Life Happening 10.7.19

I had a 3 day weekend as I took Friday off from work. On that day, I was especially calm and intentionally wanted to spend more time with the girls.

I went to see Sofia’s soccer practice which made her really happy

I can see Sofia loves participating in sports but not necessarily very good at it. She’s not as competitive as other kids and that is fine

on Saturday we started our new tradition and bounding time, morning jog.

we did almost 4km that morning with two short walk breaks. Sofia loves spending time with me and do what I do, so running together seems a good activity to start doing together. I truly enjoy running and how it makes me feel physically and mentally, so I’d like Sofia to get to know running too, and eventually fall in love with it too

Saturday was busy between mandarin, piano and swimming lessons. Then we went out for dinner, to a new place

Sofia loves pancake house but I convinced her to try new places

good that it was super child friendly

they both order kids menu, japanaese curry with friend chicken and potato wedges

it was a thumb up for both of them!

once home I watched the must waited documentary The Game Changers with Tony. It was such a well done documentary, tackling all the myths around meat/protein/man ego. I hope Tony got enlightened.

Sunday I did 12 miles as I’ve started tapering with my running group.

then we went to watch Abominable in the afternoon which we all loved!!! Such a cute movie

Some food I enjoyed:

Pumpkin oatmeal topped with PB2 and granola

soy yogurt with apples and granola

I’ve been into massive salad lately. This one had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beets, seaweed salad with smoked tofu, and a miso-tahini-lesson dressing

usually it takes me an hour or two to digest it until I can have the corn

our family food is filled with vegetables too nowadays. Greens is a must, and another vegetable such as zayote with black fungus

It was another relaxing, family centered weekend, best of the kind. 🙂

Sofia turned 7: birthday week

My baby turned 7! I can’t believe how big she is now, not just physically but mentally and behaviorally. Although I am biased, I think Sofia might be the kindest person I know while at the same time the bravest. Our life as expat in Manila has reinforced her flexible, adaptable, amicable, friendly personality. She might seem like shy but she’s actually very confident, easy to make new friends, and have fun quickly with whatever she is doing. She’s smart, quick learner, and is learning that perseverance and hard work pays off at the end.

Her life turned very busy this year as she started first grade which comes with after school activities. Currently she’s doing swimming (after school and private lessons), brain buzz, soccer, mandarin, math, and piano. Everyday she practices 30-60 min of piano after all her activities, and practice mandarin for 10-15 min. Some days when she’s tired, she doesn’t want to, and I always remind/coerce to still do them (maybe shorter time) because that’s part of her responsibilities, just like mom’s work.

She is also a very caring person. Although she fights with Lizzy often, she deeply cares about her. Sometimes she’d tell me that she doesn’t like Lizzy all the time, because she annoys her (taking her things without asking for instance), but most of the times she takes care of her little sister in a daily basis (preparing her tooth paste morning and night, getting her water, or clean up for her). Sofia also cares about our helpers and driver, she’s so sweet with them and when they don’t feel well, she notices before anyone else. Needless to say, she cares about her mom the most. Somedays I’m tired and don’t want to read her before bed, she is always very understanding and next morning she’ll ask me if I had a good rest. She also loves and cares about grandma. Their bound is so strong. It was evident when we left shanghai. After one month traveling Europe with grandma, Sofia broke into cry when we said goodbye to grandma. She would love to have grandma living with us all the time, but she also understands that grandma is happier in shanghai with her friends.

Last year we went to Disney in Tokyo for her birthday. This year she asked for a party so I delivered. It’s so much more work than going on a trip and the final result was worth weeks of planning.

For her actually birthday, I made a vegan chocolate cake to bring to school. It was my first time making a vegan cake and I’m bloom away by the result. Nobody could believe it was refined sugar free, dairy free, and egg free.

Recipe for a 9×13 inch cake:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups WW flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup pitted medjool dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup warm water

Chocolate frosting

• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 300g dark chocolate

Method:

• blend dates with warm water, add the rest of liquid ingredients
• mix dry ingredients and mix with liquid ingredients, do not over mix
• bake at 350F for 30-35 min
• To make frosting: warm the milk until boil and pour over chopped chocolate. Mix and refrigerate until semi-solid

Lizzy and I went to Sofia class for the mini celebration

they are doing the final assembly for the day

then we did the cake

the cake was a big hit among the kids, which is a great sign! 🙂

that night we went out for dinner

and Sofia picked burger. So we went to Shake Shack

she also made a cake in school

we hosted the birthday part last Sunday. Minimal decoration but festival enough

her friends arrived on time

we did few games for the teams. Everyone engaged

some kids are super competitive

the theme of the party was SPA. so each girl got a mani/pedi with massage. What a luxury right? the crew brought everything including those bamboos for decoration and soothing music.

Sofia had a blast

then cake time! Homemade lemon cake

quick birthday song

and they all went back to play

gift opening at the end

3 hours later… I was voiceless and tired but so happy to have organized this to my favorite person in the world 🙂 Let’s just hope next year she wants a trip. hehe…

Life Happening 9.23

Sofia had another fun week at school while mama had a stressful few days.

Last weekend’s race picture is out and I love love this one

Lizzy hasn’t been eating in school her lunch and we finally found out why. Because when she comes back home, the helper helps her to eat, aka= spoon feed her! okay. That has to STOP! and the adjustment process is no fun

Sunday was my longest run during this training cycle. 20 miles!!! I was confident I would finish it, but uncertain how much pain I’d suffer, especially after last week’s 13 miles. I got up 4am, packed 1.5l water with 2 tablets of Nuun, 2 Gu, 1 packet of beans, and 6 dates with pinch of salt. I also brought 3 liter of water to refill.

3.5 hrs later I was done. I run two hours under mild sun which is challenging.

Water consumed: 4 liters

Fuel: 4 dates, 1 Gu, 1/2 packet of beans.

I was sore and tired at the end of it and the rest of the afternoon. But the next day, I am back to normal. Amazing recovery I’d say.

Since I was tired to cook lunch, we took the girls to a Malaysia restaurant. Their toast is filled with thick layer of butter and pineapple jam. Sofia liked it

Lizzy found it disgusting

Afternoon was spent between naps, readings, and more reading with the kids.

My diet hasn’t changed much… still vegan. Oatmeal for breakfast most of the days

A lunch combo I’ve enjoyed last week: buckwheat noodles, veggies, noki mushrooms, smoked tofu, and a thai chili. Super rich broth and tasty.

salad with baked tofu and tahini dressing

homemade soy yogurt with fruit and cereal

girls food: pizza, pop chips, veggies

not bad 🙂