Let's pop some corn!

POP POP POP!

When I was young, my mum used to pop corn kernels once in a Long while. We didn't have a pot with a transparent glass lid so each time, I would just stay near to hear the sound of the kernels popping and hitting the lid. The sound tickled me and it was always a very happy moment for me. 😆😆

Last night, I decided to make some popcorn with the kids and I found this confirm-won't-fail method that would make sure your popcorn comes out not burned and will be crispy!

And I'm gonna share it with you!!!!!

You need:

(1) corn kernels (cheap cheap from Sheng siong)

(2) canola oil (don't use olive oil, it burns too fast!)

(3) butter (I used salted butter to give some balance to the sweetness)

(4) icing sugar

Making the sweet but light coating

I used a microwave-safe container with lid that would be used to store the popcorn later because I don't want to wash so many things.

Melt some butter in the microwave and stir in the icing sugar until totally dissolved. I added a little bit of water to aide the dissolving process. 

Before

After

Now we are going to pop pop pop the kernels!

Step 1: Pour some canola oil in the deep pan on medium high heat

Step 2: Put in 3 kernels and wait for them to pop. 

The reason for this step is to Ensure the heat is just right for the actual popping.

Step 3: *important* Pour in the amount of kernels you wish to pop AND remove from heat and count 30 secs!

The kids and I counted together loudly and as we counted, the popping started! The kids went crazy, going into this all giggly mode!

Step 4: Return pot to medium heat and shake the pot here and there to trigger more popping. You could tilt the lid a little to let the air out so the popcorn will be even crispier and drier. 

Step 5: when the intervals between the popping drags out to a few seconds, remove from heat.

Step 6: Pour the popcorn into the coating mixture we prepared in the beginning and keep tossing until evenly coated!

You are done!

Look at these happy faces!

I had to stop the kids before they polished off the entire box!

You could make the session more meaningful by teaching about:

(1) POPCORN (when corn pops, it become pop-corn!)

(2) 爆米花

The popcorn indeed looks like a flower (although I was told there are the mushroom species and butterfly species and the kernel we used belong to the butterfly shaped popcorn, I cannot be confusing them by saying 爆米蝶！).

So 玉米🌽 ➡️爆炸💥➡️爆米 ➡️像花🌸🌼➡️爆米花🍿！

Alright, now it's your turn to try! Have fun!

Fun Cookery: Cereal Cookies!

Riding on the Raya mood, we did some fun cookery at home! :)

In order to combine Fitness Crunch Cereal (Elvin's fav), honey coated Cheerios (Nathan's new fav) and peanut butter (everyone's fav), cereal cookies are the best option for a simple cookery session!

We started with pouring cereal into a big container and gave Nathan a metal press. Frankly, this is my favourite segment because it was so therapeutic! Equivalent to punching a bag maybe? Hahaha.. Just keep pressing and crushing the cereal into smaller pieces. Choose a deeper container to prevent bits flying out of the container and making a mess. :)

Then we melted some rock sugar with a bit of water. When the sugar is fully dissolved, we added peanut butter. Stir and mix well until mixture is smooth and thicken. Use a big and deep pot so mixing will not be a mess. 

We allowed Nathan to help with the pouring in of the cereal. Please be careful when the child approach the pot. 

Mix well and remove mixture from pot!

We did the scooping of mixture into the muffin cups near Nathan's toy kitchen. 

Done! Into the refrigerator for cooling! :)

Usually, the session will end here but we wanted to share the goodness! And it is also a good teachable moment for appreciation and sharing.

Nathan decorated some plastic containers with stickers. We did it one by one, mentioning the name of the person he is giving to, then choose the sticker then paste it on.

He assisted in putting the cookies in the container, counting out loudly, 1, 2, 3!

Nathan chose to give the 6 boxes to his teachers at the Childcare. The teachers called me that afternoon and said that that was a sweet gesture. :) everyone enjoys a little appreciation and love! :)