School Parties Food Ideas

This post is for Malaysian moms with school going kids who would probably have to plan what types of food to make for their kids to bring to school for their year-end school parties around this time of the year.

Home made individually wrapped choc and almond muffins
posted with permission of one of the moms in  my FB group

School Parties Food Ideas For Malaysian Mothers

1. Fried Rice
2. Fried Mee/ Mee Hoon
3. Fried Koay Teow
4. Sandwiches
5. Cake
6. Muffins
7. Cupcake
8. Curry Puff
9. Fried Chicken
10. Cookies
11. Nuggets
12. Sausages
13. Doughnuts
14. Fruits
15. Jelly
16. French Fries
17. Hash Browns
18. Meat Ball/Fish Ball
19. Snacks
20. Packet Drinks eg Ribena/Chrysanthemum with straw

In other words lots of finger food, individually wrapped and home-made if you are up to it just like the one you see in the picture, made with so much love and makes things so much easier for the kids. If you can get your child to help in preparing the food, even better! As the mummy who made the red eggs packages below said, "these takeaways form memories besides filling their tummies and yes, never forget the teacher and the general helpers too."

In my list you will notice some unhealthy food but then hey, its a kid's party and it is only once a year. So, I'm inclined to close one eye to that just once. 

Another example of party food prepared by a member of my FB group shared with permission.
Red eggs for her child, who was celebrating her birthday on school party day with her classmates.

How Much Food To Make

Many Malaysian classes have around 40 students plus and minus depending on the school or area. So do you make one for each child? 

Let's see. If your child's class has 45 students and all 45 sets of parents make 45 of everything for the child to bring to school, there would be a lot of excess and wastage. 

So as a general guide, for things like fried noodles, fried rice etc, make 1/2 or quarter. For smaller finger foods, it is okay to make one each for everyone but no issue if you were to half the portions because you know what, you may have many kids bringing in the same food stuff so everyone will get their share. So in a class of 45, you can bring 20 or even a dozen and you do not have to worry that your food isn't enough to go round.

Some teachers will plan ahead and draw up a food list, then get a show of hands to see who will bring what and request your child to bring foods that has  been "assigned" for him to bring. That certainly makes things a lot easier. If not, just remember the rule, half the big portions and it is ok to bring one each for small items. 

How Much To Spend On The Food

It really depends on your budget. Some parents will go all out and order a happy meal for each and every child. As a general guideline, some parents feel that RM1/child is fine. This decision is personal and depends on you.

Advice For Your Child

Usually there will be excess food and teacher will advice your child to bring some food containers to bring home some food. 

• Teach your child to separate the foods properly so they won't spoil. This will avoid food from going bad when they mix all the foods in one container, fruits, cake, rice, jelly, all mixed together!
• Teach your child to avoid drinking yogurt drinks that have been left un-refrigerated for hours.
• If you are concerned about unhealthy food, then teach your child to choose healthy foods.
• When it comes to snacks or junk food, teach your child to check the expiry dates before eating.

Have a great party!

For your child, school parties will be something he looks forward to after all the time spent studying and getting his results so a little effort will make your little one happy.

Young Kids Should be Banned From

Thank you, Lian for thinking of me for this meme. Well, I think that young kids should be banned from...

1. Treating household maids or helpers as their personal slave

2. Shouting and other rude behaviour

3. All handheld gadgets

4. Watching mobile dvds while everyone else is having a meal

5. Any form of bullying in school and anywhere else for that matter

6. Being disrespectful towards their elders

7. Being couch potatoes. Kids are meant to be active

8. Letting their parents finish their leftovers

9. Eating sweets and other junk foods as their meal!

10. Uttering swear words that they don't even know the meaning off

Having said that, my kids are guilty of item 2, 6 and 8. What about yours? Anyone can go ahead and tag yourself but I'd really like to hear the views of the bloggers from the blogs listed below.

1. Caring is not only Sharing

2. Reese Mathew's Secret Isle

3. All About Your Child

4. Little Chumsy's Blog

5. Stories of Ace

6. Contented Mom

7. Bold Talk

Supermummy Amazing Blogger Award - Vote for me!

I'm amazed to have been nominated for the Supermummy Amazing Blogger Award. Yes, its simply amazing! I'm no supermummy, just a mummy. I'm no amazing blogger but I'm one amazed blogger right now for being nominated.

Yes, I'm an Amazed Mummy Blogger so I hope you all will vote for me. Hehe. Judging ends on Tuesday, 30th April 2009.

So what is this amazed mummy blogger up to right now?

As a mummy.......

Well, lets see, I just got the syllabus and schedule for my very first term exam for my first kid. Notice that I said my very first term exam, not her very first term exam because I feel like I am being tested. I was told to prepare her well because the kids go into streaming next year in Std 2 and this May exam results will be pro rated with the end of the year one to decide which class the kids go to. So this mummy is going to be very busy studying.... studying how to prepare her kid for her first test. When I look at the syllabus, I want to pengsan. Not only text books but activity books (2 or 3 for each subject). Fuiyoh! We really had it easy in our days.

As for the second boy, his 5th birthday is next week. Daddy has taken some time off. Yippee! But the poor boy has the sniffles and cough! I hope he will recover soon in time for his birthday which I haven't planned yet!

As a blogger.....

Well, I just blogged all the above down, didn't I? Thats what we crazy bloggers do. Blog blog blog about everything but we love it!

To vote for me, please click on the above banner or the one on my sidebar. Thank you for voting and have a good weekend everyone!

These are a few of my favourite things...

Allthingspurple called me the Mystery Woman in her tag. Lol! Ok, I'll humour her and unravel some of the mystery by revealing my favourite things here.

• Nice relaxing, soothing music or songs. Nothing loud please, thank Q very much. I have enough people shouting in my ears all day long.
• Good food. I'm a glutton didn't you know?
• A walk on the beach on a cool moonlit night. I'm a hopeless romantic.
• Watching the babies sleep. And that includes the big baby. In sleep, suddenly all the little monsters look like angels. Hahaha.
• Writing, reading and posting on my blogs. I'm a blogaholic but thats nothing new. Most of you know that by now. Lol!
• Shopping with my sisters preferably all day long, leisurely with a few meal breaks in between to rest our weary feet. I wish I could do this a little bit more often. Hehe.

I could go on and on. These are just a few of my favourite things. There's lots more but I won't bore you, my readers. ;) I'm late doing this so I think everyone else has been tagged by now. Hmmm.. I'm not sure but would you like to do this.....

• Pablobpabla
• Julian
• Little Lukeskywalker
• Zara's Mama (make that Zara and Zaria's mama)
• Montessori Mum

?????

Simple Pleasures of Life

I got tagged by King's wife and Yvy to do this meme. Yvy said "wah!!!! how sweet n nice. then this tag must be VERY appropriate. " Haha. She probably expected a mushy mushy post from me. Sorry Yvy. No mushyness and since this will only take me about 5 minutes to do, here it is.

Name 10 of Life’s Simple Pleasures, and tag 10 other poor sods to recall theirs. The catch: Try to be original and not use things that others have already mentioned.

My 10 simple pleasures in life are.......

1. To sleep uninterrupted
2. To eat uninterrupted
3. To bathe uninterrupted
4. To read uninterrupted
5. To watch tv/vcd/dvd uninterrupted
6. To go to the toilet uninterrupted
7. To talk to the hubby uninterrupted
8. To talk on the phone uninterrupted
9. To have a good romp uninterrupted, nope, that should be, to have a good romp knowing there is no chance you will be interrupted
10. To write this uninterrupted.

There you go. Very easy! When you have to care for two little ones full time at home, the simple things in life, nope, that should be the very basic things in life becomes the simple pleasures of life! Anything else, is a luxury! It would be a pleasure indeed to do things in a leisurely manner without rush nor worries about health, money or time or being interrupted!

Err...... I'm about to be interrupted now so I won't be tagging anyone but by all means, feel free to tag yourself if you want to talk about your simple pleasures in life.

Whats in my handbag = Who Am I?

This is a woman's handbag content meme from Lilian. She said "Duh, I know it is very silly but it says a lot about us, ya?" How true. I read some of the memes and from the content of their handbags, I found King's wife to be a hoarder, 5xmom a colourful personality and Scb a party animal. (Please continue to pray for Scb who has been readmitted to the ICU).

I seldom respond to tags but since my handbag requires some cleanup anyway......here goes.

1. What’s the regular handbag you carry?
   Plain, boring, ole classic, timeless, elegant, evergreen black. I have just one bag. (not one lipstick ok Lilian? Haha.) Gift from hubby. Choice was his too. I don't really like the design but I remember we went to shop for it together and I was so fussy and could not find any after several hours and places, in the end, I agreed to what he picked! Hmm.... this makes me feel like posting another topic "Does Your Spouse Rule What You Wear?"
   
   
2. What’s inside?

• handphone
• keys
• baby comb
• 2 pens
• 1 notebook
• tissues
• wallet (black as well)
• double lipstick holder and mirror
• Popular book shop voucher
• San Francisco Steakhouse Value Set Lunch menu
• 3 lipsticks and a lipgloss (Colours? Toasted nut, sandal wood, mango sorbet) I'm an earthy person. I love nudes, neutrals and other natural colours like these.

Now, if I didn't know me, I'd say that this MG woman is very conservative and boring just looking at her bag and its contents. So now you know me through my handbag. Time for me to know you better......

1. Maria
2. Blurblur
3. Jomel
4. Elaine
5. Bkworm

To the 5 above, ignore this tag if you feel like ignoring it. And to anyone else who has to cleanup handbag like me or who don't mind sharing your personality through your handbags, consider yourself tagged!

Fun ‘n Go Tag

The reason why I'm doing this tag?
Because.... someone "forced" me to do it tagged me with this line:

Mumsgather (loud and clear, don’t pretend you didn’t see this)

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
The abnormally high equity premium since 1926 is certainly not sustainable. (The hubby's book lah!)

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
PC Speaker (My desk is clean today. Whoopee!)

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Formula 1 results (No time to watch the whole thing mah!)

4.Without looking, guess what time it is?
1pm (lunchtime! I feel rumbly in my tummy!)

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
1.25pm (lunchtime! *rumble rumble rumble* Think I'll stop here to makan.)

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Clickety, clackety sound of baby playing with blocks plus sound of my girl singing and opening drawers containing her toys

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Last evening. Went out to "ta pau" dinner and let the kids enjoy some kiddy rides while waiting

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
My own blog. MSN conversation window screen (chatting with second sis while blogging)

9. What are you wearing?
Exercise gear. Cycling shorts and T-shirt. (Just finished exercising to make up for pigging out during the weekend)

10. Did you dream last night?
Yeah. Dreamt I was sitting for an exam, someone stole my chair in the exam hall and I couldn't complete the questions on time! (Any dream interpreters out there?)

11. When did you last laugh?
A while ago, listening to both the kids pretending to "read" each in their own style and just a moment ago listening to my girl trying to teach baby how to say "banana" (the kids always make me laugh one moment and shout the next like mad woman like dat)

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Framed up certificates (Kiasuism. No lah, Seriously they make a nice decoration/give a nice look to the study room)

13. Seen anything weird lately?
Nope! (Luckily)

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Easy reading.

15. What is the last film you saw?
Can't remember. Too long ago. However if home videos were to be counted, it would be Disney's "Dumbo" (My repertoir of films are mostly limited to kids videos these days)

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Security. (ie. child education policies, share investments etc before luxury items)

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
I love to sleep ;) (Or perhaps you knew that already?)

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Reduce proverty and be rid everyone of illness (Whoops! Supposed to be only one thing but theres just too many things that need change)

19. Do you like to dance?
Of course!

20. George Bush.
Man-o-war

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
My first child is a girl! (So no need to imagine)

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
My first child is a girl so cannot answer this as well. (Hehe.)

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Not sure as haven't really thought about it but if I did, I'd miss the people, the weather and the food for sure.

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
"Welcome, my child"

25. Five (5) people who must also do this meme in their journal.

5xMom
Yvy
Magictree
Mama Bok
Lydia Teh

P.S. To the 5 people I tagged, if you have been tagged before this, it just goes to show more than one person thought of you :)

My 5 Childhood Memories That Relate To Food

I got tagged by Ai Lian from Tips and Tricks to Happy Parenting blog. I'm normally lazy to do memes but since I'm on a semi-diet might as well blog about food. Anyway, here's my 5 childhood memories that relate to food.

Durians the King of Fruits! I remember me and my siblings crowding around dad, each with a cold glass of water, eagerly anticipating the fruits of his labour. And mind you, opening a durian fruit is hard labour indeed. Haha! Dad would boast of his durian cracking skill. He would arm himself with lots of newspapers, a cleaver and his boots. He'd bang on the top to flatten some of the thorns first, push the cleaver at a certain line/point, then stand up and stomp on the durian. No joke! Nowadays durian are sold in plastic containers at supermarkets. Takes half the fun out of eating it. After devouring the durians (we sat on the floor to eat), we would each take a portion of the shell to fill up with water to wash our mouth and hands with. I swear it takes the smell off a lot better than soap!

Prawn Fritters, my all time favourite. I love prawn fritters from a very young age. I remember dad would take me everywhere to find the perfect prawn fritter and at last we did, at a chinese restaurant in Kuantan where dad was posted then. He would take me there frequently just so I could enjoy my prawn fritters. Ah.... a father's love is sometimes shown through food. Now I'm busy trying to convert my whole family to become prawn fritter lovers so that I can make and eat it more frequently. Hehe.

Keropok Lekor. We stayed in the East Coast of Malaysia for a while, hence the enjoyment of this type of keropok. I remember enjoying it with my siblings whenever we finished our swim at the public swimming pool. (My second sis was the one who taught me how to swim. She also taught me how to ride a bicycle, patiently pushing me up and down the back lane of our house.) Ravenous after a swim, the keropok lekor tasted marvelous dipped in a some chilli sauce.

Shrimp wanton soup. This one is related to my memory of travelling back to our hometown Penang to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Back then, our journey took almost 10 hours! We were happy to stop for a stretch of legs to enjoy the shrimp wanton soup and noodles in Bidor. Now the highways bypasses the restaurant so we don't go there anymore.


Ju Hu Char. (Not sure what this dish is called. Its sengkuang, carrots, shitake mushrooms, dried cuttlefish and meat, thinly shredded and stirfried). Must be eaten with a fresh bed of lettuce. This is another Chinese New Year related memory. Its one of our must have dishes. It brings back memories of warmth, laughter, excitement and that special feeling of festivity in the air.

Speaking of which its almost time for Deepavali and Hari Raya. Aren't we all lucky to get to feel the air of festivity for so many festivals all year round? I do feel lucky indeed.

This meme came from the following blogs (I noticed that they're mainly food bloggers blogging about places to eat/find good food. Haha. I'm not much of a food blogger so hopefully, I haven't killed the meme! ( I probably have by not passing the baton on to 5 others as required but who cares!)

Oswego Tea
Masak-masak
Funky Cookies
Thinking Aloud
Tips and Tricks to Happy Parenting
Mumsgather

I think I know of some people who love food and wouldn't mind writing about food on their blog but then not sure if they like being tagged so anyone who reads this and feels like taking up the meme, well..... just consider yourself tagged! And remember to let me know when you post your meme up so I can come and kay poh.

Tags, tags and more tags....

I owe twinsmom a shoe tag from looooonnnnng ago. Don't have many shoes, so going to give that a miss. Sorry Maria.

I pretended not to see Egghead's tag on 7 things you plan to do to do or something like that. You see, first I've got to go and do the 7 things on my priority which I've been procrastinating on. Sorry Egghead.

Then I chanced upon the life history tag from Atiza. Oops! I almost missed that. Sorry Atiza. That sounds like a fun tag but I'm not doing it becos James has spoilt it for everyone (*pouts*) since he did such a good post on that. Just looking for an excuse or someone to blame for not doing it. Haha. Sorry James.

I still remember the first time, I got tagged.... by Papi. I was a real dungu and didn't know what a meme was then and so I replied his tag... in his comments page! Sorry Papi. Then I got wiser and one day I tagged him back... but he didn't reply so he got his own back. Hehehe.

Solbi also owes me some tag on some subject matter which I can't quite remember now. Don't be sorry Solbi.

Mama22beas also tagged me before, but I've forgotten.... on what and whether I replied. Sorry Mama22beas.

Did I forget to mention anyone? I can be rather forgetful as you can see.

These tags/memes can be fun and often allows one to know a blogger better and its a good way to know more bloggers if you are linked and you link others back but sometimes, just sometimes it feels like an empty 'filler' post, or sometimes its just plain boorrring depending on my mood. Sometimes it feels just slightly better than an email chain letter which I will delete without reading. At least I read tags, occassionally. Jason calls it spam.

If you ever get tagged by me and don't feel like replying, well, just ignore it then.
If you ever tag me and I don't reply, or don't even realise it, then don't feel offended ok?
If you read a nice tag and feel like doing it even though nobody tagged you, then just go right ahead and write a post on it.

Well, that just about sums out how I feel about tags and memes.

Whats your feeling about tags or memes?

Hmm.... Book Tag.... What next?

Mama22beas tagged me. So here's my say (I'm lazy today. So my answers are short and sweet lah)

1) Total number of books I've owned: Kenot remember. Too many. We love to read. We've got a good collection of books on our book shelves. Mr MG's section is Finance, Investing, Health and Comic Books, mine mostly cookbooks, self-help books, health books, PC reference books (which we kongsi) and magazines and toddler and baby has their own shelf too. We devour books all the time and hope to pass that love on to the kids.

2) The last book I bought: "You are what you eat" by Dr Gillian McKeith. I told ya I love to eat!

3) The last book I read = the last book I bought.

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me
a) The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman - Excellent Relationship book tho found in the Christian Books Section its a good read for all. Very simple concept but very true.

b) Don't sweat the small stuff by Richard & Kris Carlson - Hmm another self help book. Help!

c) My Merck Manual as well as The Medical Advisor - The Complete Guide to Alternative & Conventional Treatments. Hey! Thats two. I know how to count but since they're both medical might as well put them together :P

d) The Best of Chinese Cooking by Betty Yew. I told you I love to eat!

e) What to Expect Series by Eisenberg, Murkoff & Hathaway. I've got them all from What to Expect When You're Expecting to What to Expect the First Year and What to Expect the Toddler Years. Kiasu parent here need to refer to books every now and then.

5) Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their blogs.

i) Bkworm - cos its obvious she's a bookworm
ii) Shopping Mum - wanna know what books she shops for
iii) Cherry - just curious
iv) msau - just curious
v) MrsT - just curious

P.S. To the 5 ppl I tagged. Don't worry if you're too lazy to pass the baton. These tags and memes can get rather tiresome sometimes after a while don't you think?

If I Could Be.......

Oh No! I've been tagged.... by a wanabe lawyer.

What follows is a list of different occupations. The reader must select at least five of them. The reader may add more if they like to the list before they pass it on (after the reader select five of the items as it was passed to the reader). Of the five selected, the reader is to finish each phrase with what he would do as a member of that profession. Then pass it on to three other bloggers.

Here’s that list: (My additions are in bold)

If [Reader] could be a scientist // If [Reader] could be a farmer
if [Reader] could be a musician // If [Reader] could be a doctor
If [Reader] could be a painter // If [Reader] could be a gardener
If [Reader] could be a missionary // If [Reader] could be a chef //
If [Reader] could be an architect // If [Reader] could be a linguist
If [Reader] could be a psychologist // If [Reader] could be a librarian
If [Reader] could be an athlete // If [Reader] could be a lawyer
If [Reader] could be an innkeeper // If [Reader] could be a professor
If [Reader] could be a writer // If [Reader] could be a backup dancer
If [Reader] could be a llama-rider // If [Reader] could be a bonnie pirate
If [Reader] could be a midget stripper // If [Reader] could be a proctologist
If [Reader] could be a TV-Chat Show host // If [Reader] could be a pariah…
If [Reader] could be an actor // If [Reader] could be a judge
If [Reader] could be a Jedi // If [Reader] could be a mob boss
If [Reader] could be a backup singer // If [Reader] could be a CEO
If [Reader] could be a movie reviewer // If [Reader] could be a monkey’s uncle
If [Reader] could be a bible archaeologist //I f [Reader] could be a househusband
If [Reader] could be a lifeguard //I f [Reader] could be a comic artist
If [Reader] could be a stockbroker//I f [Reader] could be a travel writer
If [Reader] could be a food reviewer //I f [Reader] could be a politician

So here's my 5 picks:

1. If I could be a backup singer.......I'd sing so well, I'd outshine the main singer. Muahahaha.
2. If I could be a writer..........hmmm... "Hey! Wait a minute. I am a writer. I blog don't I?
3. If I could be an innkeeper, I'd own the most beautiful inn, invite all my friends to stay (as paying guests of course) and party all year long. Hehe.
4. If I could be musician, I'd be a pianist or harpist. I just love the sounds of those two instruments.
5. If I could be a llama-rider..... Whats that???!!! (*scratches head*)

Now, for the fun part..... The next 3 targets shall be PapiMami (sweet revenge for passing me the music meme previously), solb1kenobi and Simon.