Perfect Soft Boiled Egg

Today recipe is brought to you by our friend, William Thie. I first saw the picture of his perfect soft boiled egg on Facebook and shamelessly asked for the secret. Thankfully, he generously shared the recipe, which came from 2 months of experiment.

Usually, I adjust any recipe to my liking but this time I didn't change anything. The only thing I didn't follow was to completely de-shelled the eggs . I just cracked open one part and scoop the inside with a small spoon because that's how my mom and dad eat it. :)

Please bear with the lengthy procedure. I guess that's how an engineer wrote a recipe. It works though so please no complain before you try it. :)

Perfect Soft Boiled Egg courtesy William Thie

Printable Recipe

Directions:

1. Use good stainless steel sauce pan (heavy). Recommend Cuisinart. But dutch oven will also work. These pans have even heat distribution due to its massive heat capacity.
2. Put your eggs, cover with water (completely immersed).
3. Put 1 tablespoon of salt, dissolve --> this will increase the boiling point so it will cook the albumin (egg white) faster, leaving the yolk still slightly under-cooked.
4. Put on high heat. Wait till you see the water starts boiling --> start your timer. when water starts bubbling, that is when Time = 00:00
5. At time = 04:00 (4 minutes!), turn off the heat.
6. Pour the hot water into the sink, replace with cold water from sink to stop the cooking. If necessary, put some ice cubes. The final water temperature should be lukewarm or room temperature. This should stop the egg from cooking further.
7. Put 1 tablespoon of baking soda into the pan (with water and eggs in it). Stir and dissolve.
8. Gently crack open the eggs on the ends of the oval. (Gently!! the eggs are still very soft!), leave them submerged in the soda water for about 5 min.
9. Take each egg and gently peel the shells, should be easy after the baking soda treatment. Rinse off the baking soda with water.

PS: fresh eggs are harder to peel (sticky membrane), so use eggs that have sat in the fridge for 1 week or so.

Enjoy!

Planning Our Summer

A little while ago,  I came across a thought provoking post from The Nester titled: 18 Summers. That's all we have with each of our kid.

So this summer we will work on our family's Summer Bucket List. I plan to worry less, get upset less, smile more, embrace more, get myself wet and dirty,

and enjoy more of these:

hunting bugs

enjoying pretty flowers,

and God's beautiful creations,

baking bread,

playing outdoor,

 

swimming,

 
making and eating ice cream,

celebrating,

camping,

hiking,

climbing....

 ...while I can because the days are long but the years are short. I only have 14 summers left with Max and 16 summers with Wes. How many do you have left?

Learning in love the preschool years

image source

I had been listening to this wonderful audio sharing about Learning in Love the Preschool Years by Renee Tougas It's one out of 97 resources that I got from the ultimate homemaking bundle sale.

Below are my takeaways from her sharing:

The important ingredients:
1. Knowing your children: listen, watch, observe, read with your children, share their interest.
2. Knowing who you are and operating in your strength. Do what you love and involve them in that. For example if you don't like to craft it's okay you may like gardening or other hands-on thing. Doing thing with their hands and exploring is very important to young children.
3. Knowing your family. Know your family vision, mission, and value.

The important 3 R: Relationship, Rules, and Routines
1. Relationship: Loving learning comes from being loved.
2. Rules: Helping your child to understand how the world works: right vs. wrong; honesty vs. lying; what we do and we don't do; teaching about boundaries. Good reflection question to ask: "Is your action kind?"
3. Routine: Children thrive on routine. Get organized with your household and learning routine, which will lay foundation for their future years.
 
Great resources to tap into: local library, kitchen, backyard, local farm, play dates, local homeschooling group. {I would add pinterest, other homeschooling parents' blogs to the list too since we live in digital age :)}

The author also wrote a blog post that describe what homeschooling preschools in her house looks like here

It was such an encouragement to hear from someone who has walk further down the road on this homeschooling journey. Inspired by Renee' sharing I created an album: Learning@home and beyond: learning in love and having a love for learning. You don't have to be my friend to view it but you still have to log in to your Facebook account. My hope is to share the love of learning, the fact that learning can happen anywhere, and we can learn new things all the time.

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."Charlotte Mason

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

A little while ago Ci Sukma made the thin and crispy version of the oatmeal cookies. She kindly shared the recipe and I tried it the very next day. We like it a lot. A nice change to the chewy ones we usually make. 

Want to know what's behind the white board? Ta da:

Watching Kitchen Aid mixes the dough is very entertaining for a two years old but make sure he doesn't put his finger in.

So happy to finally get to work:

Next is the boys' favorite part: "the smash-down" although the recipe says, "use your fingertips to gently press the dough". Clearly the boys or their mom do not follow recipe very well.

Video:

Ready to be baked

The aftermath:

Done:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
14 Tablespoons or 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/4 cups rolled oats
Optional: 1 cups raisins or chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  In a standing mixer beat butter until creamy using pedal attachment. Add sugars; beat at medium speed until light fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg.

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, together baking powder together, then stir them into the butter-sugar-egg mixture mix at low speed. 

3. Add the oats and raisins or chocolate chips and stir with a wooden spoon spatula.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Form dough {using cookie scoop or two spoons} into about 1 1/2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper covered, large cookie sheets then gently press the dough with your fingertips.
4. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, about 16 to 18 minutes.  Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Getting through the hard days

I got sick last week. I wasn't too sick so I didn't ask Chris to stay home but at the end of the day I was exhausted; mentally and physically. When Chris got home from work, we had dinner then I asked to be excused. That night I came to the Lord sobbing. I told Him "Lord, I am soooo tired. This mothering, training, and dying to self thing is too hard. I am selfish. I want to rest whenever I need to, take shower whenever I feel need to, and go to the bath room alone whenever I have to; I can't give and give and give... " 
And He answered, "Kiki, you don't have to give and give and give. You have the choice to receive."
And these are the Words that I received that night:

1 Corinthians 4:8-13

"Love is patient,

love is kind.

It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

I cried again after reading the Words. This time I cried because I realized how weak, selfish, and sinful I am yet My Heavenly Father still patiently hears, cares, and loves me. In case you are wondering, He loves and cares about you too. We just have to run to Him and ask for His love, His Words, His joy, His peace, His power, and His grace. 

Psalm 124:8 "Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth."

My talented designer friend Siska @ Eve & Artistry kindly made the verses into beautiful print for me to print and put into a frame. Thank you, sister! You can get the free print here