Salted Caramel Coffee Slice with Chocolate Swirls (Paleo, Gluten Free and Dairy Free) + 16 years in Australia

I arrived in Australia in 2000. 2 huge luggage cases full of stationery* and “must haves”. My mother and grandmother came with me. As an interim place to stay, I was housed in St Thomas along UWA. I was a teenager. Fresh out of secondary school. I was excited and fearless.

I moved into a little shared housing. For the first time in my life, I learned how to cook, do my laundry and clean the house. My mother checked in with me but together with my grandmother, they left following a week and a half in Perth. They decided that it was time that their little girl grow up and just learn how to be independent. 

I have never been away from them before. Till this day, I still remember how sad my grandmother’s eyes looked but how she smiled courageously. Over the years, I had the privilege of her visiting for long periods of time through my University life. Those memories are precious. 

There is much to write on. I was home sick. I wrecked up $300 bills worth of calls to friends and text messages to my family. In those days, we even had “icq” to connect with friends. My best girl friends would save money and call me. I would purchase “calling cards” and use public phones. I survived on packaged pasta sachets, and would drenched every thing with oyster sauce. Indo mee was a staple. With an fried egg of course. 

The better memories. Road trips. Late night suppers. Chats with friends. The rush to get my thesis(es) done-till the point I was sleeping surrounded by papers and books. The eerie corridor of the university labs at 1am. Learning new “words” in the aussie slang. Enjoying pub food and wineries. Embracing different cultures. Loving cafes and coffees. 

Then, with a blink of an eye… I’m in Australia for longer than I was in Singapore. 

This year, marked the start of the 17th year. Fleetingly, the thought came in my head a few times about this. After all, I consider myself a Singaporean and still holds a Singapore passport. Yet, I also identify myself with Australia. This is my home now. I have a son who is Australian. A husband who will soon hold an Australian passport. We love our life here. 

It’s a start of more to come. 

What is best to celebrate with a slice. A relatively creamy slice with the almond butter, coconut milk and tahini. It’s pretty addictive. I find it hard to stop at one! 

*I still have left over stationery!

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Hazelnut and Macadamia Cookies (Paleo, Gluten Free) + embracing challenges

Someone said to me this week that the beauty of life is that there will always be ups and downs. It can never always be up. The downs make us grow as a person. 

There is a choice of whether or not we fight those feeling or embrace it. 

I grew up in a family with strong female personalities. My grandmother raised 3 kids herself.  My mother is firm, no nonsense who achieved her university degree as a mature aged student. Not only do I have the blood in me, but also I grew up with those values. To be fair, it is not just the females, my father has always been hard working and drilled morals in me even as a young child. 

So what happened between Nov-Jan tested me big time. While I never considered myself as very career driven, I like to think of myself as an instrument to God’s work. I was 14 when the career option of being a psychologist resounded in me. I went wiht that, and never looked back since. I love my work despite its challenges. The event made me realise how vulnerable mothers or anyone wanting part time are, in returning back to work. 

 Uncertainty, difficult conversations and changes face me. A psychiatrist whom I worked with said that given that I am Asian, a woman and a mother means I am a minority. A minority whose culture and personality is more naturally inclined to quit and leave quietly. He warmly said to me to be firm. While the events or comments are by no means racist, rather they are to point out what is naturally against myself. What the psychiatrist said sat with me for a while. 

So if this is a period of growth, then I would need to embrace these feelings. It is uncomfortable. It is challenging. It is not the end of the world. I have a plan and I tend to stick to it. Accept these feelings, run with it. We may be surprised by the outcome. 

In the mean time, I am challenging myself to the kitchen. My love for nut butter remains and having spotted Health Nut Foods, I could not resist getting some for ourselves. Our first was Cinnamon Mac. Absolutely delicious. In a cookie? Double the delish. Sandwiched with more nut butter? Ooopsie. What have I done… 

ps- take 1 and savour it with coffee. 

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Orange Cheesecake Instant Ice-cream (Gluten Free, Clean eating) + Thankful

My favourite week of the year is here! The oven is being cranked up, the tree is decorated and we even have tinsel this year! Presents are wrapped. Music is playing. It is the season to be thankful. 

As Christmas approaches, I’m always wondering how am I going to teach Asher how to be thankful. How do I explain that Christmas isn’t just about gifts and trees? I hope to add to this list but lately this is what hubby and I have been doing:

1. As part of our bed time routine, we pray. Often I ask Asher what would he like to pray for. Of course, being a 2 year old, his priorities are his trains and cars. I try to extend that to praying for safety in travelling, the invention of transport vehicles, for bringing daddy home from work (and to work)…etc However, a couple of weeks ago, Asher said he wanted to “pray of A because she has a sore tummy”. I was so touched that I had tears in my eyes!
2. Hubby and I spoke to him about giving and sharing. Demonstrating, role modelling and role playing with teddy (doggy) and friends. That was hard work! A toddler is naturally ego centric, what feels good should just be done over and over again…and sharing doesn’t always feel good immediately! Imagine our smiles when Asher started to share some food or an item with us, or with a friend. 
3. Reading bible stories to him, especially the story of Jesus. While it still has mixed reactions, he was very intrigued by the baby born in a manger around horses.

And then it is about us as adults. The rush, the work end hecticness, the uncertainty of what may happen next year, the food prep, the presents organisation… all that add up and we may not be as thankful for each other. How many times have I snapped? How many times have I felt that my head was exploding? The unkind words or action that flow through me. So there comes forgiveness and I’m glad and humbled. Forgiveness breeds thankfulness and gratefulness. I know that as a mother and a wife, I want to fill our house with that as much as we can. 

So while I have Christmas cookies to share (check out my instagram), I can’t help but whip up some ice-cream for the warm summer weather at Christmas. I’m making a version to bring to our Christmas lunch this year! But to cool all of us down, I hope you will enjoy my Orange Cheesecake Ice-cream. Optional: with a shot of nespresso to make a zesty affogato. 

So at this Christmas, I’m thankful for you. Thankful for the love my friends have and the support you have given me. Thankful for the space to write my thoughts and sort out my ramblings. 

Merry Christmas xx 

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Raw Carrot Cake Bites

There are many raw treats popping up around Perth at the moment. I have my favourites- mainly those that does not use agave as a sweetener. I prefer the use of honey, rice malt, medjool dates or coconut sugar. While there are debates between the level of fructose in each kind of sweetener, I think it is best to use common sense and your taste buds to guide you. Agave does not sit well with me and neither does stevia. Personally, I think that whichever one you choose, less is more. 

I love carrot cake. Maybe it is the deception of the goodness of carrots in a cake, but to me, that is comfort food. When hubby and I were in our university days, I fell terribly sick once. I hardly got out of bed and did not have appetite for any thing. Except for a big slice of carrot cake. Well, ok, that one slice was my breakfast, lunch and dinner. Fast forward to 14 years later, I still love a good slice of carrot cake. My taste buds have change of course and I’m finding most cakes are too sweet for me- to the point that I’m unable to enjoy the flavour of the cake while my tastebuds is stinging from the sugar hit. 

Still, you can tell my love for it prevailed. For Asher’s full moon celebration, I made carrot cupcakes with cream cheese yogurt swirl. I did as similar layered cake for his 2nd year birthday when it was the combination of carrot and apple that won me over. 

So I guess it is no surprise that I would attempt to make a raw version of carrot cake. If you follow my instagram, you probably noticed that I made one before. My experiment of using  didn’t work the way I envisioned it to be (i know..what was I thinking). This round, I combined coconut butter with coconut milk and it worked so much better. Cream cheese wouldn’t hurt too I am sure. 

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Rosewater Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Rhubarb and Strawberry Compote + We live a simple life

My love for food makes me want to write about it. What makes me passionate about healthy living is the change I see in myself and my family through this journey. I had bit of a giggle though, when I realised the image I may have portrayed. 

Perhaps a mix of hippy, health conscious, passion filled foodie? Or a health freak? Either way, I want to share that eating right and moving right is not rocket science (although there is science behind it!). It is an effort. Though an effort worthwhile. It is also simple. Yes we avoid gluten, processed food and added sugar mainly. 

We embrace protein, vegetables and fruits. We also adore dashes of dairy, rice and even some legumes (mmm…peanut butter) from time to time. Simply put, we listen to our bodies and eat accordingly. There isn’t any right or wrong. What we do know is that we feel the best when we eat heaps of vegetables, some meat and seafood. 

I haven’t put out my meal plan for ages but our meals typically look like this with different options:

Breakfast

2 soft boiled eggs with smoked salmon and sauerkraut. (Or if u r Asher, sometimes he wants 3 eggs)

Greek yogurt with passionfruit or blueberries with my home made granola

the boys might have my home made banana bread/loaf that I made

Asher might have avocado and banana or grilled mushrooms with avocado 

pancakes

Lunch

Whatever we had for dinner before

Afternoon tea

Chia pudding with berries or with home made granola 

handful of nuts 

or whatever I baked/make 

nearly always with my almond milk coffee 

Dinner

Roast chicken + Roast vegetables

Curry + stir fry vegetables + 6 hour slow cooked chinese clear soup of some form (radish and chinese mushrooms last night) 

Pulled pork + spag squash + roasted kale chips 

“Pad thai” Pork with kelp and zucchini noodles

Pork Hock Kale, Carrot and Capsicum Soup

Grilled fish with spinach and avocado salad 

After dinner

Fruits + tea

Dark chocolate

Whatever it is, it is just simple food. I think it is laughable that it is so simple. I find it hard to share or post my dinner ideas because they are that easy. 

The other day, I made a greek yogurt cheesecake. YEP! Totally not paleo. Maybe borderline being clean but it was so yummy. I love a good cheesecake but often find them too sweet and heavy. I also like my raw desserts but I think it is bit of an overkill of nuts. I had a sense of achievement when it came out with NO cracks! 

Now, I just have to replicate this again and again!

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Raw Mocha Brownies (Gluten Free, Raw) + Friendships

My quest for brownies continue. This time round, I was inspired when I stopped by at our local cafe and they had a raw brownie on their shelves. It featured walnuts and my brain started whirling. Upon reaching home and having Asher in bed for a nap, I placed some ingredients in a food processor and ta dah, a raw brownie was formed. 

I’m starting to read and look into raw foods. I like the idea of raw desserts. Beside it being nutrition dense, it is usually simple and require a lot less equipment than traditional baked goods. The only down side is that I noted a lot of recipes used copious amount of dates which can quickly add up in sugar content. Dates might be good for you but too much is not necessary a good thing either. 

Many times, I treasure friendships around us. To me, friendship is a choice. You make that commitment and decision to have a relationship with another person that is not your family or your partner. You laugh through good times and share through bad times. Ever since Asher arrived, I have been very blessed with a few close girl friends who share parenthood journey as well. Open conversations about everything, sharing our worries and concerns without worrying about judgement because let’s face it, it can be pretty judgemental out there!

With these girls, I am able to open my heart (and they to me too hopefully). Allow myself to vent and to gain perspectives. There are times when I could be in a tunnel and not see why things could be occurring. They were able to embrace me- and my quirky ways when it comes to food, fitness and lifestyle choices. 

A mug of coffee, a kind word and some raw chocolate brownies. That’s the way we roll as friends. 

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Fudgy Avocado Brownies (Paleo, Gluten Free, Clean Eating)

As you may be aware. The first thing I ever made that was a success were brownies. Over the years when I was in university, brownies were my thing. A gift for my lecturers, birthday parties, work morning tea. I celebrated with brownies. I have of course added twists and have made version 2 which is a flourless one and 3 which is a healthier version before. 

Most healthy versions of brownies never quite cut it with me. Not fudgy enough or perhaps too cakey. So when I come across the use of avocado in brownies, I had to try it.  Afterall, one of my favourite healthy after dinner treat is a avocado chocolate mousse. They are not the usual brownies of course. The fudgy factor though is there. I love the rich and creamy cacao taste of this little bite. It’s so good that I reckon I could just eat it raw without baking. That spells danger. 

I would even think that as this can be made with a nut free butter like a Sunbutter or a combination of that with coconut butter for allergy friendly schools. One thing I can see with this recipe is that it uses a whole cup of nut butter which, while it is great source of protein, it is easy to overeat! I deliberately cut it in small bite sizes and savour each bite. In the future, I would play around with reducing the nut butter and a tbsp of coconut flour perhaps. I have also spotted some sweet potato brownies recipe by a few paleo authors and am keen to experiment with that too. 

If you think that the avocado taste is too strong, I suggest adding more honey which a friend of mine did, more cacao or a combination of both. It is quite a forgiving recipe, hence you can play around with the ratios as you blend it up in the food processor. 

Meanwhile, give it a go! I really like it. 

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Apple Cinnamon Cookies (Paleo, Clean Eating, Gluten Free) + Asher’s favourite games and toys

Rain rain go away. Come again another day… Asher wants to go out and play! 

The lovely thing about having a toddler is the amount of play we get into. Everything can turn into a game. It has been such a long time since I did this, but I want to document the kind of games Asher has been into lately. I’m still not sure how it happens but he is 2 as of Friday *insert horror face* I’m a mum of a little man! 

– Books. I think I have a book worm as a son. He loves books. ANY books. Especially books featuring vehicles. Trains, buses, cars, fire engines. He loves classics too. Like “Spot”, “We are going on a bear hunt”, “10 little fingers and toes” and more recently “the hungry caterpillar”.

-Trains. Yep. He loves Thomas. I’m in two minds about introducing too much Thomas to him. My thoughts are that kids should be expose to as many variety of the same item although I know that is rather hardRight now, he thinks Thomas is one of the trains. He still adores his other train books and will play with any trains. 

– Play shopping! Cash register and fake food

– Play cooking. Sizzling with his pan. As we cooked him some mushrooms or eggs up for breakfast, he would take the borrowed wooden plan and pretend to cook up his own meal too. 

– Ball games. Kicking and throwing. Balloons. 

– Drawing! He loves drawing circles.. and will ask me to help him draw triangles

– Painting. Although at the moment, we are painting with water. He dislikes mess and stickiness. It is a work I’m progress with play doh and textural play. 

– Slides. He received a slide for his first birthday and really love that. He would even slide his teddy down

– Cars. All kind of cars. Plus planes. 

– Lego. He is really into lego now. Building blocks. Telling me he has built a ship or a car! 

– Tractors. We got him a Tonka truck for his birthday (shhhh). 

– Cosy coupe- we don’t have that but he loves it when we visit friends.

– Singing. We can sing Row row a boat, abc, twinkle twinkle, wheels go round, bob the builder, ba ba black sheep…etc. The funny thing is we will catch him singing at random times to himself. Super adorable. 

– Music instruments like tambourines, egg shakers.. anything that has a rhythm. He would even bang on the boxes and call it a drum

– Puzzles. A friend bought him a fire engine puzzle and he loves it. We also have ABC puzzles and animal ones. 

– Rough play-. Tickles, upside downs. Anything that involves heaps of movement.

-Chasey

– Bubbles!

– Peek a boo. This is a surprised. I thought they would grow out of it but he would peek a boo every thing including holding my sweater and hiding himself there. 

– We like looking at buses, trucks, tractors on the road. 

– Tool box. He likes sawing and turning things

– We cook and bake a lot more now. He would sit on the bench and watch me cook or stir things. Sometimes he might have a go. 

I’m sure I missed out other things. He is still a little yucky on sensory things like playdoh. I bought some special books that he can paint with just water which he is warming up to. Day care is doing a great job in exposing him to messy play too. He has no problems getting his hands dirty when he eats though!

I’m most surprised by his pretend play. He would stack a car up a truck and said that’s a car transporter. He would grab a bag and pretend that he is going shopping. He would use a toy kettle and said he is making tea. 

Apple and cinnamon. They can never go wrong together. I made these cookies for him and he seems to like it. He loves fruits so much that he probably thought he was eating apple pieces with dough stuck on it! They don’t last as long in the pantry and I do suggest double toasting them if you can. That way they can stay crispy longer. Enjoy these little nibbles.

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Raw Tahini Caramel Slice (Paleo, Clean Eating, Dairy Free) + Bundle up Time Management?

Bundle up time management. Have you heard of that before? 

The other day, hubby and I had this discussion about managing our time more efficiently. He quizzed me on how do I manage to get things done with Asher hanging around my ankles, yet being able to make sure dinner is prepared and Asher has his attention? 

Truth is, sometimes I don’t get it all. Most days though, it just come naturally to me that as I am playing with Asher, I teach him to pack an item away before taking another out. That usually works out to slightly less mess. Of course, there are times when I let him have free rein and we have a lego galore day on the floor. 

Then we have cooking. I usually cut most of my vegetables a day or 2 in advance. My reasoning is that I’m already cutting, so why not just spend the extra 10-15 minutes to prep the rest of the vegetables. I do not have to take the cutting board out twice, plus I do not have to thin about it for another day or so. Cooking is so much easier when all items are already cut- I do not have to be afraid of Asher reaching out for the knife, and he can simply sit on the counter top while I start my cooking. He would even help stir the pot with supervision. 

That was when he said… “mmm..bundle up time management”! You bundle things up to do so that there is less to be done. It frees up mind space, and it’s using each task more efficiently.

I have not really thought about that before. The same goes with tidying. I’m walking pass the bench, so why not just grab the dirty tea towel and place it in the laundry? How about I put that cup away since I’m passing by that table. Hubby said he would have just walked past- and would not have even see the cup (that he left!). 

Is there such a thing I wonder? Or is it a natural thing that women and mummies tend to do?

There has been an abundance of cafes serving up raw desserts lately. I walked into a rather famous on at Mt Lawley one day and attempted their salted caramel tahini slice. While it is of a generous portion, both hubby and I agreed that it was wayyy to sweet and probably has agave in it. We are not big fans of agave at all! That however, gave me an idea to make my own tahini caramel slice. It was much less sweet and the tahini provided a creamy texture. 

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Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Tart + Reconnection in a Marriage

Have you ever have those moments in your marriage that you appear to be travelling on the same page, but really you are going in opposite directions? 

A friend attended a wedding recently. In the midst of our happy conversation, I recall moments of our weddings, attendance of friends’ weddings and being part of the bridal party. We are at the age where we have witnessed quite a few of our friends getting hitched. We laughed a lot, danced and even shed a few tears at some of these unions. 

A wedding is not a marriage. Marriage that comes after the celebration is the real test. Marriages go through their developmental stages of changes. Adjusting to being newly weds, negotiating families dynamics, readjusting when a child arrive… Indeed there are so many stressors when a child arrive. 

Unfortunately where we have been in happy parties, we are also aware of unions that are at the risk of being dissolved. Tears, anger, frustration and betrayal. They make us realise how vulnerable a marriage is. 

Those moments where hubby and I are travelling in opposite directions often leave warning signs. Exhaustion, one of us being sick, Asher being unwell, a conversation did not involve us or each other but rather the everyday routine. While we can be in synch, we became out of synch. It doesn’t feel like we are in a team anymore, but rather we are just existing in our everyday life. We start to do our own checklist of tasks, but neglect to see what each other needs. 

One thing we have learned, is to not leave these not of sync moments for too long. We learned that it is inevitable that moments like that will occur. I will be lying to say we never have those days. The reconnection bit is hard but needed. 

Sometimes, all we need is a good chocolate tart, hot cup of tea and some music. Perhaps a long walk or time set aside to have a proper conversation on what happened. Other times, the build up becomes an argument. Over small things. Another warning sign that shock us into taking action. I needed to calm down, and hubby went out to grab some errands. Then he returned with a coffee cup and suddenly, it all seems better. The act of care. It says “I’m in this” and nothing else but us matters again. 

I love how this tart turned out because I finally nailed the pastry! It was easy to remove and has a melt in your mouth texture. Turns out less is more and it worked! Happy moment. Less learnt- simplicity works the best. 

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