Some polaroids from our Easter break. It was a good one. Niina and I were a bit obsessed with flying on that day!

Today on my playlist I am listening to Iron and Wine.

I’ve discovered that my husband has a hidden talent in the kitchen! He has strong hands. Good, strong, baker hands! It all started with the pancake batter, I noticed that he could whisk it quite fast into a smooth batter.

So I put him onto the task of making simple flat bread. In the past whenever we made bread, I would either under-knead or over-knead the dough and the bread would end up a little too tough and chewy. But my husband, seems to have mastered the technique of kneading the dough in a quick, strong and efficient manner.

Last night we cooked dhal for dinner and rich made some naan bread for dipping. He made the bread all by himself. This is coming from my klutz of a husband who can’t tell the difference between light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, or sesame oil and olive oil, or name all the herbs correctly in our garden.

But as you can see, bless him…he makes good bread! It was baked golden brown on the outside and when you pulled it apart, it was all soft, light and fluffy in the inside!

Richard’s homemade Naan

Makes about 6-8 medium naan
300g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
4 tbsp plain yogurt
15g butter

- Place a baking sheet on the tray and preheat the oven to its highest setting.
- Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and add wet ingredients with 85-90ml of water. Combine by hand and knead quickly until smooth.
- Pinch off small handful of dough and roll into a teardrop shape. Place onto the hot baking sheet and cook for two to four minutes until spots of brown appear on the surface.
- Brush the surface with butter and serve hot.

I took out this Eco Lifestyle Handbook from the local library a few days ago. It’s quite an interesting read with lots of eco tips for your home, garden, business and well being.

Here are some of my favourites:

- Use fresh herbs or flowers ideally cut from your own garden to fragrance your home than synthetic air fresherners. Indoor plants act as natural air conditioners and can remove up to 87% of indoor pollution in 24 hours.

- Wash your fruit and vegetable in a bowl rather than under a running tap. Re-use the bowl of water on your garden plants.

- Once a week have a candlelit dinner to save energy. Use vegetable-based candles.

- Grow mint in pots around windows. Mint is a natural insect repellent. Make a package of cloves, eucalyptus and peppermint to hang in kitchen cupboards and drawers as a deterrent.

- Every time you boil an egg, make sure you save the leftover for your house plants. The nutrients released from the shell of the eggs during cooking are particularly beneficial. Let water cool before using.

- Bake your own bread. Go back to a simpler time when bread was made of flour, salt, water and yeast. You will be able to avoid additives and preservatives found in shop-brought bread.

- Substitute pulses (legumes) for meat. Add them to stew, casseroles, soups and sauces. They are high in fibre, helps to lower blood cholesterol and is a good source of iron.

- Buy free-range, organically raised meat and poultry products. The animals will have been raised humanely and on untreated feeds, resulting in chemical-free food. You can also be assured that the soil from these farms is treated well, reducing the impact on wildlife habitats.

- Avoid products with “meat protein” in the ingredient list, it means you’re buying heavily processed food.

- Water is the best toner for your skin.

- Buy local and handmade.

- Plan a green picnic or a healthy and green holiday. Enjoy nature!

I’ve been admiring the works of Indigenous artist Jeannie Mills Pwerl for some time, especially her Anaty collection or also known as the Desert Yam.

I love Jeannie’s bold and colourful strokes of the Bush Yam. Every artwork is a different variation of colours, from earthy tones to pink and purple hues. It was love at first sight when I saw this piece.

We had the canvas stretched before we decided to hang it up by the dining corner.

I find that the problem with me marrying a tall husband (or him marrying a short Asian wife) is that we can never agree on the perfect height to hang anything. What may be the perfect height for him, always seems so high up for me. This problem is of course bugging me slightly…so if anyone has any tips and advice on how to hang a picture up at a “reasonable” height, please let me know.

But still…the painting is very sweet, yes? I would like to hang a cuckoo clock somewhere near the painting and bookcase. I hope we can find one during our Euro trip. I also hope that Rich will hang it up for me a tad lower this time!

There is little sign of Autumn in Perth as it’s still unbelievably hot over here! On hot days I’m always clueless on what to make for dinner, though we try to cook something light and simple.

A few days ago, I sampled some rice paper rolls from a local cafe and tried not to balk at the price. If my mother had been there she would have been adamant at making our own rolls instead.

So I did that today…mostly with ingredients from the fridge.

Ingredients for filling:
1 cup of cooked shredded chicken
1/2 cup of thinly sliced capsicum
A handful of fresh mint leaves
A handful of fresh coriander
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
2 tablespoon of lime juice

A packet of Vietnamese rice paper rolls.

Other optional ingredients that you can use or add:
Thinly sliced carrots, chinese cabbage, beansprouts, tofu, prawns, chopped nuts or vermicelli noodles to fill up your rolls.

Mix the ingredients well.

Fill a tray or shallow pan with warm water. You don’t have to use too much water, just enough to submerge the rice sheets.

Place one rice sheet in the water for 20 seconds, then gently lift the sheet out and place onto a tea towel. The tea towel helps to absorb the extra moisture. Be careful not to oversoak your rice sheet in the water for too long, as it will get soggy and difficult to handle.

Top your ingredients onto the rice sheet. Make sure the tea towel is laid on a flat surface which helps with rolling your rolls.

Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my owl post I loved all your names and I wished I had drawn a parliament of owls so that I could use all of your suggestions! Well maybe in Little Mo’s world there is a parliament of owls nearby!

Thanks to Michelle who came up with the name ‘Peanut’, for the little one. I fell in love with the name as soon as I saw it. That was pretty easy for me!

The older owl was a little hard for me to decide. I liked Jaymii’s suggestion of ‘Otus’ and Tegan’s suggestion of ‘Ninox’. And I also liked the name ‘Pip’, because ‘Pip and Peanut’ has a nice ring to it! So there you go, my owls have been named! Please say hi to Pip and Peanut! The newest addition to Little Mo’s family!

Jaymii and Tegan, I’d still like to give you one of my owl prints…let’s just say you girls were runner ups I’ll be emailing all three of you for your addresses.

I hope you have a cute spot to hang your owl print! Thanks so much!

My first chilli pod!

Remember when I was given a baby chilli plant for my birthday last year? Well, it started fruiting! All I can see is just one pod…but I’m hoping and wishing that there will be more to come!!

We drink a lot of tea at home: Green tea, Chinese tea, Black tea…even Bubble tea! We buy them in loose leaves so that we can brew it in our teapot.

Today while tea shopping, I saw this tiffin carrier at an Antique shop and thought, ‘I could use this to keep our tea stash!’

It’s a lovely piece with cranes and dragons and gold accents around it. Very Chinese. I think even my parents would be pleased with my purchase.

Actually, when growing up I used to cringe at my parent’s taste for oriental furnishing. I never fully appreciated the intricate handiwork and carvings. I kept thinking everything looked so Chinese! This is me…circa 80’s…I am crawling around my house which looks like a Chinese museum.

But how times have changed now. I find that as I grow older each year, I’ve learned to embrace my roots…which has made me a little more sentimental and nostalgic about my past. I also find myself appreciating and liking the same kind of decor or artifacts that my parents like! Though if I were to decorate my home, I think it would be a mixture of the current things that I love and also the Chinese soul in me.

And lastly…as we’re on the topic of tea (which was supposed to be a short post!). If you like tea, I’d recommend that you try the blooming tea. They are tea leaves, flattened and shaped into a ball. When you drop the ball in the teapot, it blooms into a flower! A very pretty sight.

My brother and his family are back from visiting my mum in Germany. I’m probably going to miss seeing my nephew in his earflaps.

Tris is wearing his Teddy Bear earflap hat from the lovely Beliz.

I made Bubur Cha-Cha for a friend’s party. It’s a traditional Malaysian dessert made of various sweet potatoes, yam and taro, cooked in creamy coconut milk and brown sugar. Bubur means porridge and Cha-Cha (sometimes pronounced as Che-Che in Penang, Northern Malaysia) means abundance.

I have many fond memories eating this dessert in my parents kitchen…and you may have probably seen this dish cooked a few times on Masterchef, no doubt by the Malaysian contestants.

Ingredients:
1 medium size gold/yellow sweet potato (cut into cubes)
1 medium size purple yam (cut into cubes)
1 medium size taro (cut into cubes)
8 cups of water
1/2 cup tapioca pearls (sago)
3 stalks of screwpine leaves (pandan leaves)
400 ml coconut milk
Sugar to taste
Rock salt

1. Boil the yam and taro in water with the screwpine leaves.
2. Once the yam and taro are slightly soft, add in the sweet potatoes and tapioca pearls. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium.
3. The sweet potatoes usually cooks fast, so to prevent it from being too mushy, I usually scoop them out into a bowl and set it aside. You’ll also notice that the tapioca pearls will start turning translucent whilst cooking.
4. Add in sugar to taste. I used about 3 and a half blocks of brown sugar pieces.
5. Add in coconut milk and a pinch of rock salt. Bring to a boil.
6. Add the sweet potatoes back into the pot and remove the screwpine leaves.

This dessert can be served hot or cold. I usually like to eat it warm when it’s freshly cooked. And then eat it chilled the next day!