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Karen Cheng

A Perth Fashion and Lifestyle Blog

Archives for March 2007

GO3 Cocktail Party

My husband attended a conference this weekend – part of the GO3 Electronic Entertainment Expo (read : for GAMING GEEKS). So I got roped along to an “exclusive” cocktail party in the evening. A cocktail party for geeks!

I’m only kidding. I like geeks. Geeks make me laugh. Me and geeks – we get along well. I figured it would be fun – meeting and talking to new people is always fun.

There was definitely a buzz in the air. The crowd had an international and local flavour. There were lots of food, drinks and people mingling and chatting. I talked to heaps of really nice people. I really enjoyed myself – despite the fact that I don’t even LIKE playing computer games.

At one point, I met a some guys and we got chatting. They were trying to explain to me how freaking cool the conference speakers were. Apparently… we were mingling with the MEGA ROCKSTARS of game development. Think Spielberg. Michael Jackson. The Rolling Stones. We were in the presence of GAMING GODS.

And to see a bunch of well spoken, intelligent and not-bad-looking geeks… suddenly go all star-struck and gushy, well, it was cute.

I was told I HAD to get my picture taken with Hideo Kojima (the Metal Gear dude) and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (the Sega Rally and Rez dude). I had absolutely no idea who they are, but I walked up to them anyway and politely asked for a photo. So I hope these photos mean something to someone, because I don’t even know what Metal Gear is!

Organic Cheese and Chive Scone Recipe

Organic Cheese and Chive Scone Recipe

No added sugar. Organic. Incredibly tasty. Easy for kids to help. Quick to make. Makes about 12 – 16 medium scones.

225g (8 oz) self raising flour (organic wholemeal or white)
50g butter (organic)
1 cup cheese (organic)
¼ teaspoon of garlic salt (or regular sea salt)
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
¼ cup of milk to make a soft dough

1. Rub butter into flour.

2. Add salt, cheese, chives and give it a stir.

3. Add milk and mix to make a nice soft dough. If too sticky add more flour.

4. Throw onto floured surface. Knead a bit. Press flat with hands, thickness of 1-2cms. Cut out with a scone cutter. Place on oiled baking try.

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes in 230ºC/450ºF oven, or until golden brown.

Reward Charts

These past few months, we’ve had a tough time trying to shift some “unsatisfactory behaviours” in our almost 4 year old. I wouldn’t say that they are BAD behaviours… because really, bad is more like… when kids throw a tantrum involving smashing up furniture and swearing in your face. So to his credit, my son isn’t all that bad.

They are more like… annoying habits. Habits which make us parents nag and nag and nag until our eyeballs peel and our brains implode. I don’t like to nag. I don’t like entering into the same marathon of daily negotiations. I don’t like the whining and the whinging. It spoils the love.

So after months of no success, today we’re trying the reward chart.

I’ve always avoided the reward chart system. I’ve always imagined it might make my kids NOT genuine in their actions, perhaps superficial, and maybe focused on instant gratification. Sure he has a clean room, brushed teeth and says hello to people, but might his motives be elsewhere? Does the end justified the means? I guess all that never sat right with me. Anyway – despite how I felt – I figured I would try it out as a short term learning tool.

Here’s our little masterpiece. We have a row for Eating Dinner, Afternoon Nap, and Good Playtime. When the kids collect eight stickers in one row, they get a little reward. A piece of chocolate for eating dinner, a book for sleeping, and a toy car for playing well.

I looked online for some ideas on reward charts. Unhappy with the print outs, I created my own. I made it in a collage style, getting the kids involved too. If your squint you might see little bits of paper broccoli and paper potatoes stuck to a blue plate. I made each paper “sticker” and used a bit of GluTack to stick it to the chart.

Since we started, it’s all very novel and exciting. But I’ll let you know how it goes!

Boredom

Today, at 7:45am, my boys decided to lay some blankets and pillows out on the tiled foyer and play a game called, SLEEP!

It was quite funny. Then they just giggled and giggled, and shouted out things like, “Hey mum! Look at us! We’re going to SLEEP! Hehehahaheheheha!”

By the time I grabbed my camera, the game evolved, and they were taking turns to tickle each other’s head.

*Love*

Art Refresher

Hey look what I got up to on the weekend! I painted! With oils!

I worked out that it’s been about 10 YEARS since I picked up a paint brush and painted a picture.

I was quite freaked out that I might have forgotten how to paint.

Light and colour, landscape tones, blending, mixing, weight and pressure of the strokes, consistency of the paint, loading brushes, working with the medium. It all came back. Everything. Even the smell of the oils. The turps. My old brushes. It all came back.

I painted a seascape (I refuse to paint fruit). It’s not really finished yet. It was just a refresher exercise for me to regain some painting confidence. And phew, I can still paint. But I’m a bit too shy to post it up! Sorry, maybe next week, after my next painting.

Summary

My parents returned home from a 2 week holiday in Singapore. It was good to see them again. They were full of entertaining holiday stories. Plus I was tired of watering my mother’s gazillion pot plants and feeding her feral chickens.

They brought home bags full of gifts – ranging from matching Spiderman jackets for the boys, cute Chinese outfits for the boys, Giordano tshirts for the boys, NBA sweatshirts for the boys, matching hibiscus shirts for the boys, and a home therapy spa kit (?).

It was nice to see the boys SO excited by new clothes. It was Christmas all over again! But they didn’t know what to do with it all. In the end, when the adults weren’t watching, they threw the pile of clothes in the air and rolled in it.

  On Wednesday evening, my husband and I went out for dinner to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. 5 years is half a decade!

  On Thursday night, I had a girls night out. We had Japanese food while talking about skiing holidays in Japan, gynecologists, boyfriends who snore and art exhibitions.

Happy Birthday Honey

Today is my husband’s birthday! We had a lovely morning tea celebration for him on the weekend – with cake, scones, waffles, whipped cream, berries and lots of fruits. There was so much food! We also managed to go to a Saint Patrick’s Day party that same evening – which was great fun. Then our friend’s 4 year old party on Sunday. It was a party filled weekend and frankly, we were all birthdayed out.

As for today, I wasn’t actually planning to do anything birthdayish for my husband. But as the day ticked by, I couldn’t help myself. It just seemed so wrong to NOT honour someone you love and cherish so deeply on their birthday.

So I threw together some bread mix and baked him… a loaf of bread. Yes, a bread cake! Tee hee. After dinner, I brought out the “cake”, I turned off all the lights, I lit the candles, and all four of us sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY as loud as we could. We cut the “cake”. We ate slices of the “cake”. I even offered everyone butter!

The boys didn’t seem to notice that things were slightly askew. They were just so excited about the CAKE! CAKE! CANDLES! CANDLES! My husband and I shared a silly smile over the burning candles, and knew this was going down in our history books of silly moments, as The Day Karen Made Andrew A Loaf Of Bread For His Birthday.

Cakes and Tats

We went to a 4 year old’s Disco Birthday Party today. It was so nice and laid back. It rocked! There was a bubble machine, a mini disco ball, a simple dinner, lots of balloons and of course, Abba. The kids had a great time.

My friend also invited a relative, who worked for a theatre and was a professional face painter. She set up a little face painting station with all her pro paints and brushes… and all the kids lined up to get their faces painted. The girls got butterflies and flowers. Callum got a rocketship. Sean got a plane. Others got bugs, spiders and bumblebees. When all the kids finished, I asked if I could have one too. A dragon one, please.

Check out my ink! Ha! Perhaps the fire was a bit of an overkill. And personally I would have skipped the red. But feeling like an Asian biker gangster chick at my friend’s 4 year old birthday party was very funny indeed.

All the other mums got painted up too – with very cute [and respectable] Sesame characters and animal critters. My husband, who decided that dads could be cool too, got a jellyfish one.

The kids thought we were indeed so cool.

Vegetarian Pizza

I must admit, I’m not a natural vegetarian. Some people can drop red meat and chicken from their diets and never even notice. I’m SO not one of those people. I crave meat all the time. I day dream about roasting lamb racks and sizzling chicken thighs. And I have an automatic, secret fear that whenever I make something vegetarian, it will turn out tasteless and bland.

In order to mentally impede my fears, I have been slowly collecting together a list of tasty vegetarian meals into a folder. Recipes that are really tasty, easy to make, healthy and organic, and most importantly… kids love them and eat them.

One of our favourite recipes – Vegetarian Pizza. I took a picture of the cheesey one. But they taste just as good loaded with veges, without any cheese.

I like using pita bread for my pizza bases. Tomato paste for my base topping. Then grilled aubergines, grilled capsicums, green beans, fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, sweet potatoes, fresh herbs. Basically, any vegetable that is sitting in my fridge, will go on my pizzas.

The Magic of Maze Books

When I was a kid, I had these two maze books. I loved them with all my heart. I treasured them like a tasty treat and kept them away from the sticky little fingers of my siblings.

I “gave” them to Callum a few months ago. Then gave him some rules – No drawing on them and you must always keep them safe in your desk. He absolutely loved them. I didn’t know if he could do the mazes. I just thought he might like the cool monster pictures.

He surprised me! A few attempts. A bit of help. And after a few days, he ploughed through the books, page by page, drawing invisible paths with his finger, flipping and flipping until he reached the end. THEN he would start all over again.

They have been very useful : When I ask him to be in his room for some quiet time, he’ll sit and do them over and over again. If we’re going to a cafe, or visit a friend (who doesn’t have any toys), he’ll happily sit and do them.

This maze was the hardest one of the lot! I had to draw a faint line so he wouldn’t always BUG ME for help! After a while he memorised the way and used an eraser to rub out my line.

Unfortunately I searched far and wide on the internet for these books and can’t seem to find them anywhere. They were actually published by Hallmark Cards, as activity gift books, and they don’t have an ISBN etc.

However I did find Marvelous Mazes (pictured left), Amazing Mazes, Magical Mazes and Space Monsters Maze Book on Amazon. They look quite similar in the coolness department. They are aged 9-12, but I’m sure Callum could do them, with a bit of help.