It has been a long time since I last made wontons. This batch of wontons looked nice but too bad I didn’t put enough seasoning sauce like oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper. The minced pork and shrimp meat stuffing was not as tasty as it should be.

It’s dressed up time! Carnival season (Fasching) has begun on Sunday in Germany and most kindergartens celebrated Fastnachtsdienstag (Pancake Day) today which children dressed up in costumes and makeups. The girls were very excited and when I asked what they would like to be, Vera wanted to be a wolf and Nora wanted to be the red riding hood. We bought several felts in brown and white and other materials needed on Saturday and I spent the evenings over the weekend hand-sewn the wolf costume. The ears on a hairband, the fake fur which I unbuttoned from a jacket hood and sewn on a t-shirt, a tail sewn to her pants and a pair of paws. Actually it was not that much to do but hand-sewing did take quite some time. As for Nora’s red cape, I simply bought a small flannel blanket in red for Euro3 and turned it into a red cape with the help of a simple pattern which I found online. It took only a couple hours and the green clover which was already on the blanket made it looked even cuter! I’m so happy that it turned out nicely and the girls were really happy with their costumes. *HAPPY*

Pumpkin soup has been in our dinner meal plan regularly this winter. We have tried several variations so far. One with carrot, potatoes and crème fraiche. Another one with potatoes, lemongrass and coconut milk and cilantro herb. Just last week PaPa cooked it together with potatoes, carrots, onions, white wine, miso paste, lemon juice, crème fraiche and a bit of curry powder! Delicious! Don’t forget the croutons!

Who like grilled cheese? I do! And the girls too. The potato broccoli gratin with Raclette cheese is our current favourite. Oh yum!

This past week was quite long for me, simply because I have both kids at home. Vera was out of kindergarden due to her on-going cough. My days were filled with lots of activities: crafting, drawing, colouring, dough kneading, baking, going out, etc. I have to admit, I was exhausted. I drank 3 cups of coffee to keep me going through the day until PaPa came home from work! On one hand it was very nice to have both kids at home but on the other hand it was quite a challenge as well.

The girls loved any project that involved with their hands, which can keep them busy for a long time. I printed their favourite characters like Princess Lillifee, Red Riding Hood, A Knight and they could spend a long time (20 minutes!) colouring them. Kneading colourful doughs to make into shapes is another must-have. At the moment, Nora is very cheeky and likes to piss her sister off. She would take away Vera’s colouring pencil from the hand and ran away wanting her sister to chase after her for fun while Vera would scream and cry behind her sister asking for the pencil back. That happened quite often, either with pencil, cracker, a piece of paper, sticker, puzzle piece and so on.

On Thursday afternoon I suggested to the girls to go to the nearby park after lunch to do some sledding on the frozen lake. They were so happy. But when we got there we saw a few warning signs warning people not to step onto the lake because of broken ice and also a few accidents happened already. Although there were still people walking or skating on the frozen lake but I wasn’t going to take the risk with my girls. I had to explain to them why we couldn’t sled on the lake and they were very disappointed. When we found this green area which was covered with thin snow, they had fun sledding there.

Tomorrow we will bring Vera to her doctor to see if she is fit enough to back to kindergarden. If yes, I’m sure Nora will miss her sister. Have a good week!

Some random pictures:

- A view from the kitchen. The sky was so blue and bright this whole week but it was sooooo cold out.

- Fresh tulips from the market.

- A garden puzzle – What grows where?

- A bowl of instant noodle with an egg.

- Nora and her play dish.

- The empty grey wall in the living room. Right across this wall is a wall with a collection of picture frames in various sizes and we would like to put just one big picture on this empty wall. Mmm…

- Hello Vera!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm!

A beautiful day out, blue sky and sunshine, I can’t complain but I can only enjoy it from my apartment because it was way too cold to stay outside. When Nora an I went out to pick up Vera from the Kita, it was -7C degrees outside but felt like -17C (according to a weather forecast website). I bundled myself and the girls up from head to toes but I still felt very cold. It felt like needles prickling into the skin.

When we woke up this morning we were surprised to see from our bedroom window the ground was covered in snow. The girls were so excited and screamed out “We have to make a snowman!”. After breakfast PaPa took the girls out to the nearby lake but unfortunately the snow was still very fresh and not enough to make a snowman. Instead the girls made snowballs and threw at each other. I stayed at home and rested while they were playing outside because I was having a bad cough. My chest and throat hurt from coughing. I have to go to a doctor tomorrow.

Did you have a good weekend?

I really love these photo booth styled pictures taken from the IncrediBooth phone app, so much fun and so gorgeous! Vera is staying home this week because she got a Croup cough attack on the weekend. Her cough sounded like “barking”! So hoarse and scary. We quickly called the pediatrician at 10pm and luckily we had the medicine we needed to treat Vera. Even though she is better now and only has “normal” cough, we decided she should just stay home and rest. Therefore my week this week is a little bit different, I have to think of many activities for both girls. I always wonder, how did my grandmother manage 10 children?

After reading Anne‘s latest post about canvas tote bags, I remember I was very tempted to buy a canvas bag by Shinzi Katoh when I was in Kuala Lumpur recently. I forgot what the print was on that tote bag I saw in the shop but now when I googled Shinzi Katoh, the red riding hood series is very appealing to me. Cute!

恭喜发财！Gong Hei Fatt Choy! Wishing my family, friends and to those who celebrate this special occasion a very happy, healthy and prosperous year in the year of Dragon!