The Artist In Me Or Not?

Apart from JJ who showed some natural ability to create some nice drawings (he could draw very detailed renderings of his favourite Pokemon characters from memory), we as a family don't really have any artistic talents. So it was a real surprise that the two boys created these Chinese water colour paintings when they were enrolled in a cultural enrichment class in Singapore. When they were there, they learnt Chinese calligraphy and water colour painting.


These were JW's who was nine years old at that time.

 
And these were JJ's who was seven at that time.

 

From then till now, they have not touched a Chinese paint brush :-(

The plan is to frame these up as a keepsake, but publishing them here will do in the meantime :-)

JJ The Chef

JJ spent just short of two years in a primary school in Singapore. And of all the things that he remembers about the school, it is that it's got great chicken rice and to-die-for gravy! In fact, when he just started P1, I had asked him what his favourite subject was. His answer? "Recess". Sadly, recess now is no fun as he does not get to buy his own food and there's no chicken rice :(.

In fact, he now brings lunch to school (as he does not like the school lunch and seldom finishes it). One of the things that he and some friends sometimes do during lunch is to share their food. So he comes home and tells me what his friends gave him. Or that his friend liked his lunch. Apparently, they like his pork chop and salmon very much.

Once in preschool, he had to choose a book for his 'show and tell' session. He chose a children's cookbook that I had bought for him. His teacher was so amused. At home, he would sometimes take out my cookbooks and copy out the recipes into his notebook.

So I guess it's no surprise to know that he wants to be a chef when he grows up. Not only that, he wants to have his own restaurant. Even now, he will think about what to call his restaurant, what he should serve, what the pricing should be like, etc.

Here are two drawings he did when he as about 6 years old. And it's about, what else, but food! And come to think about it, he actually draws quite well.

One of his favourite channels on TV is the Asian Food Channel. I sometimes wonder if all this has anything to do with the fact that the launch of my business, Kooky Art, had something to do with him. After all, his 6th birthday party was officially the start of my business. And if you did not already know, Kooky Art deals with food - food decorating art to be precise. Perhaps I should credit him for my starting the business in the first place.

On one of our trips to Bangkok, I decided that we should do something

different with the kids. Since we were all into food - cooking or eating or

just talking about it, I enrolled all of us in a Thai cooking class. 

On top of that, I enrolled them in a baking class where they made chocolate ice-cream and hotdog buns. It was a professional baking school and the class was designed just for the two of them, with an English speaking instructor.

To this day, JJ talks about the yummy ice-cream that they made.

As for the hotdog bun, they made so many we had to give them away. I was really proud that my boys decided to give away the food to the many poor children along the streets of Bangkok. 

While we have yet to make the hotdog buns at home (must make it a point to do it during the next school break :), the boys have put into practice one of the recipes they learnt in Bangkok - Thai fried rice. A real yummy effort, I must say.

So will JJ realise his dream and be a chef and restaurateur one day? We shall wait and see......