Mamo, the Ah Ma a.k.a Confinement Lady (and Her Cooking)

You may or may not know, Mamo was my confinement lady after delivering baby Rayden. 

The reasons I made Mamo my confinement lady were 1) we are not use to having a stranger (confinement lady) in our house, 2) I prefer Mamo's cooking and if I doesn't like it I can tell her or if I prefer certain type of food I can tell her too. But asking her to stay in KL, worst, to be confined at home for a month is kinda tough because of the fact that in Taiping she goes out every single day and enjoys her freedom hanging out with friends and running errands on a daily basis. 

You know they are in love with each other... LOL!

But she came anyway. No Astro to follow her Hokkien shows, no morning walk in lake garden (only morning walk downstairs at my condo), no driving out, no husband (Papo was here for a few days only), no friends (well she made friends here and you can't beat that), no normal I-wanna-nap-I-nap time and she cooks everyday for me, which she doesn't even do at home!

She was only a part-time confinement lady though, meaning by night baby is with Deardo and I so unlike many of you who have the privilege of a confinement lady taking care of your baby at midnight and you could have your sweet sleep, we took care of Rayden ourselves. No regret though, Deardo and I pretty much enjoyed the bonding we have built with him and Deardo is all proud about it that as a father, he has done so much during baby's first month itself. I couldn't agree more, really. Compared to many dads out there who probably take his wife's confinement month as opportunity to leave everything at home to the confinement lady and spend more time outside rather than with his newborn, my husband is in fact, 'a class above'. Ah hemm... *thick skin~*

At Rayden's Full Moon Luncheon! Ah Ma feeling heavy already to leave the little boy...

Anyway, this post isn't about Deardo lah, it's about Mamo and her grandmother-hood. I don't think Mamo regret it either. Grandmother-hood has totally changed her. In stead of being paiseh and refuses to express her true feelings, she shows how much she enjoys playing with Rayden, and told us she will miss him before she left for Taiping after that one month. She was back to KL again after just two weeks time and that's 'whoa' to a lot of people cos if it's the Mamo we know, to ask her to visit us in KL means you better just kill her. LOL.

And zooop... She is back after two weeks! Look at how much the boy has grown!

So that's the story of the Ah Ma and her grandson. As for the mother and her daughter, I am truly thankful of her taking care of me for one whole month, although she isn't a professional confinement lady and at times I had to do a lot of stuff myself. I still however, enjoy her company and am very happy the experience changes her. 

I told ya Mamo is addicted to Rayden! :p

It changes me as well. Last time I never thought much about my parent whenever you talk about migrating or working overseas cos I know at times they also hope for the best for me and that if I can earn more overseas they will be quite happy too. But now with Rayden around, I want to make sure we are in Malaysia so Ah Gong and Ah Ma (even Ye Ye and Ma Ma) can spend some time with him because the truth is they aren't getting any younger and the odds are they might not have too many years left with their grandson. Gosh talking about this always make me emo...

On a happier note, let me share with you just some of the awesome cooking Mamo has done for me during my confinement month! Only sharing those that are more interesting of course. 

The rice and dishes...

Cuz my mum can make awesome Pig Stomach Pepper Soup!

And she makes very awesome black pepper pork chops topped with fried ginger too! 

Oh, MIL contributed the turmeric base for this turmeric chicken! Very nice!!!

Mamo also makes awesome pork kidneys that is my favourite! Of course, she learned how to make the Black Vinegar Trotter from MIL and aced it I guess! Haha, I'm not a big fan of that dish la... :p Love the Papaya and Peanuts Soup too!

Highlight here is the spinach in red wine, egg and ginger. Love it!

This one with yellow wine and Goji berry!

My favourite turmeric chicken again and a small portion of Spring Onion Ginger Sliced Pork too!

My Special request - Steamed Egg with Minced Pork and Sesame Oil Chicken! Yumzzz...

I believe this was when Papo and my two sisters were around for dinner too where Mamo steamed some awesome chicken and make butter chicken rice to go with. Also in my confinement menu was the Lemongrass and Baby Onion Soup which I've fall in love with!

The noodle soup...

Mee Suah in Red Wine Soup with additional pork kidney topped with a fried egg! 

On lazy days, I'm ok with just Mee Suah in any soup of the day.

Like Pat Chan soup also we put Mee Suah and vegetables in it to make a meal!

And my Pat Chan has pig stomach in it, you can't beat that, can't you? Kekekeke,,,

Another Red Wine Soup Mee Suah, this time with a hard boiled egg!

The fried noodles, fried rice or one-pot-done dish...

The story here was that I bought the Hor Fun to make Cantonese Fried Hor Fun (Wat Dan Hor) without knowing I was going to pop! So I asked Mamo to use the Hor Fun and she made this pretty delicious Sesame Oil Fried Hor Fun with Pork Kidney!

Wanted something different so told Mamo to fried rice with Red Wine with some Edamame (rumour has it that they are milk booster) too!  

Fried Spaghetti with Sesame Oil, Minced Pork, Egg, Black Fungus and Edamame, another creative twist I asked Mamo to do and she simply aced it! Doesn't look like any other boring confinement month food isn't it? *wink~*

Simple fried bihun here but of course done with a lot of ingredients that are confinement-month friendly.

And when Red Wine Soup and Red Wine Fried Rice are too mainstream, here comes Red Wine Pasta yo~!

Or or... Red Wine One-Pot Chicken, Chinese Sausage, Shiitake Mushrooms and Black Fungus Rice.

Another awesome-looking red wine fried rice with whole loads of stuff.

So, how's that for some inspirations to you mothers out there who are going to be confinement ladies to your daughters? :p