Stir frying vegetables is one of the easiest and tastiest cooking methods. My girls will pretty much eat anything stir fried. Their favorite is stir fried leafy green vegetables. The whole cooking process will take you 2 minutes so you have to prepare and measure everything beforehand. Enjoy!
Wash and pat dry vegetables. Crush garlic. Measure out water or broth and set next to stove. Measure out salt and set next to the stove.
Heat wok to medium high heat. Add oil/fat, then garlic. Cook garlic until it starts to turn golden brown and the smell of garlic fills the air.
Add vegetables. Cover as much of the vegetables with the oil/fat by turning the bottom vegetables to the top and top vegetables to the bottom, then stirring. The stirring is why it’s called “stir-frying”.
Add water or broth. I prefer to use homemade bone broth if I have it because of its flavor and nutritional value.
Cover and cook for 30 seconds. Use a cover that completely encloses the vegetables.
Uncover and add salt. Thoroughly mix the salt into all of the vegetables. Cover again for 15 to 30 seconds depending on desired tenderness.
Uncover and stir for another 15 seconds. Vegetables should have wilted leaves and firm to tender stems depending on how long you covered them for.
Turn off heat and plate immediately.
| Stir Fry Vegetables in a Wok | Print |
- 1 pound vegetables
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon oil/fat (use a high heat oil/fat like ghee, animal fat, etc)
- ¼ cup water or broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Prepare and measure all ingredients before you start cooking. Wash and pat dry water from vegetables. Crush garlic. Measure out the water or broth and set next to the stove. Measure out the salt and set next to the stove.
- Heat wok to medium high heat. You will know it's hot enough when you flick water into the wok and it dissolves within 2 seconds.
- Add oil/fat.
- Oil should be heated after 10 seconds, then add garlic. If oil starts to smoke, it is too hot. Stir for 10 seconds in the oil until the garlic starts to turn golden brown and the smell of garlic fills the air.
- Add vegetables.
- Cover as much of the vegetables with the oil/fat by turning the top vegetables to the bottom and the bottom vegetables to the top, then stir for 1 minute.
- Add the water or broth.
- Cover and cook for 30 seconds.
- Uncover and add salt. Thoroughly mix the salt into all of the vegetables.
- Cover again and cook 15 to 30 seconds depending on how tender you like your vegetables.
- Uncover and stir for 15 minutes. Vegetables should have wilted leaves and firm to tender stems depending on how long you covered them for.
- Turn off heat and plate immediately.
Enjoy!
The Dumpling Mama xo
Garlic is a main ingredient in Chinese cooking. It’s used to infuse hot oil, marinate meat, flavor dumpling filling, etc. Garlic is always crushed before using it to cook to release the oils for ultimate flavoring. There are also 
Pop the garlic out of its skin by laying a knife with a large blade over the pieces. Hold the knife still with one hand and use a fist to hit the knife blade. Do this one or two times until you see or feel the garlic crack from its skin.
Now that the skin is popped you can easily peel the garlic from it.
The garlic could be crushed enough with the initial hit to pop the skin. If you need to crush it more, repeat the process of placing the blade over the garlic and hitting it with your fist.
Hit it one to three times to get the crushed consistency in the picture above. Your garlic is ready to throw into hot oil for infused flavor or chop for marinating or cooking.
We didn’t tell the girls we were going to Disney until the morning of our flight. My sister created an invitation from 
We began our day at Animal Kingdom enjoying some rides.
Then started our wilderness exploration by finding bugs and plants.
We rode the 
The girls loved the enormous fish tanks.
The girls loved seeing all of the different animals.
The day ended with ice cream, ice pops, and an Animal Kingdom parade.
Day 2: 
We got up really early to get to Magic Kingdom before it opened and be the first ones through the gate. The girls occupied their time by jumping down a stone wall.
Be began the day with a breakfast at Cinderella’s castle.
At the breakfast they saw Snow White.
Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
Jasmine from Aladdin. This is Baby’s favorite princess.
And Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. This breakfast was the highlight of the whole entire trip. The girls loved meeting the princesses. As a parent, it was such an amazing feeling to see how excited they were to meet the “real” princesses. They even endured wearing their (very) scratchy Cinderella costumes.
Next Princess had an appointment at the 
Princess manicure.
And princess makeup.
At the end, she was a cool, rocker princess with pink hair. She couldn’t wear her (very) scratchy Cinderella costume anymore so she wore the backup princess t-shirt and tutu instead.
One of the attractions we did was 
Day 3: 
The 
It rained for half the day. The girls were bundled up in their rain gear.
This was a very brave and hungry squirrel that helped itself into different lunch bags at the stroller parking.
It was so nice the performers came out afterwards so the audience could take pictures.
We are the Jee’s, hear our Rooooaaaarrr!
The girl’s second favorite part of the day was feeding the sharks. They loved everything about this, even touching the dead fish.
At the end of the day we found the rides. Of course we had to ride the sea carousel.
Princess is realizing she likes roller coasters. She is always nervous at first but once she’s on it, she’s all smiles.
While we wait in line, we practice jumping. Can you guess who needs a little bit more practice?
My Grouchy Husband and I both have weak stomachs which makes it hard for us to rides things like this boat. My stomach is weaker then his so he usually has to ride at least some of the rides with the girls. We found out during our 
On our way out, we took a picture with Shamu and dolphin. Baby won’t go anywhere near costumed characters but thankfully Princess just started to not be afraid to them this year. I’ve always wondered how you can see a character a million times on the television but somehow seeing them in person is so scary.
Last Day: 
The girls love to look inside fish tanks.
Hanging out outside after riding 
Princess and my Mother-in-law building sand bottles.
Jumping outside after dinner. The girls love to jump and have me take pictures of them. Can you tell?
When my grandmother and I chat, I sometimes share my frustrations with my Grouchy Husband’s terrible temper or challenges with my mother-in-law. I wish she would tell me “he is wrong and you should yell back at him” or “she is being unreasonable and you should not do what she wants”, but she never did. Her response was always the same, (面子), translation, “save face”.
My girls!
Cousin Sami and Michael with Princess.
Cousins Michael and Sami, and Sami’s husband, Mike.
Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Ronnie.
Sami and Mike.
My girls getting their hats ready for the picture. Because it was such a sunny day, the restaurant provides complimentary hats.
Hats are ready!
Sami and my brother.
Uncle Ronnie (my Dad’s best friend), my Dad, and Uncle Billy (my dad’s brother born exactly one year after him).
My family.
My family!
My aunt, uncle, and cousins.
Cousins!
My parents.
Cousin Karyn and my sister. Karyn was wearing her favorite t-shirt. My sister was being silly.
Uncle Ronnie! When I was little, my Dad was away on business and Uncle Ronnie stayed with me in the hospital because my mom had to take care of my brother and sister. I was scared when they wanted to give me a shot so he let them give him the shot first.
This was our table.
Burratta salad.
It was a long French lunch, over three hours. The girls struggled through it like champions.
Pasta.
I had the wood-fire grilled veal chop.
The Megeve Big Mac.
Hanger steak.
Even the kids meals were delicious.
The most memorable food at lunch was the profiterole. Because my birthday was only a few days later, we celebrated at lunch. They sent out a bottle of great champagne, they know exactly how to get to a girl’s heart. I had taken the Princess to the bathroom so I missed the whole thing but have this picture to remember.
I look at this picture and feel so blessed to have shared this amazing experience with all of these people and the mountains.
Baby is not able to ski yet (she’ll be in ski school next year) so while we were out skiing and snowboarding, she was with my mom strolling the town and being spoiled. Even though life isn’t bad for this 2-year old, we decided to do a family activity and go 
Even in jeans and dress boots, my Grouchy Husband did a great job on his sled. He almost looks like a professional dog sledder in this pictures if he wasn’t wearing jeans.
We were the last group for the day so we got to spend time taking pictures while the dogs were loaded into the car.
After the ride, the girls played with the dogs and their little snow hut.
Dog sledding was so much fun. It was the girl’s favorite activity.
We just came back from an amazing ski vacation in Chamonix France. This was a vacation of celebrations, my Dad and Uncle Ronnie’s 65th birthdays, Uncle Billy’s 64th birthday, cousin Karyn’s birthday, my birthday, meeting cousin Michael’s partner.
We rented a two-bedroom apartment at the 
After settling in, we walked into the center of town to find a place to eat. It was a beautiful day so wanted to eat outside. My first meal, classic French bistro, Moule Frites with a couple glasses of wine.
The girls walked around town with their ice cream pops they got from our dinner.
Hello from Chamonix!
The town of Chamonix is fabulous.
The town is separated by a stream of water. The girls were convinced they would see fish in the water.
Within the first hour into our flight, Princess had a fever. She is like a delicate flower, the excitement of the trip and the stress of packing her choice of four things took a toll on her body. We got a tip from the management company to shop at the SuperU in town for groceries. It was where all of the locals shopped. Before heading home for our first night in Chamonix, we stopped to pick up some groceries and ingredients to make chicken soup. The chicken soup I made was so tasty. I think it’s because of the quality and freshness of the chicken meat.
We flew a day earlier then the rest of my family so we decided to do some site-seeing our first full day while we waited for everyone to arrive. We decided to take the train down to France’s largest glacier, 
At the center of the glacier is a man-made ice castle. Every year, this castle has to be reformed because of the movement from the glacier. The girls had just seen 
A couple of things from our apartment that were a must-have when traveling with small children. (1) Washer/Drying Rack. As I mentioned, Baby threw up on the plane ride to Chamonix. She also threw up on the car ride to Megeve (more about this fun trip in my next blog post). I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I was to have a washer/drying rack. I even washed all of our clothes before leaving so I didn’t have to wash them when I got home.
(2) Heated towel rack. I’ve already told my Grouchy Husband that we will be getting one in the next bathroom we renovate. I hung the hand towel to have a warm towel after washing your hands. I hung my bath towel so I would have a warm towel after I took a shower. I hung the floor towel so I would have a warm towel when I got out of the shower. I hung my face towel so I would have a warm towel to dry my face. Obsessed with the heated towel rack. Can you tell?
Cousins! Cousin Karyn. My Jewish cousins, Sami and Michael. Sami’s husband, Mike. Michael’s partner, Sultan. Sami and Michael’s cousin David from Switzerland. Got it?
My mom and the girls waiting for the horse and carriage man in town to come and take us for a ride. We waited an hour and he never showed up.
Waiting for the bus. We took the bus to go to the different ski mountains. The bus rides were short and you could see a different mountain every day.
The first day of skiing we went to Brevant. I decided not to sign Princess up for ski school like I usually do. I was worried about finding an english-speaking instructor and we were on vacation, so we weren’t planning on skiing the full day anyways. She did a great job and started to parallel her skis.
This picture makes me look like a better snowboarder then I really am. I like that.
Taking pictures outside the restaurant we had lunch. I had warm wine for the first time here and it was surprisingly good. I drank wine at lunch every day. It was glorious. Look at the mountains. What an amazing view!
Our group of skiers and riders.
About to break for a snack at the base lodge of Flegere. Behind the net fence there were chairs and tables to relax in the sun and enjoy a snack.
It was a beautiful day. We ate french fries, drank beers and I had too much wine. Skiing after our snack was challenging.
After snack, we decided to take the scenic route down the mountain and take lots of pictures. One of the highlights for my Dad is skiing with Princess. It makes him so happy.
This was the view all day. Amazing.
The mountains were enormous. I thought the West Coast had great ski mountains. They were no comparison to the Alps.
ok, last picture!
As a way to help my girls experience the culture and tradition of Chinese New Year and the year of the horse, we attended the 
One of the drop-in-art-and-craft was silk screening with Tomie Arai, the artist behind the exhibit, 
Second, remove the paper with the stenciled horse. Then you just let the paint dry for 5 minutes.
Even my Baby had a turn to make one.
We let our screen printed horses dry next to all of the other crafts we had made that day.
Once the paint dried, the girls made cards for the year of the horse.
One activity we did at the last event, 
We just got back from our annual ski weekend at my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Ronnie’s condo in 
Some of our spread for apres ski. Aunt Cheryl makes an amazing brie wrapped in crescent roll. This year she debuted two knew spreads, artichoke and crab. Yum-mm. I have the left over brie and crab in the refrigerator now. At the other table, we had dumplings and chili. After a long day of riding, I feel like I inhale the food. Then my stomach finally catches up to all I’ve eaten and I feel totally full, then have to take a nap. Now that I have two little ones, this is harder to do, but I at least try to close my eyes for 5 minutes.
We don’t usually watch TV but we made an exception for the 
My mom and Aunt Alice in the kitchen (where they spend most of the weekend).
Some pre-dinner toasting. My Baby was soo so excited to get a big-person glass.
And was totally over the moon to clink glasses with everyone.
3 of the 4 birthday boys.
My Baby showing my sister how to dance like a rock star. She just loves to dance and sing to 
My sister showing my Baby how to sing like a rock star.
My Baby putting me into a choke hold.
My Baby and her captive audience watching the Russian cartoon, 
Dinner is served!
My plate. The rib and salmon were amazing. I can’t believe I could still eat after apres ski.
I made everyone take a picture at dinner. As our family has grown, the table extension has gotten longer and longer. Now it is a totally separate table.
The dads on dish duty.
My Baby helping Aunt Cheryl plate the cupcakes.
Enjoying all their hard work.
Then my Baby helped Sami put the candles on my brother’s birthday cake. Sami taught her how to lick the frosting off the candles after they were blown out.
We come together every year around this time to celebrate my dad’s, Uncle Billy’s, Uncle Ronnie’s, and my brother’s birthdays with multiple birthday cakes.
Here we are! (minus my sister and her husband, they had to leave early to go to an open house because they need a bigger home with a baby on the way).
To prepare our home for Chinese New Year, besides 
Cut Fringe:
Twist Tassels:
Enjoy your Chinese New Year tassel garland! It’s easy enough to put away and put up again next year. The best thing about the garland is everyone who has seen it has been so impressed and that puts the proudest look on My Princess’ face.