Spring Poems

I can't believe I let my 2 month anniversary of starting this blog just pass me by! I've been busy writing hubs (online articles) and I guess I have been neglecting this blog. Also, the weather has been beautiful and I enjoy spending time outdoors with my kids during the day. To celebrate spring, I thought I'd share some poems with you. They're nothing fancy, just a few stanzas that have been bouncing around my head the past month...

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Sweep winter blues out the door
Dust the scraggly cobwebs away
Clean out your closets and drawers
Spring clean, organize, and donate

Sunshine and warm weather all around
Spring blossoms and flowers bloom
Chase the winter chills away
Get rid of the gray and gloom

 

"Spring ahead" for Daylight Saving Time
Wear green on St. Patrick's Day
Easter bunnies are hopping
It's time to come out and play

Spring showers may at first seem sad
But instead, your heart should feel glad
Because rain today means plants tomorrow
Plenty of green grass and flowers ahead  

 Wear bright colors, not black and gray
There's plenty of sunshine and fresh air

Break out the shorts and flip flops today
Warm weather style from toes to hair

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

White and gray bunnies
Are so cute and funny
They bounce around and run
When the weather is sunny

I miss my little bun

She was so soft and sweet

Bunbun was one of a kind

A happier bun you'll never meet

April 2009: She was my first real pet, my friend; RIP Bunbun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's time for spring,
Put a spring in your step
Spring-a-ling-ling
Dance a spring fling 

Get out and bop
Along to the beat
Hop hop hop
And stomp your feet

Music is in the air
Love is in your heart
Dance to feed your soul
Sing to show it out loud

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making Memories

It's been awhile since my last confession, I mean diary post. I definitely want to dedicate this post to my boys. Sometimes I think...why write about them when it would only be interesting to me, their mom....like when Jake mastered the alphabet (repeating back each letter after I say it, not by himself), or when Logan tummy-timed for 20 minutes without crying. But I realized that those types of things are exactly what I should be documenting, be it by pictures and video or writing and posting online.

January 2012: Staring contest and Logan's extended tummy time with big brother Jake

I don't even have a chart of Jake's first milestones. I wrote every day when I was pregnant with him and took dozens of pictures daily and I'm sure his big moments are captured on film. But I still should go through the pics and note when he did what. And I definitely should for Logan while he's still a baby. With all my scrapbooking materials and album pages (some of which were designed by my friends at my baby shower, below), I have no excuse. I should just write his milestones on one page and then make them pretty sometime later after I print some photos.

Scrapbook layouts that I have yet to fill with photos....soon I keep saying!

So to get a start on preserving these moments, which may amuse or even embarrass them as they get older....

Worst moments this week:
Being sick along with Logan. We caught whatever cold bug Jake had two weekends ago, so we spent all last weekend sick and this week just stuffy and runny nosed. And Jake had caught it from his Dad who must have brought home a bug from work (three weekends ago). Yay...the cycle of (a virus's) life. We finally got a new humidifier (our old one leaks) and this one can put menthol/eucalyptus vapor pads in it, so we get that nice Vick's "I smell like a sick person" scent. Whatever....it worked.

Search for Vick's humidifiers on Amazon

I get a new favorite moment of all time every morning when we wake up together.

Favorite moments this week:
Even though we were sick, we bundled up and went to Soup Plantation (soup and salad buffet) on Sunday for breakfast. Their french toast was actually pretty tasty, as were their cinnamon sugar donut muffins! And of course I wanted soup. We cut down on any possible contamination (me infecting other customers) by lots of Purell, and Allen fetching me food while I sat with the boys in our corner booth. When Allen was coming back one time, a song came on - "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO. And of course Jake started dancing, while standing up in the booth. He loves that song! And I have to admit - I love it too. It's such a catchy dance beat and the fact that without fail, Jake will dance to it anytime, anywhere, just makes it all the better. It was released 2011, but, as evidenced by its feature in this year's Super Bowl half-time, numerous commercials, tv shows, and on the radio, it seems to be very popular still. That's good - that means more head bopping, booty shaking and elbow wiggling by my funny toddler (and his silly parents). And plus, we have that song on our "Just Dance 3" video game for Xbox Kinect (where we don't have to hold any controllers) and that's always fun for a family game night/dance party anytime, like last night.

Here are some coupons and some handy links to the games and song I'm talking about:

Buy "Party Rock Anthem" for $0.99
Party Rock Anthem

Also available for Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3
Just Dance 3

Week 5 of My New Online Life

I just passed my 1-month anniversary of launching this blog and my other online adventures and I have to say....it's been FUN! Life-changing? Maybe. There's a whole world out there full of amazing ideas, interesting people, and various curiosities. A blog for every person. A website on every topic. Here's a little timeline on how I entered this world:

Week 1: Reactivated my Blogger account (I made it years ago but never posted anything), thought about my concept and picked a unique blog name - CambodianMom. Wrote and posted my introductory post and wrote multiple pages of content for the blog. Learned about search engine optimization (how to get web traffic to your blog and get Google Search to list it).

Week 2: Learned about Hubpages, wrote and posted my first how-to article, signed up for Google AdSense, Hubpages Ad Program and Amazon Affiliates (three different ways to "monetize" or "make money from" my websites). Made another blog so I could advertise on it; From Dazed to Dazzling was my runner-up name/idea for my blog anyway. Added Google Adsense and Amazon links to my blogs and Hub articles. If you're interested, Google Adsense works by giving me a certain amount (pennies) when people click on Google ads on my sites; Hubpages ads earn me money just by people viewing them ($1-8/1000 impressions aka views) when reading my articles; Amazon's affiliate program allows me to make a commission (4-15%) on sales completed by people who clicked through my links to shop.

Week 3: Wrote more posts for my blogs, and more articles for Hubpages. When I have free time, I read others' hubs and blogs. I comment whenever possible...to be nice, to get more traffic and exposure for myself, and to just learn and ask questions. Like I said, there's a whole world out there, and it's so much more interesting than just the CNN and celebrity news I used to only keep up with before.

Week 4: Averaging 2-3 blog posts and 1 hub article per week. Sometimes my post and my article are about the same thing. Downloaded Google Reader app for my phone...this was really helpful in keeping up with blogs I like and follow. Following a blog means getting their newest posts in an RSS feed reader like Google Reader. I understand there are many websites just for following blogs and news feeds, like Tumblr, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. And of course there's Twitter and Pinterest. But I am taking it slow. I already follow a dozen blogs and have gotten a thousand hits (combined) on my blogs and Hubpages profile. If I really want to increase traffic, I will explore those other sites more.

Week 5: I've been trying to figure out whether I should make some standard days to post things...like do a "Dazzling Thursdays" post every week, or a "Mommy Mondays" for parenting tips. There are also tons of contests, challenges, and giveaways I can lurk the blogosphere for and join. On the one hand, I'm scared of locking myself into a format, or joining something that I can't keep up with. But on the other hand, these things might instill some discipline in me, i.e. make me post more regularly and try things I normally wouldn't try. I don't know if I'll ever get to the post-every-day stage. But I am trying out new crafts and recipes all the time...and thinking of things to write about, which is a positive step in the right direction (as opposed to being sedentary, passive, and hermit-like in my cave). As for my money-making...that has always been secondary to my writing and exploring online anyway, but I'll just say I can shop at the Dollar Store with my earnings thus far. This is fine with me, since I like the Dollar Store, but too bad earnings don't get paid out until I reach the $50 and $100 thresholds. :)

Update 2.24.2012: As a nice bonus and validation for my writing, my online article "Traditional Cambodian (Khmer) Wedding Ceremonies" has been nominated for Hubnugget or article of the week. Please click HERE to go to an article nominating me and VOTE for me if you liked my article - it's under "Gender and Relationships Nominees".  Also, please enjoy the other hub articles from new writers like me. There are so many topics and interesting things written on Hubpages by people from all over the world. Check it out!

Update 2.29.2012: I won a Hubnugget award! My article came in 3rd place (out of 6 nominees) in my category (out of hundreds of categories and thousands of hub articles), so I won the award and was featured in the Hubpages weekly newsletter that went out to tens of thousands of top hubbers. This increased my pageviews by a lot (and correspondingly, my earnings) and overall, was just a huge boost to my ego! Go me! I really like how Hubpages supports and encourages its new writers. If you want to join and start writing your own articles, check out my profile, and then go from there. It's easy and free (and you can earn money). I can help guide you if you want to join. 

Apple-filled Spice Cupcake Recipe

Hi everyone,

I took a little break from blogging (haven't even checked the stats or anything) because I wanted to focus on cooking this week. That's right - cooking, not baking! Not even any sweet treats for Valentine's Day (hubby explicitly said he did NOT want any). But after a week of noodle-licious home-cooked meals, I was ready for some baking! Maybe even trying out a new recipe! But what to make??

Chocolate cravings aside (always there, at the back of my mind and stomach), I really wanted some apple pie or something. Then I remembered an apple compote a bake-testant (cake-petitor?) made on "Cupcake Wars" to fill their cupcake...I don't remember what they did except for the apples and brown sugar parts (and to be careful not to burn it)...but it seemed easy enough. How can you go wrong with apples and brown sugar right? And I had a Spice Cake boxed cake mix that I'd been wanting to try, so I decided to go for it. 

By the way...my thoughts on using box mixes...why the hell not? I've made cakes from scratch and from mixes, from internet recipes, from books, etc. and I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone, and I have already proclaimed myself as a semi-homemade cook...so again, why not?? It saves so much time when the list of ingredients and steps is cut in half. That said, I will always make some things from scratch, like banana bread.

My steps for a tasty toffee apple spice cake with apple/brown sugar filling and cinnamon cream cheese frosting and apple/brown sugar glaze on top (I've got to come up with a name):

Cupcake:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. I used Spice Cake box mix (Betty Crocker) - just make as directed (mixing together the dry mix, oil, eggs, and water), then add 1/2 cup fine diced apple and 1/4 cup toffee bits (can omit the toffee if you don't have any). Fill 22-24 cupcake liners 2/3rds full. Bake for 15 minutes. I rotated the pans after 10 minutes to ensure even baking (my oven is very old). After testing for doneness (if the toothpick you insert comes out clean/no batter or crumbs), take out and cool on wire racks.

Filling:
1-2 fuji apples, finely diced (about 1 cup) (I used 1 large and 1 small apple, for both the batter and this filling)
1 cup packed brown sugar (1/2 cup probably could have worked)
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Combine all in small non-stick saucepan, cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until dark brown and syrupy and apples tender. Set aside in a bowl to cool. 

I don't know if this is rightly called a compote or even apple pie filling, so I'm just calling it apple filling. The dice is the perfect size to fit into a cute cupcake.

I just glazed some with the syrupy filling for the frosting-haters...still yummy!

Frosting:
Using a hand mixer, beat together for 1 minute: 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened and 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter, softened.
Mix in 2 cups powdered sugar (more if you want it sweeter), 1/2 cup at a time, whipping well after each addition, scraping down sides. 

That's the basic cream cheese frosting recipe. You can use 1/3 fat cream cheese and omit the butter altogether, but it will be a runnier frosting. You can stop here OR as I did for this recipe....

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for flavor. Mix well until smooth and fluffy.  

I've added strawberry lemonade powder + water, fresh berries, flaked coconut, chopped nuts, etc. and it usually turns out yummy. Or - instead of the butter, add 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Pair with banana bread cupcakes. So good! Maybe I'll do another cupcake recipe post soon...

* Tips on making frosting: The general rule is to add more powdered sugar if you want the frosting stiffer; add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time if you want it softer.

Core, fill, and frost. Not as hard as it seems (but then again, I only did this for 18 cupcakes).

To assemble:
Cut out a small cone shape out of the center of each cupcake, taking care not to pierce sides or bottom (eat those pieces!).
Fill about 1 heaping teaspoon apple filling in each cupcake center. Some of the syrup will soak into the cake (that's good, but messy, as it will soak through the paper liner eventually).
Frost, and then drizzle with some of the syrup from the apple filling.  

I had both frosting and filling leftover because I only filled and decorated 18 cupcakes. The remaining six I just glazed with the syrupy filling, for a less-fattening alternative. Still very good! Enjoy!

The finished products...so yummy! Who wants some?

* Tips on decorating: I have frosting tips and piping bags, but if you don't, just use plastic sandwich bags. To fill, insert the bag in a tall drinking cup, flipping the edges so they hang over the rim. Scoop the frosting in, close the bag, snip the tip, and voila! - you've got a piping bag.

I Love Weddings

I love weddings...this cannot be emphasized enough...I LOVE weddings! I loved my own, which I planned and had 300 guests attend in 2008. I love it when my friends get married. Better yet when you know both the bride AND the groom, and a lot of the guests are mutual friends...that makes for a fun night. And I love love love family weddings, because it's like a family reunion and a celebration of love and a sign that your family's growing all at the same time. I have a lot of family weddings coming up this year and I'm very excited. I am also currently helping my brother-in-law and his fiancee plan their wedding (it'll be this spring, coming up very soon!) and it's fun figuring out the little decorative details and behind-the-scenes stuff. We're also going to do the flower centerpieces ourselves, which is a little daunting, but what I've always wanted to do (and the bride insists she wants to save the money for other things). I love flowers, as well as crafting and decorating. In another life, I would be a wedding planner. But in this life, I'll just be a wedding lover.

Stay tuned for a post about some of the projects and wedding decor I'm working on. In the meantime, head on over to this article I wrote about the Cambodian ceremonies we did for our wedding. I write about the meaning behind the ceremonies and I also put lots of pictures up that show all the colorful traditional clothing we wore. I never thought I'd have a traditional Khmer wedding, but as I got older and closer to planning the wedding, I realized I wanted to. Not only because I'm the only girl in my family but because I wanted to honor my culture and family. It ended up being very fun and unique and despite the 100 degree temperature that day, I was happy we were doing all the ceremonies. Those smiles weren't fake! I had family comment on how I didn't look as uncomfortable as most Khmer brides usually are on their wedding day. That's because I truly wasn't uncomfortable...I felt beautiful!

Cambodian Sour Soup Recipe

Finally - my first Khmer recipe post. By the way, if you haven't noticed, I use Cambodian and Khmer interchangeably. "Khmer" is what Cambodians call themselves, and is the official language, pronounced kah-MY (or kah-MAIR in the anglified way). It's like a French person saying they speak Francais. "Khmer" is derived from Kampuchea, which is the Cambodian name for our country of Cambodia. "Cambodia" is derived from "Cambodge" which was the French name for our country, back when all of Southeast Asia was colonized by the French (dubbed "French Indochina" for many years). Anyway, back to my point...this will be my first Khmer recipe post. It's my attempt at recreating my mom's style sour soup, sort of like a "tom yum gai" you would get at a Thai restaurant. In my culture, we call it "salaw machu" (or "samlor") where "salaw" means soup and "machu" means sour. It can be made with fish or other vegetables, but I came up with and enjoy the combination of ingredients below.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks
• 1 (1.4 oz) package powdered tamarind seasoning mix*
• 8 cups water
• 1 box mushrooms (about 2 cups), chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped 
• 1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks 
• juice of 1 lemon (about 3-4 tablespoons)

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, saute chicken until just cooked.
2. In same pot, mix together tamarind powder and water (use amount as directed on package).
3. Bring to a boil. Add chopped vegetables and pineapple.
4. Simmer for 5-8 minutes, until zucchini is tender.
5. Add tomato and lemon juice.
6. Season to taste (I like to add garlic powder and lemon pepper, but depending on the tamarind powder you find, you may not need any additional seasoning). Simmer 5 minutes. Ready to serve.

 * The key ingredient of tamarind powder can be found in any Asian market. This is the only thing that cannot be substituted. It can be hard to find without any added MSG but the one I use (a Filipino brand) does not list any (edited: as of 2/09/12, I learned that the brand I used has MSG since "hydrolyzed soybean protein" = MSG....I don't like this, but I had no bad reactions, so I am tolerant of this factoid). Per the directions, it needs to dissolve in 8 cups of water. The brand you find may have slightly different directions, so just follow yours. Also, if you add fish or other seafood, put those quick-cooking ingredients into the pot after the water has boiled. My mom's version also includes a can of quail eggs. These mini flavorful eggs are delightful in this soup and can be found at Asian markets also (I just forgot to get some).


Makes about 6-8 servings. Enjoy with a bowl of steamed rice. Hope you like it!

(edited: 2/09/12 to correct historical information and provide accurate measurements)

{click HERE to see this recipe on Hubpages.com, where I list other helpful links}

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes Recipe

Yummy blueberry yogurt pancakes with yogurt-maple syrup

Jake and I were sharing a blueberry yogurt one morning when we stopped, turned to each other, and agreed - today was not a yogurt kind of day (it was a bacon and eggs type of day). But what to do with an already opened yogurt? Well that was yesterday morning, and I just put it into the fridge to deal with later. Today when I saw it sitting there, it seemed to mock me, as if to say "you still don't feel like eating me, so I guess you're just going to waste food again"; I was determined not to let it win. I thought about what I could make...cupcakes? Not sure about baking with yogurt yet, though I know it can be done. Smoothies? Don't want to break out the blender. Pancakes? There's milk in pancakes right? Yeah, pancakes!

I browsed online for an easy recipe. Alas, none that seemed right and hardly any that used boxed pancake mix. I'm a semi-homemade cook, remember? So I cobbled some things together and improvised. I make no representations as to originality, nutrition, or taste, except to say I think they're good and I would like to share it with you. Here's what I came up with:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup box pancake mix (I used good ole Aunt Jemima, but you can use anything)
• 1/2 cup milk (this is less than the box instructions call for)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Half of one (6 oz) container of blueberry yogurt (reserve the rest) 
• Handful of washed, drained blueberries or blackberries (this is for flavor and I like the purple color of pancakes that results if you mix and crush the berries; if you don't like this or if you don't have anything fresh, it's okay, just omit)

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients until combined. Do not over-beat (small lumps will remain).
2. Heat up pan or griddle, drizzle oil, make pancakes (I leave it to you to figure this out...everyone has their own style of making pancakes). My way produced about 15 small (3-4 inch diameter) pancakes.
3. Make a yummy sauce by mixing together that reserved yogurt (about 2-3 oz) with a drizzle of maple syrup (1-2 tablespoons). This creates a runny, sweet, blueberry sauce (similar to a very drippy icing or glaze) that's perfect to go with your pancakes. Top with a few fresh berries if you have some. And enjoy!