To Cook Like a Man

I used to cook lunch and dinner everyday after fajr, while hubby gave the three kids their morning baths before he went to campus. My days were freer that way, as I didn't have to worry about toddlers tugging my skirt while I was at the stove, or babies crying demanding to be nursed while I was sauteing onions. It was the perfect arrangements, such that I was able to workout everyday for about an hour while all three napped.

Then my 'perfect' world came to an end when I realized that they no longer wanted to take naps. I no longer had that 'me time'. When I started to formally homeschool, I would still cook in the morning, but that was when S was still of preschool age. Once all three were of school-going age, things began to change for me. I no longer find that I could cook in the morning, as the curriculum in OHVA seems to pressure you into doing so many activities, that you are left gasping for air. Last week, I discovered, very joyfully I might add, that I'm not the only one feeling this way. A fellow homeschooler (Nn) from out of town dropped by for a visit, and we talked about online charter schools.

It turned out that her experience is the same as mine. We feel the same kind of pressure, and we both feel like it's a chore. When I was at the Texas Dawah Conference, I met another homeschooler who is about to switch from traditional homeschooling to homeschooling with an online charter school. From her point of view, she thought that it would give her more time to focus on the Islamic studies, if the secular part of the curriculum is all set and prepared for her. For both Nn and me, on the other hand, we feel that the curriculum poses too much of a constraint of a 'school at home' setting than the more relaxed homeschooling.

At any rate, I am ready to switch from 'school at home' to an eclectic homeschooling, inshaallah. From what I read, most homeschoolers go through phases of trying out what's best for them, and usually they all would start with a set curriculum.

I find that cooking is the biggest deal for me, when managing my time, especially with babies around. Even with big kids, I feel somewhat guilty if they have to wait for me to finish cooking before they could eat. Now however, ever since the arrival of Baby Z, things just grew more hectic with the cooking, especially when we found out that he is allergic to a lot of stuff. Since I am breastfeeding, I was advised by a friend who has a daughter with multiple allergy, to stay off the food Baby Z is allergic to. So I am heeding her advice, so that inshaallah Baby Z's immune system will develop well enough so that he can outgrow the allergies as soon as maybe age 4/5 if not sooner. I met a lot of people who had such allergies when they were children, and they told me that they finally outgrew them at ages 4/5. So I truly hope Baby Z will also outgrow his allergies around that age or even sooner, inshallah.

The kids love Nasi Lemak, which is rice cooked in coconut milk. It's usually eaten with a spicy accompaniment we call Sambal, usually comprising of seafood like shrimps or squids, but since I couldn't eat those, I substituted the seafood with eggplants. The kids call it 'Pedas Eggplant' (spicy eggplants), and even though they sometimes come at me with,

"Why do Malaysian have to eat spicy food anyway?

and

"Why are Malaysian food so spicy?"

they do love the spicy Eggplant Sambal and the spicy Boiled-Eggs Sambal. Those two are the only sambals that they would eat heartily, without a word of complaint. I however, miss my seafood.

I used to skin my chickens before cooking them, to cut down on the bad fat, but now, I don't have the time to do so. As I hate deep frying, I have taken to broiling chicken instead. Recently, I have even taken to boiling chicken legs with spices, brushing some oil over them and then broiling them until they're brown. That's actually how the Indonesian Ayam Goreng is made, except I threw in whatever spices I fancy in the boiling water, rather than abiding by a recipe.

Seeing that Baby Z might be allergic for a few more years, I guess I'll have to 'cook like a man' and go where none has gone before, in the world of cooking, for whoever heard of Nasi Lemak with Sambal Terung(Spicy Eggplant) and Ayam Goreng(Fried Chicken)?