Sweet Pea Journey

Family, Friendship, Food, Fun and Everything in Between!

Author: Sweet Pea

Cooking

Fast Easy and Tasty Cucumber Salad

This is technically not qualified as a recipe in my eyes. You will need to do like 2 things really and takes 2 minutes.

Ingredients:

4 Persian cucumbers or 1 English cucumber. Persian cucumbers are a lot smaller and crispier than regular cucumbers. Their skin is very tender, you don’t need to peel, just wash thoroughly. Because they are cute and small, kids tend to like these way more than regular cucumbers.

1 dash of salt

a few drops of sesame oil

Method:

Thoroughly wash and dry Persian cucumbers, cut off the ends and cut them into small chunks, however you like. Sprinkle salt and drizzle sesame oil on top. Mix and enjoy!

For more adult version and more added health factor, add a crushed clove of garlic.

Life and random things

Optimistic

I had a frankly, quite boring Webinar at work the other day, talking about emotional intelligence. The presenter did have quite a bit of discussion on the definition and history of emotional intelligence in a monotone voice, which put most of us to a interesting stage of dozing off with our eyes open – we were at work after all.

One interesting statement the speaker made, however, got stuck on me. I was quite touched with it:

Optimistic is not hoping for the best in the future, it is making the best of the situation right now. Isn’t that right on the spot?

We all hope things will get better somehow in the future, if we are aware of it or not. We start our sentences with “I wish”. But all of that is day dreaming of something we probably don’t have any control over, not right now, and we forget right now, right this moment, something we can control, we can choose, to be happy, to look at the bright side of a bad situation. Things may not be clear, may be beyond of our comprehension, why me, why like this? We tend to think we are the victim. But, what can we do about it, if we don’t like it?

We need to learn to make the best out of “now”, regardless how terrible the situation seems like. That means dance in the pouring rain, enjoy a “dressed up” bag of ramen when money is tight, take time to notice the birds and flowers walking to the post office, make lemonade when life gives you lemon.

I have my own personal taste of this when the speaker said that. It immediately hit me. I still remember how sad I was and devastated I felt when I lost my job last year, but now looking back, that truly was a blessing. It took me quite some time to make peace with it, and accept it was not that bad, but just a few months afterwards, I realized why it was not that bad, not bad at all as a matter of fact. I could accomplish so much for my parents, my kids, even myself, when family needed me. I would never be able to make it happen otherwise, not risking losing my job anyways. As a matter of fact, if I knew what I know now, I would not trade those few months to keep my job. Perfect example of we handle things based on what we know at the time we handled things. I didn’t know any better. Self improvement can never stop. Only with wiser mind, we could be better human being, handle things better, and have better out come of our own action. If I was a bit more aware how I could focus less on the negatives back then, and focus more on “making the best out of now” part back then, the difficult time for me would be shorter.

Cooking

Healthier Pigs in Blankets

Everyone knows how to make pig in a blanket. A good old little smoky sausage link wrapped in a canned flattened biscuit dough and bake in the oven.

My kids, with no exception, love these. I made a slightly healthier version – with turkey sausage links, lower in sodium, lower in fat, wrapped in fluffy flaky crescent dough.

Ingredients:

1 package of low sodium low fat turkey dog, boiled to remove more sodium, they still taste pretty good, believe me.

1 can of crescent dough.

Method:

Pre-heat oven to temperature indicated on the crescent can.

Boil turkey sausage in a small pot to ensure they are fully cooked through, and remove more sodium. They will slightly puff up a bit.

Open the can of crescent dough, wrap each sausage link in the crescent triangle, starting from the wide end towards the point end.

Lay the on a sheet tray and bake per instruction of the crescent can, and enjoy!

Cooking

Healthy and Tasty Ham and Cheese Wrap

Don’t we all have those days that you just don’t really want to cook, but have the munchies? This is a lot more than a recipe, it’s an idea, a series of recipes you can mix and match and go with whatever you have on hand.

This is what I did – super easy, tasty and healthy ham and cheese wrap.

Ingredients:

1 warm tortilla – use really nice freshly made tortilla if you have access to it. I made home made tortillas a couple of times, they turned out wonderful – another post, I promise.

1 piece of good quality ham, I used black forest

1 slice of good quality cheese, I went shy on mild cheddar cheese, didn’t want it to be over powering

half of a ripe avocado, smashed directly on top of the fillings

Method:

Can’t be easier, lay the tortilla flat, lay ham, cheese and avocado on top, lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper if desire, wrap up and dive in.

Again, use whatever you have on hand, peanut butter, apples and a dash of cinnamon for a sweet version, ricotta cheese and fig jam and candied bacon for a fancier day, the sky is the limit.

Cooking

Super Banana Egg Pancakes

Yep, the title says it all. There are 2 ingredients only, bananas and eggs. Both are super foods, so the pancakes are super breakfast too!

You guessed it, it truly is that easy.

2 ingredients, 1 to 1 ratio. 1 banana with 1 egg. I had 2 ripe bananas, so I threw in 2 eggs.

Mash bananas in a bowl with a fork, crack in the eggs and blend with the same fork until mixed. Bananas can be a bit chunky or smooth, totally up to you.

Non-stick pan on medium heat, butter / oil / pam, up to you.

About 1/4 cup batter per pancake. Don’t go too much, because there is no flour in these pancakes, they are super tender and may break when you flip, if they are too big. Therefore, keep them as smaller cuties, no larger than 2 inches diameter is the best. They make super cute medallion pancakes.

Plate up and enjoy with some fresh berries or honey.

Kids and Parenting

Nail Salon Encounter

My emotion still goes up and down, over a week after my last nail salon visit.

I walked into the nail salon for my appointment, sat down at the table. The technician started the normal greetings, and small talk. I was quite absent minded, however. I was staring at this little boy, about 4, sitting in a chair in the row in front of me, playing his video games on a cellphone. He was wearing green converse, shoes laces untied, and shoes on the wrong feet. His long sleeve shirts had something caked on the elbows.

A lot was going through my mind. This is a cute little boy, reminds me of my own son. Man, I miss my kids! But why would a little boy like him sitting in a nail salon? Must came with the mom. Why would he be playing video games on a cellphone? Must be mom. I started shaking my head silently. You should not take a small kid to a nail salon. The fume is very harmful to kids, everyone knows that, the technicians all wear masks! Then why a 4 year old is playing on her cellphone? I don’t understand… don’t our kids have too much screen time already? Don’t we kick and scream and claim cellphone is toxic, ruining our capability of interaction with real people in real life? Oh yeah, she must need him to be quiet. Sure, as a parent, I admit, we all have moments when we get frustrated with little kids, ours especially, and prefer a little me time. That’s probably why she is here pampering herself. I shouldn’t judge. I don’t know her story.

All of a sudden, I heard the little boy say:”mom, she is crying!” Puzzled, I wondered if the boy was referring to a character in the video game. Mom said, no, she is asleep. Then I heard a baby noise, the little boy jumped off his chair, skipped around his mom and looked down. I leaned to my right side and saw a baby basket on the floor, 2 little feet hanging out of the blanket. The mom turned to the right, kicked the basket a little. The little boy shoved the bottle into the baby’s mouth and walked off. He said, mom, I am hungry. Mom looked over her shoulder, sighed and tossed over a tube of crackers. Her hand flew by in the air, ran through her multi toned silky smooth shinny hair, I caught a glimpse of her 1 inch long acrylic black nails.

So many questions popped in my head: how does she change diapers? How does she help her son tie shoe laces? How does she even get her hands close to her babies? How does she type, cook, clean, or even button her own pants? And on top of it all, she had to bring 2 kids into a nail salon that smells like chemicals… Soon enough, little boy was bored of video games, started messing with brushes, towels, nail polish bottles, water bowl… mom got upset, she kept telling the boy: you are embarrased! you are embarrased!

No mom, you should be the one embarrassed.

Life and random things

Simple Happiness

If you live in Houston, you know this past weekend was freezing cold and windy. None of the Houstonians is used to this kind of weather. So, like everyone else, I was all bundled up, shivering, had my  hands deeply tucked away in my hooded jacket pockets. It was so cold and windy, even the bums took the day off. The intersections were empty, only dead leaves and occasionally plastic bags were dancing in the wind along the walkways.

On my way to the store, I took a turn under the freeway. At the corner of my eye, I noticed a couple lying under the overpass. It’s a wind tunnel under the freeway here. The couple had a blanket or something laid on the ground, and they were cuddled up and covered in some cardboard and rags pieced together. They were happy, smiling. The man had his arm around the woman’s shoulder. He was looking at her, she was smiling at him. Her hair was messy, puffy, flying with the wind.

But the happiness was contagious, the smile climbed up on my face, as I made the turn. They literally have nothing material wise, but they have each other, unconditional love and companion. Isn’t that what love is all about?

This couple may be homeless and don’t know where their next meal will be, but they are happier than a lot of us, who have a roof on top of our heads, have a car that can take us places, but we don’t know how to be happy with what we have in life. A lot of think about and learn for life.

Kids and Parenting

School Night Finger Knitting Project – Butterfly

My daughter definitely got her interest in cooking and crafting from me. She has been obsessed with yarn since before Christmas. Of course, Santa had to deliver her 48 pack multi-color yarn as part of her Christmas gifts. We have made finger knitting snakes, and she has been super pumped, she made 9 snakes in one night and packaged them up individually, wrote her teachers’ and friends’ names on each package and gave them out as gifts.

Tonight, a Tuesday night, we tackled a new finger knitting project – the butterfly.

My little boy helped too, he has his eyes on one of the girls in his class and wanted one butterfly for her. Isn’t she one lucky girl! This is the one for her.

Kids and Parenting

Turtle Fun

One of the most loved Christmas gifts for my kids this year. They can’t seem to leave these what they call “motorcycles” alone…

So we went to a skate park nearby a few times now, again, with my brain, finally remembered to snap a few pictures.

Cooking

Egg Drop Noodle Soup

Yep, this is an awesome weekend breakfast, or weeknight dinner option for kids.

Ingredients:

Noodles, I used our home made fresh noodles, you can use shell pasta, spaghetti, any noodle would be fine.

3 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp corn starch, this is the secret how Chinese restaurant can make their egg drop soup so thick, and your attempt at home is so watery. No, it’s not the amount of eggs.

Method:

Boil noodle in a pot of water, as direction on package, till al dente. Drain some water out, leave in as much liquid as you wish for your final egg drop noodle soup.

Dissolve corn starch in about 1/4 cup of cold water – this is crucial. You have to dissolve the corn starch in cold water before adding to the pot. Otherwise it may form slime like streaks, so nasty. After dissolving the corn starch in cold water, slowly pour corn starch liquid into pot of noodles and boiling water. Stir the soup and watch the liquid in the pot thicken up slightly. Slowly pour your beaten eggs into the pot, stir the soup so the eggs will distribute evenly in the soup.

Taste and season your egg drop noodle soup as needed, drizzle in a bit of sesame oil if desired. Enjoy!

And I had one extra hard boiled egg, so I put it in my bowl 🙂