I have decided to close this blog as John is eating mostly table food now, which can be found at My Kitchen.

Food

Been feeding John lots of porridge lately, especially fish porridge with vegetables. Occasionally, I cooked something different such as shou-mian (寿面 aka mee-shua), tofu and kuey tiaw in chicken soup and bread pudding with papaya. He is eating quite a lot of table food now, he eats whatever we eat as long as it is soft enough for him. The other day we had dinner with T's colleagues, I mixed and mashed together steamed fish, braised tofu and steamed pumpkin (南瓜盅), he loved it.

shou-mian: boil a few slices of chicken breast meat together with chopped vegetables, then add in shou-mian (break into small pieces), cook until the noodle is soft then add few drops of soy sauce and sesame oil if desired. Certain brands of shou-mian are quite salty, so taste it first before adding soy sauce. Sometimes I add chunky carrot for John to feed himself with hands.

Tofu and Kuey Tiaw in Soup: same methods as shou-mian, I added celery and some shredded konbu.

Bread Pudding: lightly beat an egg with some milk (formula + water), add some sugar and pinch of cinnamon powder. Place a slice of white bread in a gratin dish, fill in egg mixture and let it soak for about 5 minutes. Arrange papaya on the top and bake (may be steamed) for 10-15 minutes. John prefer banana version, sweeter I think... or he loves banana?

Tips: These few days I tried out an easy method in cooking porridge for single serving. The porridge turned out nicely, soft but not runny. This is how I cook it: When cooking rice for the whole family using rice cooker, place a small rice bowl in the middle of rice cooker and fill it with small amount of rice and double amount of water. Close the rice cooker's cover and cook it together with rice. When it is done, rest for 10 minutes then serve. By the way, I always soak rice for 10 minutes before cooking it.

Chicken and Vegetables Porridge

Cooked this for John today. He made noises after he finised it, I guess he liked it. When I was editing this photo, he counter checked bowl of porrige on the screen and the empty bowl on the floor. I add carrot in almost all of his porridge, so they look almost the same in term of colour... mama started to feel boring. :D

To cook this, boil chicken pieces (I used breast meat) with bit of water for a few minutes then add in grated carrot, chopped chinese cabbage and chopped lettuce. Bring to boil and let it simmer until vegetables are soften. Add in cooked porridge and let it simmer for another one minute or so. I added few drops of sesame oil, not only for its taste but also the lettuce will retain its greenish colour after cooked. Remove chicken pieces before serving.

What I fed John lately?

- Shou mian (aka mee sua) with chicken stock

- Soup Kuey Tiao

- Soup Noodles

- Chicken and Celery Porridge

- Bread dipped with curry gravy

Fish and Celery Porridge

I am not suppose to stay up late... a quick post, cooked this porridge for John today. Celery is the new ingredient, wanna to let him taste some veggies with aroma. Cook porridge as usual, then add in a small cut of fish and about half-cup of chopped celery. Cook fish for about five minutes, take it out and flake it with a spoon. Return flaked fish into pot, add in some grated carrot for extra fiber and vitamin. Cook for further ten minutes, add few drops of sesame oil and soy sauce. Ready to serve.

I added some seaweed strips just befofre feeding, for its colour as well as its taste. John loved his porridge. By the way, I find it easier to grate the carrot before cooking than mashing it after it is cooked. Also, the texture is finer and easier for digestion.

John has tasted these vegetables and fruits recently:

- Loofah

- Lettuce

- Chinese Cabbage

- Long Bean (good for snack!)

- Tomato

- Mango

Salmon and Tofu Porridge

Salmon - new ingredient for John. Actually was not planned to cook this porridge but bought a cut of salmon and we were invited to a dinner, so cooked it for John instead. As usual, I cooked the fish separately then mix together with porridge and other ingredients. This time I cooked fish in Japanese fish stew style, but ingredients were similar steamed fish. John loved tofu in this porridge very much. I thought that the veggies should be cut into smaller size, was bit worry John might have problem eating it but he was alright.

I have observed that John has gained chewing ability, I let him bite the banana instead of scraping and feeding with a spoon.

Chawanmushi

Planned to cook chawanmushi for John few days ago and finally cooked it today. John had chawanmushi before at a Japanese restaurant, I didn't had choice then. He kept making noises when he saw us eating. I ordered bentou which was served with chawanmushi, the only thing that was soft enough for him. Hesitated at first as I read lots of articles online about egg allergies, my little evil said "Hey, it is cooked!" and he won at the end. So, it is up to you if you are going to let your baby taste the egg now or later.

This chawanmushi was cooked with mashed pumpkin and tofu, full recipe is available at My Kitchen. John loved it, he ate one and a half cup. He is becoming a picky eater, yes... he is only 8-month old. Whenever he does not like the taste, he will keep his mouth shut after first bite.

Sweet Potato and Fish Porridge

John had purple sweet potato for a few times but this is first time I prepared something savory and fishy for him. Before that, I made sweet potato porridge with instant cereal and the purple colour was much brighter and darker than this. Today, I used sweet potato for its colour. I am trying give my boy all 5 different colours in his food whenever is possible. Yesterday's lunch was porridge was greenish colour, with broccoli, cauliflower and carrot.

Back to this porridge, I cooked porridge and fish separately, reasons being I was not sure if John is ok with the fishy taste and I wanted to have different flavour of porridge for his dinner. Cook porridge with finely diced sweet potato as usual. Meanwhile steam a small fish or a cut of fish with few slices ginger and soy sauce. Then, mix together porridge and flaked fish.

I let T try some, at first he did not think it was nice judged by its colour. But once he tasted it, he said it was nice. John finished everything in the bowl, I was happy to see him licking his lips contentedly.