{Montessori on a shoestring} Nature table

This is a repost from one of my old blogs.

Mrs. Montessori believed that children are stewards of the Earth and by incorporating nature-related activities, they will learn to care for nature and develop a love for it. And that is why I designated a place for Umar to explore nature indoors. 

After much moving furniture around, I found a spot for a nature table. As it is quite a narrow nook, I decided to use a bench instead of an actual table. It would have to be high enough to fit a child’s chair and deep enough for things like a flower press, some jars and vases and a scrapbook. So off I went browsing IKEA’s online catalogue and I found the bench I wanted to use. But it wasn’t in stock! Alas, I MUST find an alternative because Nijaz (he has a love-hate relationship with IKEA) somehow magically agreed to go to IKEA with me that weekend! I decided on a LACK TV bench. I was hoping to get something made from solid wood but the TV bench was cheaper than the bench I wanted and it was the perfect size.

After the exhilarating trip to my most favourite shop (in case you lost me, it’s IKEA), I put the bench together but omitted the shelf on the bottom. I also bought 3 of the NJYTTA frames in green. I have had the prints, also from IKEA, for a while now, bought for $1 at clearance.

The table now sits against the wall. The framed prints of various plants are in theme and were put up with 3M hooks (great for preserving the wall). He has a little vase with an artificial gerbera in it and some jars with random things in them, which I repurposed from his treasure basket. He also has a bucket for picking flowers and herbs. Umar has since put a rock or two in the bucket, pine cones, flowers from his mini gardenand parsley from our little vegetable patch (post coming up).

There are also a flower press and a greenhouse (not shown (it’s placed near the window for some sun); it’s a kit from Woolworths in collaboration with Jamie Oliver) growing garden cress, coriander, chives and basil. Another thing he has handy is a magnifying glass, which at the moment Umar uses to ‘make your eyes look BIIIG!’. The little crate contains some wooden and cloth fruits and vegetables (some are available from our online shop Fancy Grey Cat).

On the left is a basket with Umar’s activity mats. One is a long playmat which his grandmother got him.  One is a white bathmat and the little one is a placemat, both from IKEA. On the right is a little basket with some picture books on animals and plants. I plan to get more books on nature and a wooden tea box to store and display his finds.

I hope you enjoyed the little walkthrough. Thank you for stopping by and happy DIY-ing!

Note:

If you ever buy the NJYTTA frames, you’d notice that the plastic glazing seems a little dull. Just peel off the protective layer of plastic on both sides before framing and your picture will look super bright and shiny!

List of products:

LACK TV bench

NJYTTA frames

Books:

First animals by Hinkler books

I see by Helen Oxenbury

Pelle’s new suit by Elsa Beskow (this book is great not just for its beautiful nature illustrations, but for practical life skills as well)

This post is proudly shared on:

Edit: We have since rearranged this space in our house but we loved it while it was there (14/08/15)

{Organise-my-life project} Clothes organiser

This is a repost from one of my old blogs.

It took me years to realise that I am most productive when I am most organised; time-wise, thoughts-wise and things-wise.

So, I aim to reach my 30^th birthday next year with an organised schedule, mind and home. I will document bits and pieces of organisation ideas and tips being implemented in my life on this blog. I shall call this adventure organise-my-life project. Hopefully I will meet my deadline with a completed work. 

This brings us to one aspect of organisation that has boggled my brain for a while now; chest of drawers for clothes, how do I organise them and make them stay that way forever. I yank a t-shirt out and the whole system disintegrates. Or I try again and  lift the whole stack of tops and take the one I want and I end up doing that once and decide the next time that I just want the top t-shirt and leave the rest never to be worn again. And go back to the yanking method and back to my dilemma.

 

Just like Sheldon, I’ve been using a FlipFold for a few years (I made one with cardboard before forking out the money to buy a real one) but it doesn’t solve the stacking problem.

I thought of a filing system, which actually has been done through an IKEA hack – T-shirt filing HEMNES drawerbut I’m not that handy and the comments made a point on space (which I am trying to maximise).

At a glance, these look like a lady's monthly necessities

I remember an organising tip retrieved from an obscure part of my mind; think vertical. So I did more research (read: Googling). I found these beauties called Pliio. I think they’re an absolutely brilliant idea. Unfortunately, they do not have a retailer in Australia. A check with Amazon showed that they are USD20 for ten and they will deliver for about USD20. Now, my tops probably cost me about $10 each so I doubt I would spend $5 just to put them away. Besides, I needed them to fit nicely in my drawers.

What the inside of my drawer looks like now

So, taking my cue from my experiment with the FlipFold apparatus, I decided to try this filing system with, you guessed it, cardboard! They were from IKEA and toy boxes mostly. 

My drawers are about 350mm deep and 150mm high. So for the main body, I measured out 150 x 130 mm so I could have two rows and have some leeway for clothes thickness. The Pliio has three sections to it. I copied that design and found it perfect for dresses and long tunics but not so perfect for regular tops. 

So for t-shirts, I measured out a main body and just one flap. As for pants, I find just having the main body is enough. 

Materials:

Cardboard

Pencil/pen

Ruler

Scissors/box cutter

Tape measure

1.       Measure your space.

2.       Decide on the size of the main body of the clothes filer and how many flaps. Mark on cardboard.

3.       Cut the cardboard and use it as prototype for tens/hundreds more you have to cut.

4.       Tend to your sore scissors hand.

How to fold:

Top - flatten shirt and place filer in the middle, fold on either side, then fold top and bottom and fold the filer.

Pants - fold pants lengthways, put filer on one end, fold either sides and fold from the filer end until done.

 

And here's how to fold a child's top:

 

Tips:
Make sure your source of cardboard is clean

The corrugated nature of cardboard makes it easy to manipulate when folding a thick article of clothing

I would love to come up with something that doesn't require to be left in the garments or even just a better and more durable material. But in the meantime, I am happy with this solution.

Thank you for stopping by and happy organising!

Edit: I have since ditched the cardboard because I find it easier to just 'eye' the folding. I still fold my clothes the same way for the drawers minus the cardboard (14/08/15)

{Kids} Dealing with baby cold

Umar caught his first cold at two weeks. Feeding time was a struggle as he could not breathe through his blocked nose. He would latch on for a few seconds then unlatched for air, screaming because he had to let go of his source of food for a few seconds, as you do. I asked friends-with-kids' opinions regarding how to best remedy the situation. Most suggested using unmedicated saline spray then suck out the snot using the included aspirator/bulb, which I was already doing. 

But one friend's advice that worked for me was to put some eucalyptus oil on a cloth and place it near the baby's head as they sleep. She also recommended baby vac which you use with your vacuum cleaner to suck mucus out.

The days are getting colder in Perth and Dawud has caught a cold at 6 weeks. I am quite crook myself. It is nasty business looking after and feeding the baby while you're under the weather. So here are some tips to make your days and nights easier as baby recovers:

1. Use unmedicated saline spray in both nostrils (baby's) a few minutes before feeding.

   

   Saline spray and bulb

   
   

2. Suck out the mucus using the bulb or baby vac.

   

   Baby vac

3. Feed baby and repeat 1 and 2 before putting baby to sleep. A baby with a blocked nose tends to sleep fitfully so you want baby's nose free of muck.
4. Put a few drops of eucalyptus oil on a cloth, roll up and place near baby's head.
   
5. If baby is older than 3 months, you can rub babyvicks on their chest and back.
   
6. If you can and comfortable in doing so, being mindful of your nurse/doctor's advice about sleeping positions, keep baby's head elevated while sleeping. 
7. You sleep in content (for 3 hours until baby screams for milk).

I got my baby vac from ebay. I find young babies like the sound of vacuum cleaners as it is white noise and therefore easier to use the baby vac on as opposed to older ones who you might have to pin down (2 adults necessary) because they believe the vacuum cleaner can suck their limbs clean off their bodies.

Other tips that might be worth a try are running a hot shower and letting steam tease out the mucus and sucking snot out using your own mouth (which I haven't had the courage to try).

Now that Umar can blow his own nose, I give him a box of tissues and a bucket to throw tissues in when he has a cold. He carries them around the house as he goes about his day parking cars and playing in his one-man band. I still stick to steps 4 and 5 for Umar.

Winter is coming and head colds are pretty much inevitable but hopefully these tips will make them at least tolerable.

Thank you for stopping by!

P/S: Happy birthday to my cousin FA!

{Art and craft} Edible paint

A repost from my old blog horrendezvous.blogspot.com 

Babies and toddlers put everything in their mouths so this quick and easy recipe is great for when you need an activity to occupy the little ones outdoors or even in the bathtub!

Ingredients

1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 cups water
Food colouring
5-6 glass jars (I reused baby food jars)

1. In a small saucepan, mix sugar and flour. 
2. Gradually whisk in water. 
3. Turn heat on low and keep whisking until mixture becomes thick and, gooey. This should take about 5-10 minutes, no need to boil.
4. Divide into jars.
5. Add a few drops of food colouring in each and mix. I used the handle of a spoon. 
6. Leave to completely cool and let the little tike have fun! 

We set up our 'art centre' in the back patio with old towels on the ground in anticipation of the mess but the bathtub would have been great too as you could just wash the bub off right away and extend the 'art' session!

Enjoy! Ta ra~

{Recipe} Portuguese-style chicken

A repost from my old blog horrendezvous.blogspot.com 

We just bought bulk chicken so our freezers are overflowing with whole chicken, chicken pieces, thighs, well you get the picture. In order to keep interest high in our meals, I have to scour the deepest of internet oceans to come up with different recipes for the same meat. This particular one was altered from this recipe. It tasted great and caramelised very well so it was juicy and sticky, just the way we like it. Have a try!

Ingredients:
4 chicken thigh fillets
2 tbsp oil
4 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp paprika (I mixed regular and smoked)
1 tsp dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 tsp crushed dried chilli (optional)
Salt to taste, I finely ground sea salt over the fillets so I used maybe 1/2 tsp (will need more if using coarser grains) but we tend to undersalt our food

1. In an oven proof dish big enough to hold the chicken, mix all the marinade ingredients. 
2. Put the chicken in and rub thoroughly. Cover the dish with its lid or cling wrap and let marinate in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight. Take it out for about an hour before baking.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C (190 fan-forced).
4. Take off the lid and bake for 20-30 minutes, basting the chicken with the marinade every 5-10 minutes.
5. Take out and rest the chicken for about 5 minutes and serve with a spinach salad and rice. Drizzle the juice over the meal and enjoy!
   

Notes:  

• I rub about a tablespoon of salt on the chicken I use and thoroughly rinse to get rid of the 'chickeny' smell
• You can replace the fillets with breast/chicken pieces/whole chicken but please be sure to adjust the amount of marinade and baking time. 

Happy cooking! Ta ra~
 
Image sources for ingredient board:

Chicken thighs - http://www.farmfreshgrocer.com.au

Olive oil - http://www.newhealthguide.org 

Ground coriander - http://www.mediterraneanfoods.co.nz

Paprika - http://www.savoryspiceshop.com

Dried oregano - http://www.finecooking.com

Garlic - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com

Lemon - http://vladimiria.blogspot.com.au

Dried chili -  http://www.thalgoldenspice.com

{Recipe} No cook breakfast: Apple and cinnamon muesli

A repost from my old blog horrendezvous.blogspot.com

How many times have you stumbled out of bed wishing you had already had something ready for breakfast instead of having to put on a frying pan and crack those eggs? Well, that happens to me pretty much every morning so I tend to skip it even though my mum keeps drumming it into me that ‘breakfast is the most freaking important meal of the day!’. Ok, she didn’t really say it that way. So when I stumbled upon this post by Fat Mum Slim, I made it (a variation of it anyway) right away. The beauty of this recipe is that you can have whatever variations you crave.

Apple and cinnamon muesli (serves 1)

Ingredients

½ cup traditional oats (not quick)
½ cup milk (I used whole as I love the creaminess; skim is fine too)
2 tbsp vanilla yogurt (go on sneak a couple of spoons more)
½ apple, coarsely chopped (eat the rest :P)
Honey for drizzling (optional)
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling (optional)

1. Shake oats, milk and yogurt up in an airtight container and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. Good morning! Drizzle the honey and sprinkle the cinnamon on, grab a spoon and enjoy!

Tips and variations: 

• This recipe can be easily multiplied and for breakfast on-the-go, simply put in separate containers.
• Substitute apple with a handful of blueberries/strawberries and top with more.
• Substitute apple with a handful of dried cranberries and milk with cranberry juice (great body cleanser).
• Substitute vanilla yogurt with plain/or any kind really.
• If you use a yogurt with fruity bits, you can skip fresh fruit altogether.

The Big Kahuna is a chronic snacker and he says when he has this for breakfast, he does not think of snacks at all, gets him straight to lunch. So do have a try.

Ta ra~

{Recipe} Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles)

A repost from my old blog horrendezvous.blogspot.com

Annyeong! How many times have you sat down and watch K-dramas (especially rom coms) and thought to yourself, man how good do they make food look?? The way they eat their noodles *slurp* and the spread they put out for breakfast... That happens to me and the Big Kahuna every single time and so I have been dabbling in Korean cuisine, sort of, lately. I have made jjajangmyun countless times now, experimenting with different ingredients and brands of black bean sauce :D

This dish originated from China and so is considered a Chinese dish enjoyed by many Koreans. I have tried the instant noodles version. Alas, not to my liking lol.

The recipes I found mostly use pork belly for the protein and since we are not pork eaters, this recipe has been altered in that sense and in many other ways to suit our taste. So this might not appeal to most people, least of all actual Koreans! Sorry! But jjajangmyun is so tasty that it would be awesome if people who find pork or even meat a deterrent to try making it at least once! :) If you're vego, just leave out the meat and it would still be super delicious, trust me ;)

Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles) Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 onion (diced)
A quarter of a cabbage (roughly chopped, about 2 cups; optional, can be substituted with 1 diced radish)
2 carrots (chopped; optional)
2 potatoes or 1 sweet potato (diced)
1 zucchini (diced)
1 chicken breast (diced; optional)
2-3 cups water
1/4 cup black bean paste
Sugar to taste
2 tbsp potato starch or cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
White wheat flour noodles, follow instructions on packet
Half a cucumber (julienned, for garnish)
Kimchi (accompaniment; optional)
Sesame oil (optional)

Cabbage, potatoes, onion, carrots and zucchini

Diced carrots, onions and zucchini

Chopped cabbage

Diced potatoes

Diced chicken breast

The black bean paste I used this time (I always like to try different brands to find the best-tasting ones; this one was nice)

Noodles I used

Cornflour mixed with water

1. Heat oil in a wok or a big saucepan with a lid.
2. Sautee onion and carrots.

Sauteeing carrots and onion

3. When onion is transluscent, add cabbage, potatoes and zucchini.

Sauteeing the rest of the veggies

4. After a few minutes, add chicken and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

More sauteeing, with chicken

5. Add water until just covered and place the lid on. Let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Remember to stir every once in a while to make sure that the potatoes don't stick to the bottom.

Water added

Chuck the lid on

6. Remember to cook the noodles in the meantime!

Cooking noodles in boiling water

7. Add black bean paste and sugar. Add more of either if you'd like it saltier/sweeter. You can heat up some oil in a small saucepan and fry the black bean paste before putting it into the mixture but it is not necessary.

Frying the bean paste

8. Add potato starch or cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce bit by bit. You might not use it all or you might have to add more. You'd want a very thick sauce that when you mix it with the noodles, it'd make this squishing noise lol.

Sauce which still needed thickening

9. Place noodles in a flat bowl/plate, heap a serving of black bean sauce on top and garnish with cucumber and a dash of sesame oil. Enjoy with or without kimchi. Mashittda!

Voila! Jjajangmyun with a side of cheat kimchi (recipe to come)

Notes and tips:

This is not traditional but I usually blend all the vegetables together and this gives the sauce a thickness (possibly the starchiness from the potatoes), I do this when I can be bothered :P Since the sauce is already thick, I would add very little water and sometimes I don't even need to add cornflour/potato starch mixture.

One happy customer!

If you find you have too much cabbage cut up, don't panic, you can make kimchi using a very easy recipe which will be put up very soon.

The beauty about this dish is that if you do not have certain vegetables, you can either substitute or omit. I would keep at least three different vegetables in.

Since I cook for two, we usually have heaps of leftover sauce. You can chuck it in the fridge if you're lazy to cook the next day or in the freezer to have over the months.

Happy cooking! Ta ra~