Recipe of the month: Vegetable Spring Rolls

 
Hello y'all! I hope you have all been staying safe and in good health. 

Today I'm bringing you a recipe that has been in my drafts folder for a gratuitously long time. I had optimized this recipe, noted the ingredients as well as method down and framed a draft post a really long time ago but due to my procrastination with the photography, the post had remained in limbo. Last weekend I finally got around to taking some pictures (not that the quality of the pictures do any kind of justice to the delay *sighs*). 

Spring rolls are something that are made in my household pretty regularly. Sometimes my domestic helper makes them and other times I make them myself. Everyone likes them (kids included) so we make them as a starter while entertaining guests or else just for ourselves as an addition to Chinese-style fried rice, noodles or jasmine rice with Thai curry. 

I use store-bought frozen spring roll pastry sheets to make spring rolls. If you live in my part of the world, I recommend the large 8.5" sheets from Spring Home which are suitable for vegetarians. Seriously, they are so thin, pliable, so easy to use and they give great results so there isn't any need to bother making your own (unless you really really want to). Once I thaw the spring roll pastry sheets, I prefer to use them all up by making a large batch and subsequently, freeze the uncooked spring rolls in 2 or 3 individual glass containers so we can enjoy them in batches. If you have never made spring rolls before, don't be intimidated. Spring rolls are in fact very easy to wrap (I find them much easier compared to samosas or dumplings). 

The spring roll wrappers are different from egg roll wrappers, just so you know. The covering of an egg roll is thicker with lots of small bubbles whereas the covering of a spring roll is lighter, crispier and perfectly smooth. Also, the spring roll sheets are different from the rice paper sheets that are used to make fresh spring rolls. 

For the spring roll filling, I like to keep things simple. I use cabbage, carrots, spring onions (whites + greens), garlic, ginger, chilies and fresh bean sprouts. I like to use shitake mushrooms as well since they impart that umami flavour that I like but sometimes it so happens that we have guests who do not like or eat mushrooms so I omit them to be on the safe side. You can either cut the vegetables by hand or use a mandoline slicer. You can even add in tofu or vermicelli noodles if you want - there is not set formula so knock yourselves out! I flavour my spring rolls with soy sauce, vinegar, a touch of sesame oil (you want to be very careful with this ingredient), brown sugar, white pepper and black pepper. The veggies are cooked until they are just tender but still retain a slight crunch. After frying until golden brown, the spring rolls turn out shatteringly crisp. Served along with sweet chilli sauce, they taste absolutely delicious. You can take my word for it.

Check out the recipe below. Do try and give me your feedback.

A Hidden Oasis of Tranquility: Rower's Bay Park, Singapore

The wretched Covid-19 pandemic has ensured that we all stay put right where we are, hasn't it? With travel out of the picture for the paaassssttt.....how many months has it been now? (feels like eons 😫) we have had no choice but to further explore our Little Red Dot for leisure. With that reality having sunken in, my family and I visited Upper Seletar Reservoir Park, Lower Seletar Reservoir Park, Upper Peirce Reservoir Park and Lower Peirce Reservoir Park all within the past two years or so. 

Exploring these lesser known places made us realize (much to our embarrassment) the picturesque natural landmarks that Singapore has to offer. With the pervasive greenery of nature becoming a part of the urban landscape, Singapore's title of a 'City in a Garden' is very much justified. 

I did independent blog posts for all of the aforementioned parks and much to my delight, they have gotten thousands of views and continue to garner interest. I have received so many messages from people either thanking me for the post or sending in more queries about the locations. To all those readers, I'd just like to express my gratitude for the feedback and appreciation 💗

I came across a picture of Rower's Bay Park on the Instagram page exploresingapore.sg several months ago. I immediately made a mental note to check it out. The park was officially launched on 30 March 2019 but it has taken us this long to visit. 

Rower's Bay is situated at the far end of Lower Seletar Reservoir next to Yishun Dam. The park is named for the reservoir's popularity with kayaking and dragon-boating enthusiasts. Rower's Bay forms the first phase of the planned 150km Round Island Route (RIR), which will be progressively completed from 2020 to 2035, connecting parks around Singapore. So eventually, cycling enthusiasts will be able to cycle around the entire island. 

Seriously though, how cool is that! 

As soon as updates were made to the Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) in August allowing an increase of social gatherings from 2 to 5, we breathed a sigh of relief that we would finally be able to go out together as a family. 

On a Tuesday morning of a school holiday, my husband and I took the day off and we all headed out to Rower's Bay Park early in the day in the hopes of getting some fresh air and exercise. 

If you are driving, I would advise you to enter Seletar Club Road in the GPS. We input Rower's Bay Park which caused a bit of confusion and we missed the turning into the park. Once you get there you will find that there is no designated parking lot so you can park along the side of the road. 

I was struck by how serene and tranquil the surroundings were. The calm sun-kissed waters, lush greenery and picturesque skies make for a stunning landscape. No high-rise buildings in sight which is a refreshing change.

Making School Lunches Fun: Easy Kids Lunch Box Ideas

I know I've mentioned this before but I'll reiterate for the benefit of any first time visitors to my blog. I have taken home-packed lunch boxes right from primary school through college and University to life as a working adult (basically, all my life!). It has always been a part of my lifestyle and one that I see continuing for the foreseeable future. 

If you have been following my blog regularly, you will know that I did a blog post for adult lunch box ideas not too long ago. Today's post is on school lunch boxes. 

Let me tell you something about my six and a half year old twin daughters. They have certain likes and dislikes when it comes to food they way most children do. My daughters are small eaters and can probably be classified as picky eaters (just like I was as a child) but over time, that is something that I have come to terms with. As a parent, I have granted my children reasonable autonomy when it comes to portions and have always offered them varied choices when it comes to food groups and cuisines. 

I have been packing lunch and snack boxes for the girls since they started primary school at the start of this year. They have a short snack break and a lengthier recess during school hours. I have been packing relatively light given that they are small eaters and also because they come home in the afternoon and have a fairly large home-cooked hot lunch. The lunchbox undertaking has been going pretty smoothly and despite the early school timings, we have been gradually eased into a comfortable routine. 

We have been using the Yumbox and I'd say, so far so good. Thumbs up for the colors, design and durability and brownie points for the compartmentalized bento design suits my agenda of packing assorted food groups. Packing the lunch and snack boxes is a 20-30 min activity and I make sure it gets done by 7am which is when the kids need to be out the door. My daughters don't expect their food to be hot when they eat it so I stick to usually packing finger foods that are fine to eat at room temperature. They consume the contents of their lunchbox within a two-hour window of it being packed so I don't use ice-packs to keep the food cold (but if you are concerned about food safety then you probably should put them in). 

What I like about sending packed lunch to school is that I know for sure that the food has been prepared hygienically, I can incorporate some variety thus making the meals more wholesome and at the end of the day, I am aware of how much my daughters have eaten. Over the past several months, I have figured out what foods work and what don't and have a reasonably good idea of what to pack for four days of the school week (they eat at the cafeteria on one day of the week). The girls usually do finish all the contents of their snack box and lunch box in school. On the rare occasion anything is left unfinished, it is usually in the vegetable compartment (no surprises there 😆). 

Before I get to the actual contents of the lunchboxes, a little bit of background info. In my children's school, only finger foods are allowed in the snack box, sharing of food is strictly not allowed and there is no nut-free policy. I'd never-ever make a claims of everything in these lunchboxes being "healthy" because that is not my intention and neither is it true. An eating philosophy I firmly believe in is "eat the rainbow" so I sincerely try to incorporate 2-3 portions of colorful fruit and vegetables. Aside from that, I often lean towards nutritious snacks (like assorted nuts and dried fruit, plain popcorn and makhana) and many times, the sweet treat is homemade to avoid nasties like palm oil, preservatives and excess sugar but that is about as far as I go. 

If you are looking for kids lunchbox inspiration, I have compiled some of our go-to combinations. Everything you see in this post is vegetarian but most of the "mains" can be customized to incorporate animal protein of your choice. Wherever recipes are available, I have included the links. Also, you can scroll down to the end of the post for a detailed list of our go-to snacks along with some tips that I hope can save you precious time during frenzied mornings. 

So without further ado, here we go,