How to get Children to like Eating & Cooking

                                          

                                                                                                  Image taken from commons.wikimedia.org.

Foodies, travel enthusiasts and people who love to cook with growing children may want to bring up their children to appreciate a good eating adventure and like having fun in the kitchen.

Although I do not have children of my own, let me share with you some of the tips and tricks that my grandmother used to raise me and my sister to become avid foodies and cooking enthusiasts...

MAKE EATING FUN

- Make eating a fun activity. As quite a picky eater during my early childhood, I used to play and eat at the same time. That was one of the only ways I will eat whatever I was given because I found it a fun activity.

- Organise an eating competition. The person who eats the fastest wins. No rewards are necessary. The reward is the honour of winning.

DEVELOP FUN FOOD ITEMS 

- Make food as appealing as possible to children - hide vegetables in food by blending them and by using them to decorate food. 

- Children like stuff that are small in size. For example, they would like tiny cupcakes, cheese sticks, mini chocolates bites and colourful stuff (though too much artificial colouring is not good. Try and source out for natural colouring from your baking specialist stores or supermarkets). Try to make you food into bite sizes to attract your children to eat them. 

- Always change the menu. Getting them to be adventurous by letting them try new food is vital to ensure they will be food enthusiasts in the future. 

APPOINT MINI KITCHEN HELPERS 

- Nothing beats a good time in the kitchen where children bond with the adults by learning cooking traits through a fun time in the kitchen making something they themselves like to eat like cupcakes and cookies. Many children first learn how to cook by baking. 

- Appoint each person with a cooking task - like measuring the flour, sugar, etc or mixing the cake batter. Baking is a good way to cultivate the love for cooking among children because it turns ‘play dough’ into a real-time activity that actually produces real food. Why would they want to play ‘play dough’ if they could play with ‘real dough’ and eat something they have baked as a reward? 

- Don't be angry if your child eats raw dough. If you punish them you will make them resent cooking. It is no harm to let them eat a bit of raw dough. Tried and tested .I have eaten tonnes of cookie/cake raw dough when I was a kid. Nothing happened to me. Not even a stomache. 

- Let them play ‘cooking’ with toys. In Malaysia, this is known as ‘masak-masak’. Although they are only playing with miniature pots and pans, they may soon turn their ‘play time’ into a real interest in cooking. 

DO NOT BE OBSESSED WITH FOOD HYGIENE 

- Don't be too worried about food hygiene. I mean, you can take it into account but do not be too obsessed by it. 

- As a child – I used to eat at roadside stalls around the villages, at shacks built with zink roof illegally and at food stalls with no proper hygiene. That was okay. 

- This is because if you bring up a child with food that is not too hygiene, they will have a much stronger in immunity to the food they eat in the future. I have a good reputation for having an ‘iron stomach’. When everyone else gets stomache because they ate at a shop that is not so clean, my stomach feels perfectly fine! This is because I was brought up in an environment where I ate at places that are not necessarily hygiene. Because of my upbringing, I can eat anywhere..and that's the coolest part of it all. 

I hope sharing my childhood experience will be helpful to you. There are no full proof methods to get your child into becoming foodies - but the methods I mentioned earlier worked for me and my sister. Happy trying!

In memory of my beloved food inspirer, Kiko

Part of my early adventures in cooking consists of making some oops! cooking disasters in the kitchen. 

There were times when I had to spend several hours to cooking something only to discover that I have missed a cooking step which turned my whole dish into a disaster. At other times, I would cook my beans forgetting to wash them before I put them into the pot. 

Cooking was indeed a fun childhood activity for me. It was a family ritual to gather with my grandma, sister and auntie (deceased) to cook up a storm during the school holidays. My grandma, the chief cook, would have a list of food (mostly desserts) that she wanted us to make throughout the holidays and most often, it was an every day affair (how unhealthy! Nyeh nyeh nyeh) 

Oh yea, coming back to my cooking adventure, when I was really young - about 11 years old, we had a golden cocker spaniel by the name of Kiko. When we got him, little did he know about his huge appetite. We bought him from dog breeder in a city about 4 hours drive from our hometown. While we were driving home, he clinged on tightly to my mom and sister. He was fast asleep the whole way until we got a little hungry. There was a leftover chicken pot pie that we had packed from a take-away outlet we went to for lunch. When I took it out of its packet, Kiko immediately woke up and before you know it, he was sniffing the pie. We found that real amusing as we thought he was fast asleep all the while. 

That was just the beginning. As Kiko grew up, we discovered that he used different body movements to signify his opinions on the tastes of different food items. If he felt the food was really delicious, he would be jumping up and down. If he felt the food was quite delicious, he will just stand up. If he felt the food was okay but can be improved, he will sit down and look at you. And the most funny thing is if he felt the food was totally inedible or tastes disgusting, he will go and hide. His face will spell it all - “Don’t look at me. I don’t want to eat it.” 

Besides his ‘food reviews’, Kiko was also my ‘cake alarm’. Whenever I went to bake a cake, I will tell him, “Kiko, let me know when the cake is done.” Then I will go and have a snooze while turning on the oven alarm according to the recipe instructions. During many occasions, Kiko barked frantically even before the oven alarm rang. When I went to check on the cake I was baking, the cake was just cooked perfectly. If I had left it much longer and followed the recipe instructions, my cake would have been over cooked. Thanks to Kiko, my cake always came out on time! 

Kiko’s favourite past time besides eating is sleeping. He sleeps really early at night. But if my sister and I decide to bake right until 3 am in the morning, he will surprisingly be awake until that time! 

It was really fun seeing Kiko eat the food that we cooked. When he ate the food I cooked, he ate with a real appreciative and hungry look on his face. This motivated me to cook even more and move up my cooking skills to try and cook new food to satisfy my forever hungry 'brother'. 

I am really thankful to Kiko as he has been my greatest food inspirer, besides my family. He has passed away a few years ago at the age of 14. I will always remember him and continue to talk about him to my friends and family members for years to come. 

Look at his photo...isn't he so cute? I miss him very much...

Kiko looking at mom

Get Up & Close to Nature at Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Nothing beats the cool and fresh air of Cameron Highlands. Coming from a hot and tropical climate town called Petaling Jaya, a suburb of Malaysia's bustling Kuala Lumpur city, Cameron Highlands serves as a perfect getaway for me as the highlands provides the 'perfect' weather and opportunity for me to escape from metropolitan city life by getting me close to nature.

During my trip to Cameron Highlands, I managed to visit the Boh Tea plantation, Cactus Valley and strawberry farm. Of course, there are a lot more places to visit in this panoramic highlands besides the places that I visited. Visitors can also choose to go to the rose garden and vegetable plantation areas as well. Of all the places I visited during my trip, I found the Boh Tea plantation the best. Though me and my hubby had to go through a very narrow and windy road to get to the plantation, the trip was really worthwhile as we got to see the scenic tea plantation and get a glimpse of what it is like to live at the tea plantation. I was really amused with the little cottages built for the workers of the tea plantation. They look very similar to one another. There is also a special school that is built nearby the plantation to cater to the needs of the plantation worker's children which I found most ideal.

The little cottages built for the tea plantation workers

The Cactus Valley

 

The Strawberry Farm

Famous eats in Cameron Highlands are products with made from strawberries, fresh strawberries, steamboat, scones, vegetables and mushrooms. I would like to highlight that the vegetables sold here are really fresh. You should especially buy the mushrooms and corn here. They're much tastier that the ones sold elsewhere!

Strawberry products we bought

Delicious and unique strawberry naan

The strawberry waffle we ate at the strawberry farm

The delicious scones and strawberry tart we ate at the Boh's Tea Plantation

I stayed at Rainbow Hotel during my time in Cameron Highlands because they were having a good promotion at that time. It costs only RM80 a night for a double bedroom. The room was very cosy and nicely decorated. Most importantly, the crowd of people staying there were 'descent' (ie. mostly families).

Rainbow Hotel, the hotel we stayed in

I did most of my shopping (i.e vegetable and food shopping) at the 'pasar malam' situated at Brinchang. There is also a morning market at Brinchang and many other parts of Cameron Highlands, so don't worry if you are not able to catch the 'pasar malam' at Brinchang. The things sold in the 'pasar malam' and morning market are similar.

If you want to savour western cuisines, take a trip to Tanah Rata because there many western cafes there. For steamboat, Brinchang is the place to go.

Steamboat

Cameron Highlands has always been one of my favourite holiday destinations since I was very young. I hope that my article had shed some light on what the beautiful highland has to offer.

Sandy Beaches at Port Dickson, Malaysia

It is absolutely amazing how many travel enthusiast can swarm around favourite tourist hotspots  just to enjoy a small space of sand that they can call their own ‘private spot” in well-known beaches.

As for a person working in a metropolitan city, the last thing I want is to compete for my own sand space during a holiday that’s meant to get me away from the hustle and bustle of city life. All I want is  the peace and quiet that only a less crowded AKA less popular beach can offer.

Port Dickson is one of the oldest beaches in Malaysia which is situated alongside the Western Coast of Malaysia. The beach is 32 km from Seremban and 90 km from Kuala Lumpur. Port Dickson is located at the border of the Negeri Sembilan and Selangor state but is held under the state of Negeri Sembilan. The main attractions at Port Dickson are its beaches, seafood and water sports. Port Dickson beach was once coined as one of the most famous beaches in Malaysia,  offering an ideal hotspot for beach and water activities to tourists from Malaysia and around the world. However, over the years, other Malaysian beaches overtook the popularity of the Port Dickson beach due to heavier travel publicity on those beaches.

I visited the Port Dickson beach last year and enjoyed the serenity of the beach very much. Although I must admit that if I had visited the beach years back when it was much more popular, I would not have enjoyed myself at the beach so much because the beach would have lacked in ‘private space’.

My visit to Port Dickson was just a brief one day trip. Hence, I managed to enjoy sight-seeing with my then-boyfriend (now husband) at the sandy Port Dickson beach. We ‘wanted’ to savour some delicious seafood there but somehow our plan backfired.

During dinner time, we waddled happily to one of the seafood restaurants nearby the beach front. Unfortunately, the restaurant that we went to had really poor service. There were just too many patrons and too little staff to attend to the patrons of the restaurant.  As a result, nobody attended to us and I didn’t even get to order my food! After at least 1 hour of impatient waiting, with very hungry stomachs and a grumpy mood, my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I decided to abandone the restaurant and head to a food court nearby. At the food court, we finally managed to satisfy our hunger with a plate of  ’nasi lemak’ each. The ‘nasi lemak’ was very aromatic and delicious.

If you do not like to sun bathe (such as myself!) and would just like to enjoy the sea view and/or sunrise/sunset, just make your way to the beach during the respective times and don’t ever ever get out there at 12 noon! If you attemp to do so, make sure you put lots of sun block on your body and face. When you head to the beach, some of the stuff that you might consider bringing along are  a travel mat, an umbrella and a good book to read.

During my time at the Port Dickson beach, I managed to observe that the favourite activities there were mainly playing with kites and having family picnics. I also saw a group of foreign tourists who were camping there. They were halfway singing songs and strumming the guitar when I was at the beach enjoying the sunset.

There’s a ‘pasar malam’ AKA night market held nearby the beach front. Souvenirs sold there are stuff made from sea shells and T-shirts with the Port Dickson name on it (that’s a classic). I bought a t-shirt for my sister at the night market . My boyfriend, however, decided to get me a sea shells ornament (stationary holder) from the Port Dickson supermarket.

Word of Caution: You can bargain your price at the pasar malam. But don’t bargain at the supermarket. They will give you a ticking off!

Port Dickson Beach - you pretty much have the whole beach to yourself!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading my article on Port Dickson.

Reaching for the Skies at Fort Cornwallis, Penang

The Fort Cornwallis light house. Still can't believe I made it to the top!

Part and parcel of being a travel enthusiast means being willing to do things that you would not have imagined doing. Although with the many travel adventures that I have been through over the years, I have to admit that there was one factor that often hindered me from joining many travelling activities, which was my fear of heights. 

With that being said, I still can’t believe I finally managed to overcome my fear of heights (at least for once!) with my success in conquering the Fort Cornwallis light house in Penang, Malaysia. 

Just to share my experience in climbing up the light house (promise me you won’t be alarmed with what I have to say because this experience of mine is a totally subjective one) – I found my experience climbing up the light house quite scary. 

With creaky and wobbly steps leading to the peak of the light house, my heart often skipped a beat whenever I attempted to climb the steps of the light house. Throughout my journey up to the light house peak, I couldn’t help but doubt about the stability of the steps and fear of having one of the steps break while I was climbing up. I guess these ‘stupid’ thoughts cropped up my mind because of my fear of heights. I tried not looking down when I climbed the light house, but somehow when you have climbed a certain amount of steps you would have figured out that you’re pretty much above the ground! 

The outcome of my success in conquering the light house - a happiness that cannot be explained. Overjoy. Pure overjoy. =) Perhaps this success would encourage me to join more of such activities in the future and help me to not shy away from such activities…Yay! 

Sorry folks, I wasn’t able to capture any photos of the scary steps of the light house. I think I was concentrating too hard not to fall down back then to think of snapping photos. 

Besides the light house, if you intend to drop by Fort Cornwallis, you can also visit the old chapel, wild horses and pay a visit to the exhibition centres at the fort. You can also check out the old canons at the fort. The fort is a good area to take photographs especially if you are into photography. 

I highly recommend a visit to the fort if you plan to head yourself to Penang, Malaysia.