Plain white loaves with a little wheat bran

This was made using dough hooks and given a longer rising time than usual. The first rise was about an hour but the second was done in the fridge, about 5 hours or more. This bread turned out much better than any loaves I ever got from the bread machine, which were only nice and soft within the first 4-5 hrs. These stayed soft till day 3 (after day 2 leftovers went into the fridge). I'm never going back to the bread machine.

My No Knead Bread

HUGE holes, wonderful! I never could achieve this in the past, whether on my own or with a bread machine. Thick crust, chewy inside. Ok the super large hole at the side is due to my bread knife coming in to dig it out of my mom's pot, which has a wider base than top and couldn't come out on its own. I have since bought a better pot to make this in.

To Ruvie when you've grown up and become a father yourself

Firstly,
Thank your wife and love her ever so much more for choosing to breastfeed your baby. You will never have to go through, nor understand how it feels to have your nipples cracked, bleeding, and sore from the early days of nursing. Support your wife and give her all the help she needs in baby care, because she will be worn out from just nursing alone. And let her eat whatever she wants. And for goodness' sake, don't ever suggest giving a bottle of formula.

Secondly,
Thank your wife again and love her with all your heart for choosing to continue to breastfeed your toddler. You will never have to go through, nor understand how it feels to have your nipples CHOMPED on by a 3 year old with an almost full set of baby teeth as he is falling asleep and (probably) dreaming of eating his favourite salmon or beef or chicken or pork. It is so much more painful than being gummed by a 5-6 mo baby who is only teething, and it WILL bring tears to your wife's eyes. If she cries out, go immediately to her and hug her and rub her back and tell her you really appreciate what she does. And NEVER suggest that she stops.

And for your information, your Dad has done all these, and I know you will too.

Love you lots,
Mom

Food safety

I've recently been bombarded with a lot of info on keeping toxins out of the food and drinks that we consume. Among the great and easy-to-read articles are:

Plastics
More on Plastics
Aluminium

Avoid:
Using plastics labelled with recycling code #3, #6, #7 (unless labelled as bio-based plastic), ESPECIALLY if it's polycarbonate, which is under #7
Using plastic containers to contain hot food or to heat food
Plastic bottled water except in areas where other water sources are questionable (eg. in BKK)
PVC-based cling wrap (mine is LDPE)
Aluminium cookware unless they are made from anodised aluminium
Aluminium can drinks (gosh, this is sooo hard!)
Canned foods

Cut down on:
Table salt, use a natural salt instead
Baking powder unless it's labelled as aluminium-free
Aluminium foil for food
Anti-dandruff stuff if it contains Al
Disposable containers in general

I am glad that both the kids' sports bottles turned out to be #4, since they both love their bottles so much - Ray's is Disney Princesses and Ruvie's is Dora, yep, DORA. Tomorrow I shall go and check the plastic feeding bowls and cutlery they're using.

I am VERY sad to discover that Avent milk bottles, the only ones I feel have suitable teats for breastfed babies, are made of polycarbonate. I hope they upgrade soon to a safer type of plastic, more customer feedback would help. It is interesting though, that Avent's Magic Cup is made from PE or PP, safer...

Many thanks to Lynnette for your posts on Asiaparents. I've been procrastinating about doing the right thing, but you've woken me up.

Cute potty picture

Somebody on the big EC list posted this link to a kawaii photo. Hontouni kawaii nee!!!

http://www.lolhome.com/funny-picture-9120539090.html

No Knead Bread

I've made this 2 times (just plain flour) and I must say the results are great! This does not produce the sandwich-type bread that Singaporeans are so used to, but is the crusty, chewy insides loaf that Westerners are more used to. Like HL said, texture is like French loaf!

I will be trying out variations soon, whole wheat flour and perhaps some parmesan cheese somewhere. More variations at www.breadtopia.com.

Asthma

It is just too bad that Ruvie, who has received loads more breastmilk than his sister ever did, is so much more susceptible to asthma. He has probably been to KKH more times in his three years than Ray ever did in her six. And in the KKH records, his diagnoses have been classified as Asthma, whereas Ray's are shortness of breath, bronchitis, and never Asthma so far.

I always hoped that they could both escape the fate I have, the horrid feeling of not being able to get enough oxygen, and when I was older, the fear that I could die. Asthma is not something that you can "leave for a while, see if it gets better". But it looks very much like Ruvie is definitely going to follow in my footsteps. And I had hoped that breastfeeding him a lot could have helped him escape it.

It is interesting though, that Ray is more like my sister, who has slight asthma and bad eczema. I on the other hand, have bad asthma and slight eczema (Ruvie's like me). Thankfully, I don't have to take regular medications to control my asthma, well, my asthma specialist is unhappy about it, but I have found that my current regime works well. I am also very glad that from my own medical history and experience, I am able to deal better with my children's illness.