One of the ECA’s (Extra Curricular Activity) that Isabelle is doing at school is Chinese Cooking (the other is Arts and Crafts). One of her first classes was making Chinese dumplings and they were delicious. She has also made vegetable fried rice, sticky chicken wings and sticky red bean dumplings. We have all liked everything so far, except for the red bean dumplings.
Last weekend our Ayi, Angela, was babysitting. (Owen was in the UK collecting his medication and I was going to a 40th birthday party.) I came downstairs from getting ready to find Angela and Isabelle hard at work making more delicious dumplings. Angela was showing Isabelle different ways of filling and making them. Oliver and I were lucky enough to taste them for lunch on Sunday! There are a couple of different ways to cook them – you can either steam them or fry them. I like them fried best and so that is how we ate them. Surprisingly, even when frying you use at least 1 cup of water to steam them at the same time. When I read the instructions, I thought that something must have been translated wrong, but as you can see from the photo, they looked (and tasted) perfect!
On Thursday October 18th, Oliver had a school trip to a Pizza place. They were learning about cooking too, so all the children got to make their own pizza’s and bring them home for dinner. Oliver had used many different toppings which were all artfully arranged. It was delicious too!
That evening, he also wanted to help with dinner. He put his pizza apron and hat on so he could help Daddy:
Last week, Isabelle’s Literacy homework was a practical task to prove that she could follow instructions. She had to pick a recipe or craft activity, make it and take it into school. She choose to make Marshmallows following Owen’s trusted (secret) recipe! She has previously successfully made them and shared with her school friends in the UK. She followed the instructions to the letter and they turned out beautifully:
Not to be outdone by his own daughter, Owen had booked a Chinese dumpling cooking class to learn how to make them too. Yesterday was lesson day! He went with 1 of the Dad’s and 2 of the Mum’s – he said that the guys performed way better than the girls! They all had a fun time too. Even though we are yet to taste them, they look very professional: