for CNY. Hope you will enjoy them.

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Tang Yuen (Sweet Dumplings) – Almost Paleo

When my parents came over in December, my mother reminded me that it is “Dong Zhi”  or Winter Solace which is where we eat little balls of glutinous dumplings in a sweet soup. Eating it with family signify togetherness. 

As an experiment, I decided to attempt making a gut friendly version by using sweet potato and rice flour instead. I surprised myself with this one because it actually came out good. It was bouncy and has a lovely bite to it. I did a few with stuffed coconut and peanut but I think the dough is better by itself. 

Tradition says that we usually pair Tang yuen with tea. Well, I decided to make a sweet soup using rooboos tea leaves “Red Jasmine” from T2. I boil it up with a few slices of ginger and sweeten it with a touch of coconut sugar. My parents loved it and I hope you will as well. 

As  I write this, I miss my family. This year is the first year we are celebrating Chinese New Year without my grandmother. As per Chinese tradition, we will not be taking part in much celebrations at all, choosing to honour and remember her. 

 

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 Happy Chinese New Year! May this year bring you more happiness and good health!