This whole week is all about Chinese New Year and family connections. Throughout the week, we had many wonderful conversations, chatting with relatives through phone and social media. One of [...]
Sharing your childhood dishes with your children is one of the many ways to build better relationships with them As parents, especially migrant parents, one of the many challenges is [...]
Your Traditions and Your Values – sharing cultures February 16th 2018 is Chinese New Year; it is also known as the spring festival or lunar new year. It goes for [...]
The benefits of hand written letters or cards I love receiving physical cards and letters, especially from friends and relatives living all over the world. Don't you? However nowadays, with [...]
The most effective way to inspire and influence your children How do you impart your knowledge to or inspire your children? How do you instill values on to your children? [...]
Mixed vegetable omelette What to pack for school lunches...? This may be one of the many creative challenges parents will be figuring out every school day. When my children were [...]
Chicken fried rice using leftover soy sauce chicken I was brought up with the philosophy of "no wastage" of food: finish not only everything on my plate, but never throw [...]
Source: Body and Soul section of The Advertiser newspaper, 21 Jan 2018 Enlarged article: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/tokpanjang/Images/kidsinkitchen.jpg My editor just sent me this article to highlight and enforce the messages I am sharing [...]
Journaling - place where you may have the answers to all the questions you need answering This is a very personal post - it is about my own journey of [...]
Home cooked ramen in under 30 minutes Have you heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? I grew up with sumptuous, healthy and hot breakfast almost [...]
I know Halloween is not as popular in Australia as other countries;however, I used to take my children and their friends for “treat or tricking” in our neighbourhood when they [...]
As some of you may know, Malaysia had its election yesterday, 5th of May, 2013. On my Facebook timeline, it was all about the election. Later today, I should be able [...]
Why are values important? Values are your beliefs and philosophies in life—things that are important to you. Your values determine your priorities in life, your interactions with people, and how your conduct yourself. . [...]
Yesterday when I was having breakfast with my family in Chinatown, next to our table was an elderly couple enjoying their breakfast. While waiting for our order, I was unintentionally [...]
A few weeks ago I had a chat with a friend who just had a confrontation with her daughter that morning. She said her teenage daughter was really angry and [...]
Partnerships are special. I previously wrote about making a date with your spouse. The subject for this week: the importance of re-connecting with your spouse. Simple steps mean we can re-connect. In [...]
The challenges of high school What happens when you children moves from primary to secondary school? How would they feel? How do they adjust? During the transition, it is a [...]
love, relationship, family and people, Happy couple raise up hands with hat traveling in summer garden “Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our [...]
A few nights ago, I had dinner with relatives who had just flown in from Malaysia, and I casually asked what the wife normally cooks for dinner (I just [...]
I have written about making time and creating opportunities to connect as a couple, and don’t forget to have fun together. I believe that in every relationship you need to put in some [...]
It is not just a box of takeaway noodles - it is about what it represents! What's so special about this box of takeaway noodles? From the first look - [...]
Lay Ean and Dr. Dana Skopal - Editor for Tok Panjang Just had a wonderful lunch with my editor, Dr. Dana Skopal. For those of you who have not met [...]
Last weekend was my daughter's birthday. So how do we celebrate birthdays in Australia? Do I still follow the ritual from my childhood? It is not possible to do everything [...]
Do you really know what your life would be like in 5, 10 or 20 years? We can plan, wish and hope, and envision what it would be like, but [...]
Happy New Year!! It is the start of a new year and I would like to wish all of you good health and may the new year bring happiness, health [...]
Yesterday, I decided to put all my work aside and dug out several boxes from the study cupboard. Those boxes had been in the cupboard for as long as I [...]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and family. Christmas time is a time to re-connect with your family and friends, re-evaluate your priorities and make time for [...]
Simple ways to connect to your community Even though I have left home more than 30 years ago, I still miss all my family and friends in Malaysia. This is [...]
Festive times are a time to share, give and reconnect with the family. As I was doing my weekly grocery shopping and met a few friends along the way, we [...]
When I moved to Sydney from Melbourne some 22 years ago, the local library in Chatswood was running a wonderful program to help migrants learn conversational English. I thought it [...]
Festive seasons are great opportunities for connections and to introduce your culture to your family It is few more weeks to Christmas, and I hear people dreading this time of [...]
It is only a few more days until Christmas. Have you organised your greeting cards? What about your gifts? Your presents? Your treats? Your guests? Family gatherings and hosting people? [...]
Nasi Lemak Day 4 and last day of the Nonya Cuisine Made Easy; we are looking at nasi lemak and its accompaniments. This is a very easy to prepare dish [...]
Authentic Nonya Curries in under 30 minutes I can't speak for everyone, but if you are serving more than 10 people, I would normally prepare my dishes prior (or at [...]
Otak otak in baking dish Ok - this is one dish that I have been experimenting with the most - and I think it is one of the most successful [...]
Mee Siam Will you be hosting the family this coming festive season? Have you thought of what to serve your guests? Would you like some ideas on quick and easy [...]
This pyrex dish can go from bench top, to steamer, to table and back to a refrigerator with the convenience of a lid As Malaysians will know, we are a [...]
Bridge cultural and generational gaps in your kitchen I really would like to encourage you to treat your kitchen like a secret place for you to escape to. The kitchen [...]
Invest in equipment that saves time and makes life easier! I remembered having a conversation with a friend a few years ago about how she placed all her T shirts [...]
Make cooking a joyful and fun experiences Sometimes we rely on things that we forgot how useful they are until they broke down, i.e. a dishwasher. You see, my dishwasher [...]
The steamer my grandmother got for me from Melbourne I know this is not the most impressive looking cookware...; however, this steamer has been with me for many years. I [...]
Every child is unique! Many many years ago before I had kids, I always thought that children's characters were "molded" and "shaped" according to our family values and environment. I [...]
Butterfly Pea Flower (Bunga Telang) I am truely excited to come across the butterfly pea flower and the powder in Australia. I have added it to my collection of ingredients [...]
I attending a function on Saturday, meeting up with many fellow Malaysians for a nice Malaysian meal - Sarawak style. I am not familiar with the Sarawak style dishes, so [...]
From today, 25th November until midnight Monday 27th November, 2017 Thanksgiving is a time of joy, a time to celebrate with family and friends, and a time to be thankful. [...]
Guide and share your culture with your grandchildren from your kitchen! I was at a tea shop talking with the manager about various teas... and somehow our topic of conversation [...]
Daun Kaduk / Wild Betel Nut Leaf I am not writing a recipe today, just introducing a simple colouring page for the kids - introducing our Asian herbs. So today's colouring-in is [...]
It is not about quantity, but quality, and make every meet-up counts! My uncle and aunty from Canada are spending some time in Penang right now, and this is the [...]
Time consuming when you have to prepare them from scratch I am all for fun and efficiency in the kitchen, so when it comes to certain must-have ingredients in the Asian [...]
Simple easy nonya assam prawn This is a classic Malaysian/Nonya dish that is sour and spicy, and it can satisfy your taste buds as well as your stomach. Assam means [...]
Start reconnecting to your childhood dishes with readymade ingredients! One of the many things migrants miss most is the food they grew up with. Are you one of them? I [...]
be daring....be innovative...be expressive! On the weekend I had the pleasure of demonstrating the making of otak otak for the Peranakan Association of NSW, with a group of amazing cuisine [...]
Kaim Chye Boay - a melting pot of delicious leftovers!!!!! This is an amazing dish to make using your leftovers! "Kiam chye" - is salted vege and "boey" is leftover. [...]
The health benefits of herbs and spices and how they were incorporated in our traditional dishes by our ancestors. Last week my aunt sent me a link from Penang's newspaper, [...]
Someone gave me some calamansi, and straight away it reminded me of sambal belachan. Sambal belachan - this is a must have Malaysian condiment with most of our dishes and [...]
Nonya cuisine made simple! I want to bring back the nonya cuisine to the Peranakan community; however, I want to do it in a way that is conducive to the [...]
Photo: Nonyaware from my grandmother's collections On Saturday 16th September 2017, I had the honour of being invited to be the MC for the Peranakan Association Australia NSW's 6th Annual [...]
Lay Ean Eng, MC PAA NSW Annual Dinner - wearing my grandmother's baju kebaya Photo courtesy: Peranakan Association Australia NSW Do you believe things happen for a reason? Allow me [...]
What is the story behind your favourite dish? Have you been watching Masterchef? I seldom watch any reality shows, but I quite enjoy Master Chef and have been watching it [...]
French toast mee koo The best gifts that you can give anyone will be the gifts that come from your heart, don't you agree? For example, home-cooked dishes, handmade soaps, chilli [...]
I am going to try this dish - Samabal Udang Petai - which is also sambal prawn with petai. (Refer to the post on how to make sambal prawns with [...]
Have you experienced chit-chatting with friends, and somehow the conversation ended up about your favourite childhood dishes/games. And you get very excited about it? I was having lunch with a [...]
Sometimes a simple dish or a drink can spark beautiful and wonderful memories. And this A & W root beer with ice cream sure brought back fond wonderful childhood memories. [...]
Your currency of connections - your relationships with your family This is one of the most precious drawings that my daughter did. I can not recall when she drew this, [...]
Your kitchen - a natural classroom! My amazing editor, Dana, sent this link to me: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/childrens-literacy-study-links-hearing-words-to-reading-ability/8697138 There are two amazing articles in there, but for today, we are going to [...]
I am going to refer back to this article – http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/childrens-literacy-study-links-hearing-words-to-reading-ability/8697138 ” – Children’s literacy study links hearing words to reading ability for first time, researchers say”. (Do check it out; it is [...]
Sambal Prawn - One of many Malaysian delights Today we are going to look at preparing sambal prawn. Sambal prawn is a popular dish in Malaysia. It is a combination; [...]
Creating memories together through food While watching Master Chef, one of the contestants mentioned about connecting through food. They said that one of the many ways to connect with her [...]
What is belachan and what is it used for? "Belachan" is a shrimp paste. It is primarily made from finely crushed shrimp and mixed with salt, and then ferment for [...]
Moving to a new country, whether it is for work or by choice, involves lots of decision making, planning, research, commitment and sacrifices on all parties involved. It may be [...]
What does “I don’t like the dish” really mean? Is there a difference between “I don’t like that dish” and “the dish does not taste the same”? During our many [...]
Recently when I was back in Penang accompanying my mum with her grocery shopping, she asked me to take her to this particular store that sells readymade pastes…I was so amazed with [...]
It is about the journey … not the destination! by Albert G Imagine how a bowl of assam laksa can ripple into a 2 hour conversation… I was sharing assam [...]
Want do you normally do with leftover fish? You see, I had pan-fried salmon leftover and was wondering what I could do with it? I could shred it and make [...]
Reconnecting with your own family/tribe is important for your well-being, as you are reconnecting to your roots, your core values and your sense of self I recently had a conversation [...]
How can I encourage my children? Something I hear very often, and I have experienced this scenario myself. Why aren't children motivated? I want them to be able to do [...]
“I wish there were more hours in the day.”… “I just don’t have enough time to go to this.”… “I just need more time.”… “I just wish it was Friday [...]
In my last blog, I shared with you that “You are your children’s role model”; today, we are going to discuss about you being the guiding force for your children. When you [...]
The Benefits of Connecting With Self is you are able to find the confidence to strive for what you want in life and be the person you set out to [...]
