Julia Gabriel PlayClub (Term 2 Week 5)

This week’s focus was on ‘jelly’ so no prizes for guessing that the kids got to eat jelly during class that day! What was surprising to me though was that the jelly-eating session was in place of a piece of artwork that day. The Mandarin teachers went on as usual with the art but the English teachers had the children eat jelly with fruit cocktail during that segment. Alicia was very happy to eat the jelly that day and she self-fed half a bowl of it before going on to do her art.

I had to throw away her piece of work that day because the glue wasn’t dry when we left Julia Gabriel so the glue leaked onto the bag. Fortunately I managed to clear the mess but the piece of craft had to go… the teachers gave them three small plastic containers and they filled them up with some paint, covered them and shook them so that the paint would be distributed through the containers. Then they glued the containers of paint (which were supposed to be jelly moulds of ‘jelly’) to a paper plate.
During magicbox time, the English teachers had a jar of jam in the box and the teacher, Rino, demonstrated spreading jam onto half a slice of bread and ate it in front of the kids. After that, the kids all got a jam sandwich too while he read a book about jam sandwiches to the children.
I think Alicia had enough food to fill her up during the lesson so when it came to snack time, she hardly ate a morsel. Rino was shocked that she’d ‘finished’ snack so fast this time because she’d always been last to finish for the past few weeks, since Term 2 started. haha… that was only because she didn’t eat. Anyway, all the kids finished snack earlier than usual that day so everyone had extra time for either music time or outdoor waterplay – of coz the kids chose extended outdoor waterplay! πŸ˜› I guess everyone played enough that day because when it was time to clear up, there wasn’t the usual bawling. Even Alicia, who was last to leave the tub, didn’t protest all that much when I brought her off to change. πŸ™‚
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Barley drink recipe

barley drink recipe

I cook this barley drink at least once a week for the whole family. I normally have the herbs packed ready so I simply empty the herbs into the colander to rinse a few times and that’s really all there is to do for making this drink. Five minutes is all it takes. Now you know the real reason why I always make this drink! πŸ˜€

Barley drink recipe

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Barley drink recipe
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 120-150g Chinese barley (η”Ÿη†Ÿθ–η±³, also known as 薏米仁 or苑仁) - you can get this at Chinese medical halls
  • 5 deng xin cao (灯心草) - omit this if pregnant as it helps with urination - something that pregnant women don't need πŸ™‚
  • 40-80g candied winter melon (ε†¬η“œη³–) - adjust according to your preference
  • about 2.5L water
Instructions
  1. Rinse the herbs.
  2. Add the herbs to the water in a pot and bring to a boil.
  3. Simmer on low heat for 1.5 hours.
  4. Sieve and remove the herbs.
  5. Serve warm or chilled.

In case you’re wondering what’s deng xin cao, here’s a picΒ  – it’s supposed to have ‘cooling’ properties as well:

This is a relatively mild ‘cooling’ drink so it is suitable even for young children. You may want to omit or adjust the amount of candied winter melon strips when young children are consuming the drink.

Click the link for the complete list of drink recipes (with thumbnails) on the blog.

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Posted in Drinks, Food for kids, Herbal, Herbal (suitable for tots), Recipes | Leave a comment