Opening a coconut at home

So. Dear2 bought a coconut from NTUC last weekend. Baby1 was taking her afternoon nap and we decided it was time to enjoy a cool refreshing coconut drink. The only problem was that, we don’t know how to open a coconut…

I’ve opened a wild coconut before. That was way back during my NSF days. I remembered it was during the ‘escaping’ phase of our POW (prisoner of war) training. We ‘escaped’ from our captors and found ourselves at a beach, tired and thirsty. We decided to break open a coconut. It was tough. We spent around 30 minutes prying at the coconut with our palm sized jack-knifes and hurling the coconut against jagged rocks. Finally, we cracked an opening and enjoyed our coconut juice.

Well, there’s got to be a better way to open a coconut at home. So I started by carefully chopping away the top of the coconut, hoping to create a hole small enough to put a straw in. After some quick chopping, I’ve only managed to remove the husk and exposing the inner shell.

I spent the next few minutes hacking at the inner shell, hoping to crack it in some way. It was futile. At the same time, I was worried about using excessive strength as I don’t want to injure myself by breaking the kitchen knife.

It wasn’t working. I decided to try piercing at the shell using a butter knife, mainly because a butter knife is thicker and the blade and knife was a whole and not two separate parts, hence less likelihood of an accident. Obviously, it didn’t even make a dent in the shell.

Next, Dear2 suggested using a corkscrew. Ok, I thought. We try it but to no avail. The shell was way too hard for the pointed corkscrew to penetrate.

Then, I went back to the kitchen knife and tried using the point tip to drill a hole in the shell, just enough to insert a straw. It went pretty well. I dug several millimetres into the shell and suddenly, Snap! The knife tip broke and embedded itself in the shell. Oh no.

Meanwhile, Dear2 had begun searching on Youtube for tutorial videos on opening coconuts. She showed me this one.

Wow. It looked easy in the video. And the knife looked sharp. Our kitchen knife surely wasn’t that sharp, but we should try that sideways chopping technique. Maybe that’s the reason why coconuts sold at supermarkets were pre-sliced into such a cylindrical shape. So that we can lay the coconut sideways and chop just like in the video.

I picked up the kitchen knife and went back to the chopping boards. Placing the coconut sideways, I started chopping, mimicking the video. I knew my knife wasn’t as sharp, so I started rotating the coconut to create a weakened rim around the top of the shell where I want the opening to be.

The rim was completed. I peeled away the excess husk and focused my efforts on a particular side of the coconut. I maintained chopping repeatedly at the same spot. After around 20 chops, the knife blade went through. The first opening was made. I checked but it wasn’t enough, yet.

I rotated the coconut slightly and repeated the procedure. It was much easier now that an opening was already made. It was a matter of extending the gap while not losing too much coconut juice. A few more pries and the shell cap came off with a firm tug.

A success! Hooray!

Youtube saved the day. I learnt a new skill. Dear2 had fresh coconut juice. And we created another piece of fond memory in our home. :)

-Dear1

Our Dreams

Everytime I pass by my COO’s office window, the sea view outside, light rays glistening, big and small boats lazily dotting the crystal blue waters, reminds me again of Dear1’s dream.

Dear1 has a dream, that is to own a yacht.  So he has been keeping track of yacht prices, and tells me bits and nuggets about yachting every now and then.  But at a minimum of $100,000, and dunno how much $ on parking, club membership, maintenance etc etc expenses, owning a yacht is deemed to be a far away dream for me. “If I can’t buy it now, then I’d better not look at it, least I fall in love with it.” That’s generally my shopping style.

But I tell Dear1, look, I actually am still mindful of your dream, because I get reminded of it every day.  I too am a sea lover, it’s sereneness, it’s openness.  Ermm, and actually, I too used to fantasize living in one when I was younger (too many runaways in Hong Kong movies lah).  But at our current stage, that extra $XXX,xxx is just not feasible.  But, let’s keep this dream alive, cos it’s with dreams that you have something to work towards to, and something to look forward to.

I know, it may be many many years before we can reach our goal, or maybe never, or maybe it’ll really be when we are retired and too old to physically enjoy cruising anymore.  But at least we are 1 step nearer now.  We’ve paid off our house, so we are 1 step closer to getting our second property. 1 step nearer means that we are 1 tiny step to reaching our yacht too.  1 step.  Yes, just 1 tiny step, but at least it’s still 1 step nearer.

Main thing is, don’t lose this dream, cos it’s something that you and I have in common, a common dream to pursue.  Yes, this is our dream, not just solely your dream anymore, but our dream.

– Dear2

My Review of the Philips Airfryer

“1 teaspoon of oil is all it takes to fry your French fries!”  Cool, so healthy!  As we all know, you need lots of oil to fry your fries.  Believe me, I’ve ever tried to fry French fries using a shallow pan with little oil and it took so mighty long time for the fries to be ready, so when Bryan Wong came out with this innovation, I thought it’s the coolest and healthiest kitchen appliance ever.  I even told Dear1 to get me this as the coming Christmas or birthday present! ($300+ present is considered a big present for me)

So when we went grocery shopping at NTUC Extra one Sunday morning and saw it on promotion price of $299 (with free chopping board set), it was without hesitation.

First we tried the homemade fries.  Surprisingly, though not very nice visually with the thin edges slightly charred to a light brown, Dear1 was with all praises for it.  Is it because of the waxy potato used, the 30min soak in water, just that 1 teaspoon of oil coated on the fries, or simply because of the Airfryer’s mechanism?  Regardless, this homemade fries is yummy, more more!

Next we experimented with chicken wings, and they were oiishii too.

The following week, we did the same, and cooked a couple frozen nuggets too.  With 2 weeks’ of experience, here’s my verdict: I can actually do without this Airfryer since we already have an oven, but since I’ve already bought it, I’ll just have to cook more with it.

Here’s why:

1. Airfryer does not actually fry; it works more like an oven than a fryer.  You can’t really fry prawns or fish in batter like you do in deep oil drying, cos the batter will just drip or stick (real nasty) to the basket. So it’s only for ‘dry’ foods and you coat with a layer oil to ‘fry’.
2. With (1) above, so it’s actually more like baking since I bake nuggets and chicken wings and fries in my oven.  No muffins and baked rice using the Airfryer.
3. No muffins baked rice is fine, at least the foods from the Airfryer are really juicy.  And the cook time is real fast.  20 mins is all it takes to make fries that is soft on the inside, not like my oven that take ages to cook my wedges, and they are not even soft.
4. I’ve only tried using 1/2 of the volumn of the pan, and the Dear1 and I were already fighting over the fries.  I wonder will the food cook thoroughly if I fill it up, cos, the volume is really small.  When people tell you this appliance is meant for small families, they really do mean it.
5. Did they also praise that your house don’t smell of oil anymore with the Airfryer.  Of course, if you compare Airfryer with traditional deep frying.  But for me, my house now actually does smell of oil after using the Airfryer, cos without the Airfryer, we have not done any deep frying before, ever!
6. And oh, the washing.  Dear1 has kindly offered to do the washing up everytime.  But again, before, we actually do not have any washing to do when we use the oven for nuggets.  It was use a new piece of aluminium foil for every cook and throw.  But now, even if I line the bottom pan with foil to catch the oil drips, the basket mesh still needs washing up everytime.  Lining this with foil will defeat the whole point of circulation isn’t it.
7. And the floor.  Just 2 time’s of use and we had to mop the kitchen floor. Again, before, I never had oily floor with my oven.  And even when I do cooking on the stove, the cardboard paper placed at the stove area can effectively catch all that oil splatter.  But now….
8. Next headache is – what to cook?  Lazy me only wants to do simple foods – foods that can be prepared using 1 appliance so that washing of pots is minimized.  I see people coming up with creative recipes of dishes, but sorry, can I not have to boil that potato first before making the potato ball, or can I not have to stir my airfried bacon into another pan of scrambled egg?   Minimize minimize….
9. Last but not least, eat while your food is hot.  Really!  The fries turned absolutely limp when it was totally cold. Many reviews with other ‘fried foods’ also commented that you just lose that crunch altogether when the food is no longer warm.

Perhaps my views are very biased with just 2 times of usage.  Like I say, since I’ve already bought it, I’ll try to use it more often.  My dark soya sauce chicken wings are delicious, can’t wait to make it again this weekend. But if you ask me, will I recommend it, I’ll probably say no, especially if you already have an oven at home. Unless you are really a hardcore homemade fries fan, or likes to experiment with cooking (for small families only, ie just yourself and your better half), or prefers your frozen nuggets more crunchy then dry.

– Dear2

Bedtime Stories

Getting Baby1 to sleep is never an easy task. We went through several different phases of “bedtime stories” as a means of getting her to bed each night. And many times, these were not even stories at all.

When Baby1 was very young, less than 1 year old, when she was still being breastfed, latching on was a sure way to get her to sleep. Each night, Dear2 would latch Baby1 for her night feed and Baby1 will fall asleep midway. Dear2 will then carry Baby1 to her bed and that’s that.

Then came a phase where Baby1 demands to sleep on our bed, between the two of us. When she was surrounded left and right by us, she would fall asleep. We don’t really have to do anything, we just needed to be present.

Some time around 18 months old, Baby1 demanded that I massage her to sleep. She was able to speak a few words then and one of them was “Press” or “Massage”. And then she would close her fingers around her scalp a few times to indicate a head massage. Then raise up both her legs for legs and feet massage. Each time, I would have to massage her for about 30 minutes for her to doze off.

Then it was the snoring. Somehow, we discovered that Baby1 finds my snoring soothing and hypnotic and would fall asleep soon after I fell asleep first and started snoring. The conflict was that Dear2 don’t feel the same way as Baby1. Poor Dear2. This method still works today, although snoring is no longer the premise to sleep for Baby1.

Some time after we bought our iPad, it became Baby1’s favourite bedtime story. We had to hold up the iPad while lying down for Baby1 to watch. She enjoyed his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny videos on Youtube. At first, she would insist on watching until she dozed off. Luckily, later we were able to teach her to restrict herself to about 10 minutes of bedtime video then reverting to hearing daddy’s snoring.

Most recently, Baby1 has taken to a bedtime puppet story telling show performed by one of her favourite stuff toy, Small Bear Bear, on a pillow stage. After the “show”, Small Bear Bear will retired to bed and so will Baby1, helped by a little ankle and calf massage by Dear2.

The current routine is good. Her bedtime is about 9.30-10pm. Baby1 knows that the sky is dark. And she knows that it’s time to sleep when the story ends. And when Baby1 sleeps well, so do we.

-Dear1

(p.s. Let me share the script of the show here.)

The three little pigs

Once upon a time, there lived three little pigs with their mother pig in a cottage in the middle of the forest.

One day, mother pig told her three little pigs, “You three pigs have got quite big, it’s time you build houses of your own.”

The first little pig built a house out of straw. It was a great, big house, with a window and a door.

The second little pig built a house out of wood. It was a grand house, with a balcony too.

The third little pig used bricks in clever ways. He built a house out of bricks, with a chimney too.

Along came a big bad Small Bear Bear. He knocked on the door of the house made of straw, and shouted, “Let me in! Let me in!”

“No! Not on the hair of my chin-y chin chin!”, said the first little pig.

“Then I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house down!”, said the big bad Small Bear Bear. And that’s exactly what he did. The big bad Small Bear Bear huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the straw house down.

The first little pig was terrified, and he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him, to the house made of wood, where the second little pig lived.

Along came the big bad Small Bear Bear. He knocked on the door of the house made of wood, and shouted, “Let me in! Let me in!”

“No! Not on the hairs of our chin-y chin chins!”, said the two little pigs together.

“Then I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house down!”, said the big bad Small Bear Bear. And that’s exactly what he did. The big bad Small Bear Bear huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the wooden house down.

The two little pigs were terrified, and they ran as fast as their little legs would carry them, to the house made of bricks, where the third little pig lived.

Along came the big bad Small Bear Bear. He knocked on the door of the house made of bricks, and shouted, “Let me in! Let me in!”

“No! Not on the hairs of our chin-y chin chins!”, said the three little pigs together.

“Then I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house down!”, said the big bad Small Bear Bear. And that’s exactly what he did. The big bad Small Bear Bear huffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and he puffed, but he could not blow the brick house down.

The big bad Small Bear Bear had another idea. He would climb up the roof, and down the chimney. And that’s exactly what he did.

The three little pigs were prepared. They had a big pot of boiling water at the bottom of the chimney, waiting for the big bad Small Bear Bear to arrive. And when the big bad Small Bear Bear fell into the pot of boiling water, he shouted, “Aww! My toes are burning!”.

The big bad Small Bear Bear jumped out of the pot of boiling water, and ran as fast as he could back into the forest. The three little pigs never saw the big bad Small Bear Bear again.

And they lived happily ever after.

The end.