Saturday, November 14, 2009

Children's Day(India)-Special Guest Post- The Garden of Love


The 14th of November is celebrated as Children's Day in India.
All of this month we have special events, competitions and shows for kids all over the country.
I have a very special guest; my very first guest,- on this occassion. - Mary Moh from Keep Learning Keep Smiling. Though I've known Mary only for a short while, her love for kids and wisdom in parenting issues are noteworthy. She always has a kind an encouraging word for all her fellow bloggers and her blogging story is an inspiration to me.

Do visit her blog and you will find many recipes that are healthy and fun for kids. Some of her recipes that I have on my wish list are Sweet Potato Doughnuts, Lemon Bars, and 9Layered Coffee Rice Pudding and the Thai soups to name a few. I am sure you will enjoy this lovely post so aptly named " The Garden of Love" prepared by Mary in her unique style-She has a way of making the toughest looking recipe so simple.and desirable. With the food she also presents the "food for thought".

Children’s Day Love, Fun And Special (India)

The Garden Of Love

Today is Children’s Day in India. It’s a day to remind us to LOVE children, have FUN with them and tell them they are VERY SPECIAL!

Children Are Very Special

The thought of children always warms my heart. They are very SPECIAL indeed. When I was requested by Shirley to be her guest blogger, I thought it was heaven on earth. That was such an honour and just what clicks in my heart immediately. It brought back lots of sweet memories of my wonderful time with my own children while they were young and also with other children that I taught in church and in school. They have all been such a blessing to me.

The Wonder Of Children

There’s so much beauty in children. Their hearts are so simple. They have great potentials to achieve. They are able to achieve more than what we think or ever imagine. Children have always surprised me by what they think and do. I marvel their humility, sincerity, innocence and intelligence. Adults, especially parents play a vital role in discovering and developing these potentials through consistent nurturing, training and teaching, topped with lots of encouragement and motivation.


Red radishes represent LOVE

The Garden Of Love

One of the best ways to love children is to serve them healthy food. In this post, I want to share a beautiful, healthy recipe to celebrate Children’s Day today. I named this special dish, ‘The Garden of Love’. The life of a child is like a garden that needs to be tended and cared for. Left neglected and weeds soon grow and worms start to eat away the plants. If we don’t make time to invest and make sacrifices for our kids, it’s just a matter of time that they will most likely become a real pain in the neck. But if we spend quality time with them to teach, train and nurture, they will do us very proud one day.

It would be a lot of fun to get children involved in this recipe. The easiest to teach children is when you play and have fun with them. That’s what I did all the time when my children were small. Talk to them about how to have a beautiful life. You can tell them the first step is to obey mommy and daddy.

Here’s ‘The Garden Of Love’ recipe to share:

Ingredients A

250g chicken breast meat (diced small)
2T water
3/4t chicken stock granules
1T corn flour
1 small sweet potato (peeled, cut and steamed)
Peels of 2 red radishes (for garnishing)
Green vegetables (washed and cooked)




Peeled radishes
Peel 2 small, red radishes. Cut the peel into short thin strips for use as decoration.



Minced meat rounds

Put chicken meat, water, chicken stock granules and corn flour into a processor and process until fine. Remove and make into 12 rounds. Flatten them and arrange them on a steaming plate.




Patties with garnishing

Arrange the radish peels on top and steam with high heat for about 6 minutes. Remove and arrange on a plate with the sweet potato rounds in the centre. Arrange green vegetables on the outer edge. I used a very tender, green leafy vegetables called ‘bo chai’ which is a Chinese term. It’s quite like spinach leaves. You can use broccoli too.





Chinese ‘bo chai’
Ingredients B
1/2C water
1/2t chicken stock granules
1t corn flour
dash of turmeric powder

Mix everything together and pour into a small pot. Let it come to a boil. Pour over the patties and serve.

Note: Each step you assemble this lovely dish, you can relate it to life, how you need to take time to build up your life to become a beautiful life.


Do you love food decoration? Do you love cooking or baking with children? What are the common topics that you share with children? Please share, add and comment in the comment box below.

Quote of the day……
“You have to love your children unselfishly. That is hard. But it is the only way.”
Barbara Bush, former U.S. First Lady

14 comments:

  1. It's simply great we first thought that it was a sweet dish..cannot imagine that even a meal could look so inviting!

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  2. Adorable, my daughter would love these!

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  3. Shirley, I must say a BIG THANK YOU to you for the honour to write this post for you. You have been amazing in reaching out to parents and helping them to enrich kids through sharing your recipes and other helps. You are a blessing!

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  4. That's a wonderful post. That is so true about children. Today they spend so much time in front of TV and computer because parents don't have time for time. Thanks for the reminder. I agree - obey mommy and daddy. :) That's a very beautiful dish too. Happy Children's Day in India.

    I agree, Mary transforms tough recipes into simple ones.

    Thank you also for the Bible verse you gave as a reminder. I'm so blessed for meeting you too. :)

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  5. What a pretty dish! It is a beautiful post. We live in a very hectic space and sometimes we forget our love ones.

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  6. Love this! I'll have to give them a try next time I get some radishes and bo chai(not sure if they have it at my grocery store but I think they do :)). Great post as always Mary!

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  7. Hi Shirley, I see as if you are cultivating the soil and Mary is growing the plants. Nice post!

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  8. beautiful dish! this is such a great entry

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  9. Shirley, I think I must have missed out the last step when I commented yesterday. So sorry about that. Want to say thanks again very much for inviting me to be guest blogger on such a wonderful occasion. It has been a pleasure to write. You have been amazing in the work that you have been doing and I'm very encouraged and inspired. On top of all that, your time with your children is invaluable and will bear the greatest fruits of your labour and sacrifices. It's a real delight to know you.

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  10. oh this is so cute love it and what a lovely post

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  11. hi this is a sure try for me.. great blog..

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