If you're not using Gmail's Label, you're missing out !!!  With gmail, though it doesn't have a folder creation, you can use LABEL to act like a folder to file all your emails.   File/folder is the easiest way to sort and organize your emails, so that important ones doesn't get overlooked !  Once you created a label, you can then use filter to automatically send email containing certain key word(s) or from a specific email to their designated folder.  Here's how to do it.

1.  Log into your gmail account
2.  Locate the wheel-like looking icon, click to open up a drop down menu

3.  Select and click 'Settings'

 

4.  A new screen will open, locate the Labels tab and click on it

5.  Under the label tab menu, near the bottom left, click on 'Create new label'

 

6.  A pop up form will show up, give your label a name (think of label as your folder's name). 

 

* You can even nest a label under a label (like a folder inside another folder).  If you want to nest it, first you have to create the main label, when that's done, then create the label you want to nest under that main label.

 

 

7.  Now that you created the label, you need to create filter to tell the system to automatically file emails for you.  Click on the Filters tab at the very top.

 

 

8.  At the bottom right of the screen, locate and click on 'Create a new filter'

9.  A pop up window will come up.  Here you will fill in all the info. you want the system to check when an email arrived at your inbox.

 

>From:  put in any email that you want the system to group together in a folder.

>To:  fill this section if you have a specific email address that you want the system to look for.

>Subject:  certain word in the subject line

>Has the words:  here you can put in any word you want to check for (ie. invoice, payment, mom, etc)

>Doesn't have:  words the email doesn't contain

>Has attachment:  email containing a file or not

***You don't have to fill it all out.  Like the pic. I posted, I only fill out the From textbox. 

10.  Once you're done with this form, click on 'Create filter with this search >>'

11.  Ignore any pop up message that said something about changes has not been saved.  Click OK to discard the changes.

12.  Another pop up window will open up, this is where you tell the system what to do with the emails when they matched your filter criteria.

Choose Skip the Inbox if you want the email to go directly to the folder.  If you want to manually file it then don't check this box.

Mart as read & Star it (a yellow star picture next to the email) is pretty self explanatory !

You should check the Apply the label: box, then click on Choose label... to select the label you just created.  This will make the system add the label name to all your incoming emails that matched the filter criteria you set up. 

Then you can Forward the email, Delete or Never send it Spam

While you're filling this out , the system is doing a scan in the background to see if any OLD emails in your inbox matches the filter you created.  If any email (conversations) matched, it will display the # of matching conversation (mine has 0 matching conversations).  If you want to apply the label to old email, then remember to check the Also apply filter to # matching conversations.

13.  Click on Create filter to complete it.

As you can see on the picture below, your "label" will show up under your Inbox.  I opened all my new email so I can't screen capture one to show you.  But say, if there's any new email, the label name will appear bold with the total # of new email it contained.  For example: hosting (3) < means there're 3 new emails in the hosting folder.

Hope this is easy to follow !  Once you created one you'll get the hang of it and will see how easy it is.  I shortened my list in the image above, but in reality, I have over 20 labels (folders ;-)   These helped me greatly in organizing important emails that I need to check right away over ones that can wait.  If you have any question shoot me an email or leave me a comment !  Happy labelling !

 

 

Imaginary games are fun for both Honeybee and I !  It helps us break up the humdrums, routines of the day.  Bee is not too crazy about cartoons.  If we were to turn on the TV, she'ld plug in for maybe 1/2 of an hour and then would scream "play mommy ! go make tea !".  Playing pretend games get our brain cells going !  It challenges both Bee and I to be creative, to come up with new ideas.  I must say, as an adult, I found my imagination wheel a bit "rusty"!  But the more we role play, the more I tap into my creative side.  So if you find yourself like me, feel like your imagination well is almost dried out, the only way to tackle it is To Do It !  Play !  Practice role playing with you kids.  Listen to them, take their cues and go on from there.

By observation, I noticed kids loves to play house !!!  The kitchen is the most popular station at Bee's Strong Start (a school run program for kids under 5).   Every kids wants to be the chef or the cook, or the one who serves tea.  No one wants to take order or wait on table !!!  They sometime would argue over who does what, for what feels like eternity, and then play time is over !  Nothing was solved and it's time to clean up.  Funny bunch they are ! 

Bee loves her wooden play kitchen.  Needless to say, she too likes to be the chef.  It's one of our favorite pretend games.  She cooks up all types of food and most always serve tea with her meal.  Bee recently has expanded her kitchen into a restaurant and added a cash register.  Now the play room is a restaurant with a supermarket, where the food I bought will be cooked by the amazing chef Bee.  Lovebug and I are her faithful patrons.  There's rarely an ordinary dish ever leaves this kitchen.  Every dish is a surprise.  Ever had puppy milk tea ?  or waffle bell chime soup ?  my point exact !

The wood kitchen we bought for Bee is made by Little Tikes.  There's no battery generated sound, so Bee has to make up her own "beep beep" when pressing on the microwave.  Which is fine because it's all about pretend play right ?  She's quite attach to her cash register machine at the moment.  It is made by Just Like Home.  Bee loves the "ding" sound the cash till drawer produced !  I like that the screen on the register is solar powered (like a calculator).  It's great for learning number. 

Today we didn't play kitchen.  Honeybee wanted to be a doctor (another one of her favorite game).  I thought Lovebug neck is quite sturdy and strong enough for Bee to play check up with her.  After listening to Lovebug's head, giving her a shot and vitamin, Bee gave her a thumbs up for excellent health.  I'm glad to hear that report.  After playing doctor, we went and watch the ants in the yard, making up stories on where they're coming from and where they're heading !  It was a productive day completed with a 3 hour nap in between play.

Mister sun has been showing his face more often on this side of town lately.  I like I like !!  It's quite nice seeing him peaking up above the trees every morning.  We've been getting 20+ degree celcius this whole week so far.  For some, this may not be warm for you, but it's considered warm or even hot for us Vancouverites :-)  When the weather gets this hot, all I can think about is ice cold drinks and desserts !  As one who has a sweet tooth, Che Thai and Vietnamese Che Ba Mau (tri-color or three color) desserts always top my list of good summer treats !  The Vietnamese dessert requires more cooking time to make but the Che Thai one is super easy.  Whenever I make this for a party or gathering, within 15 min., the bowl went from full to empty.  It's always a hit. 

What it tastes like ?  tropical & fruity !  with lots of texture and flavors.  Crunchy, chewy, and soft. 

Wonder why it's called Che Thai ?  "Che" means sweet soup in Vietnamese and "Thai" means Thailand !  It's a Vietnamese altered version of the Thai's dessert called Tub Tim Grob (rubies in coconut milk).  I much preferred the Vietnamese version :-) because with each spoon, there's a mixture of different kind of fruits and chewy tidbits to feast upon !  OK, enough writing, here's the recipe !

Che Thai Dessert
 Very little or no cooking is required (it all depends on what you want to put in it)

Here are some of the brands I used to make Che Thai

NO COOK VERSION:

Ingredients:
- 1/4 jar of sport strings coconut meat
- 1 tub of nat de coco jelly in syrup (I don't usually keep the syrup)
- 1 can of jackfruit, drained, julienne (slice length wise)
- 1 can of longan, drained
- 1 can of toddy palm seed, drained, cut into small thin rings
- 1 can of lychee, drained
- 1 litre carton of half and half (half light cream and half milk) OR homo milk (I much prefer homo milk)
- Sugar for taste.  (I prefer organic cane sugar as the sweetness is mild and it blends in well with all flavours.)

* feel free to omit or add more of the same fruit as you like
* add more or less milk as per your preference

In a large glass punch bowl, combine all the fruits together.  Refrigerate until cold.  When ready to serve, add the homo milk OR half and half to the mixture.  Stir and serve.

OPTIONAL:  You can also add in coconut milk if you want a more rich flavour.  For a low fat version, substitute the half & half /homo milk with 2% milk.

(see Cook Version below)

Quickly made this with what I have in my cupboard, no longan or lychee or toddy palm seed !  but still tasty good !

COOK VERSION:

Ingredients:

IN ADDITION to the ingredients listed under NO COOK VERSION, you will need:
- 1 can of whole chestnut, drained
- 1 package of Six Fortune dried agar agar strips (use only 1/3of the amount) IF use other brand or the powdered type, follow instructions on the package.
- Organic cane sugar
- Tapioca flour
- Edible food coloring (red or any color you like)
- Green Pandan leaves extract (you can buy it from most Vietnamese grocery, T&T doesn't have it)

*You can also use black grass jelly.  IF using that, you can cut into cubes or strings and put into a bowl as side topping, don't mix the bowl !  It will make everything go black if you stir it in with all the fixings :-)

Green Pandan Agar Agar Jellies: 

- Removes strips out of bag and divide into 3 parts
- Take 1 part of the strips and wash under water 
- In a pot, put in 2 cups of water, add the washed strips and bring to boil. 
- When the strips are all melted and water is clear, add 3 drops of green pandan leaves extract, 2 tablespoon of organic sugar.  Stir until sugar dissolved. 
- Pour mixture into a bowl and let it sit in room temperature for 15 min. to cool down.  Then put the bowl into refrigerator to chill and set (about 30 min.).
- When ready to serve, take agar out, dice or julienne the set agar jelly to your liking.

Red Chestnut Rubies: 

Before preparing the chestnuts
- Prepare a bowl with 4 cups of cold water and ice cubes, set aside
- Boil a pot of about 3 inches of water

- Dice whole chestnuts into small pieces, about half the size of a pomegranate seed. 
(I usually slice one chestnut into 5 slices, then slice the smallest 2 slices into 3 pieces, the next size up into 4 then the middle slice into 5 :-) a little more work but it satisfied the OCD in me !
- Put all the chestnut pieces into a bowl and add about 4 drops of red food coloring
- Stir around until all the pieces are red
- Transfer the chestnuts into a metal strainer
- Pour in 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour.  Shake the strainer around to ensure even coating (use your hand to break apart any pieces that stuck together).
- Pour in another 2 or 3 table spoons of tapioca flour.  Shake the strainer around for the flour to coat the chestnuts.  Each piece should be fully covered in tapioca.

In the pot of boiling water:

- Slowly SPRINKLE the coated chestnut pieces into the hot water.  Don't pour a bunch in at once as it will clump the chestnuts.
- When cooked, the each pieces of chestnuts will float up to the top
- Scoop the cooked chestnuts with a slotted spoon then put them immediately into the bowl of iced cold water
- Once all the chestnuts are in the ice cold water bowl, drain water out and leave just enough to cover the chestnuts.
- Put the bowl into the fridge until ready for serve

SERVING:

In a large glass punch bowl, combine all the fruits together with the diced/julienne green agar agar jellies and red chestnut rubies.  When ready to serve, add the homo milk OR half and half to the mixture.  Add organic cane sugar to desired sweetness.  Stir and serve.

OPTIONAL:  You can also add in coconut milk if you want a more rich flavour.  For a low fat version, substitute the half & half /homo milk with 1% or 2% milk.

Thought of the day:  Many many moons ago, back in Vietnam, one day our family found ourselves running out of food.  Anything that can be sold was sold already; sugar, fabric, clothes.  There was nothing left for us to sell.  All my mom can do was to pray for a miracle.  Outside that day the sky was pouring rain.  My mom put on her jacket to go out and when she put her hand in one of the pocket, she found there were money in there.  Money that would buy us a whole month of food.  Her and I remember that day very well.  The Lord provide and take care of those who put their trust in Him.

Went to a BBQ at my bestie's house and she made this amazing salad ! I ate a few servings, and could have continued, but I told myself to stop, to keep my taste bud under control :-) there are others who are coming and I have to save some of this goodness for them.

As one who loves to eat, of course I asked for the recipe.  And as any good person would, my friend shared her recipe with me :-P  her comment "its super easy" made this salad all the more appealing to me !  I like anything good that's easy to make.  Who doesn't ?

While planning out dinner for today, baked trout and prawn skewers, I needed a salad and naturally I thought of this !!! It took me about 15 min. to put them all together (SSScccore !!!) and boy, does it taste yummy in my tummy !

Here's how to make it:

- 2 cups of thawed frozen corn, cook for in boiled water for 3 min, drained (if use canned, no need to cook)
- 1 can of kidney bean (or if you have dried bean, soak over night and cook til soft (1 cup))
- 1 green english cucumber, cut cross wise, remove seeds from both halves, then cut into small cubes
- 1 red pepper (or orange or yellow), diced
- 1 avocado, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 of white onion, diced
- a handful of chopped cilantro

Seasoning:

- 1 lime (zest the skin and juice the lime)
- 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt and pepper to taste

* these are the estimated measurements I used, but you can add more of what you like, less of other or opt out completely !

Direction:

Mix the lime juice, olive oil, a bit of sea salt and pepper and the lime zest together.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together then pour in the seasoning. Lightly mix together (don't over mix because it can break the avocado).  Test taste and add more lime juice, salt and pepper to your liking.  Refrigerate until serving.  

 

 

 

 

A friend of ours tried to take a family picture for us and it proved to be, not only time consuming (many views & retakes), but also impossible to achieved !!!  Thank God for digital camera or else we would be wasting lots of film !  We will try again once our baby is a little older.  I realized I have a lot of photos of my babies but only a handful of all of us.  Hopefully we can rectify that this year :)

 

The pictures were over exposed so I ran them under DBox's photoshop instagram action's "Nashville" filter.  It's a bit yellow to my taste but it has more to do with my orig. picture than the filter. 

I've always love love daybed.  I always wanted one but when I was young, we couldn't afford one (there was no craigslist back then :-) .   When I got married and moved out, there were no room in our condo.  Now that we have a house with a small family room, I'm really hoping to put a daybed in there !!!  Thing is, when I think of daybed, I think of a place of solitude !  a place for me to have some me-time, where I can rest, pick up a book and read, watch Korean drama on my ipad, sip on limenade and daydream.  Putting a daybed in our family room - a loud and busy place - some how defeat the whole purpose of it.  I will have to do some thinking and planning on where I can put it. 

Meanwhile, here are some beautiful photos of daybed for you to feast your eyes on and get decorating ideas from.  Most are from Pottery Barn and some from Ikea, for those who are on a budget like me !  Talk about budgeting, hubby and I are thinking of taking up wood working as a hobby (for us to spend more time together) !  I shall try to persuade him to give up our table project and instead, make a daybed similar to Pottery Barn Stratton bed with the basket space on the bottom.

I absolutely adore this Pottery Barn daybed style.  The baskets on the bottom add an element of charm to the overall look of the bed. 

If you have covered outdoor space or porch, or sun room, check these out:

Got small attic space ?  look at this ?

These are the Hemnes daybed from Ikea.  At $399, they aren't too shabby !

I wanted to get the Ikea daybed for my daughter but after second thought, I decided against it.  It's a bit high for her and I can't find side guard for it (don't want her to roll over and fall off).  If you have older kids, esp. if they are girl, daybed are wonderful to have & decorate !!!  It's perfect for reading time, napping, sleeping, and cuddling.

Once my second daughter outgrow her crib, I'm planning to convert it into a small daybed !

My daughter loves apple.  Me on the other hand, don't care for it !  While preparing her apple the other day, cutting all the skin off it, I remember reading somewhere that the skin  has the most nutrients.  But I also remember the skin has a lot of wax & it doesn't taste very good !  hence I always peel the skin off.  I used to use a natural fruits wash but I'm skeptical about the ingredients in it so I stopped.  Any who, I decided to google on how to clean the wax off apple and after reading a whole bunch of tips and suggestions, I play around and found one that works for me.  Here it is:

- Rinse each apple under running water, put aside
- Fill a container with water, enough to cover the apples
- Put in 2 table spoon of baking soda & squeeze in 1/2 of a lemon, swirl around to mix (I would say to use this amount for every 4 cups of water)
- Put the apples into the mixture, let it sit in there for a few minutes
- Scrub each apple with your hand (or use the squeezed lemon peel as a scrubber and rub it all over each apple with the mixture)
- Rinse the apples again to clean the baking soda mixture off them

* IF you don't have baking soda or lemon on hand, use apple cider or white vinegar to wipe clean it.  Rinse clean after.

What I noticed after cleaning the apples is that the water gets a bit sandy in color !  which is telling me that the wax or whatever is coating the apples are falling out.  You will also noticed that the apples are now not as shiny was before (which is a good thing :-)

After cleaning the apples, before I can cut them up, Honeybee got hold of one and starts chopping down on it !  the apple was so big she only finished half of it and gave the rest to me.  I took a bite and immediately noticed the different.  The skin is not bitter at all !  It was so tasty.  I shall try to enjoy one of this red fruit a day with my baby girl ! 

So, why do they wax apple ?  the shiny coating (wax) on the apple are for aesthetic (to look good) and preservation.  It looks like this is done on both organic and non organic.  If you buy organic apple from local farmers market, I don't think they coat them.  If unsure, just ask them.

If you're interested in reading more about this wax business, check out this site (there are many sites talk about this but this one seems to be straight forward, informative).

Wax Coating Apple > healthy or unhealthy
http://www.arimifoods.com/wax-coating-apple-fruits-healthy-or-unhealthy/

Here's an excerpt from it:

Ways to know if apple is coated with wax:

Normally if you pick an apple from a tree and rub it with your hands, it leaves whitish kind of powder on your palms. This is the natural wax on the surface. Similarly waxed apples if scratched slightly it is possible to notice a very thin layer peeling off. Most likely this is added wax.

If an apple fruit looks very glossy and shiny it should be a suspect.

Ways to minimise likely-hood of buying waxed apples:

The natural waxes applied on apples are not known to have any negative effect on health. However, for some personal reasons you may feel it is good to eat unwaxed apples. I would suggest simple ways to reduce the chances of buying waxed apples.

1. Grow your own (and after harvesting do not wax them).
2. Buy apple fruits from markets in locality where apples are grown. There are high chances that the farmers have not waxed their fruits after harvesting.
3. Buy the dull apples. However, this is not a guarantee that they are not waxed.

4. Check the label and buy un-waxed apples.


Thought of the day:  Jesus remains the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow.  He is forever faithful.  I take comfort in knowing that.