speculaas by Diah Setia Gunawan

• First mix the Speculaas spices. Put it in an airtight container and you can use it for anything you like.
  Basic mix: 30 grams ground cinnamon,10 gr ground cloves, 10 gr ground nutmeg, 5 gr ground white pepper, 5 grams gr aniseed, 5 gr ground coriander seed
  Mild -- 20 gr ground cinnamon, 5 gr ground cloves, 5 gr ground mace, 2 gr ginger powder, 1 gr ground cardamom
  Spicy -- 30 gr ground cinnamon, 5 gr ground cloves, 5 gr ground nutmeg, 3 gr ground white pepper, 3 gr ginger powder, 2 gr ground cardamom
  I have tried all three mixes and quite like the basic mix. I used the mild mix to make cinnamon rolls too.

  12 hours ago · · 2
• 

  Diah Setia Gunawan To make the speculaas:
  200 gr plain flour, 125 gr butter, 100g brown sugar (I sometime used chancaca), a pinch of salt (omit if the butter is salty), 1 tbspoon milk, 2 teaspoon speculaas spices, mix in a bowl (use a dough mixer or a dough knife or two table knives). Kneed and make a ball. Traditional way will be to leave the ball of dough rest in a cool place (fridge) wrapped in cling film for a few days to let the spice release its aroma. Then use the speculaas plank to make the figures. But I have only done that once.
  The rest of time I would roll the dough directly into a long cylinder of about 3cm diameter and slice it into 3mm thick disks and bake the disks on a baking tray in an oven 175C until it is brown and firm (about 15-20 min, depends on how much you put in the oven at once.
  (For Pepernoten you need to change the flour for self-raising flour)

  12 hours ago · · 1

Zoey baby chocked hard today :(

Baby just chocked on a pc of apple and turne blue :( HELP

by soyena » Today, 15:50

My baby just chocked on a piece of apple, she couldn't cough it out even though she tried while I pat her on her back HARD.

Withing 15 secs (which felt like an eternity) her face turned blue and white and the coughing almost stopped, I quickly stuck my finger down her throat, found the apple, tried to push it down but it won't budge. Her throat's too narrow for me to put 2 fingers so I used my nails to scrap it up. Finally, the apple came up and she started to cough harder, cry out loud and breath.

Now her face is pink and smiles at me. BUT BOY all the thoughts that went through my head!! I wasn't sure if calling an ambulance was the right thing to do, not sure they'll arrive in time....

how I am soooo hesitant into giving her anything at all. She's only 7m old ... She almost hates soft/sticky/slimy/runny foods, even with solid foods like cheese, bread, fruits, veggies, etc. she doesn't eat much (like 1 tbsp/ day).

Should I keep trying? I am so scared....

And now her throat is bleeding as I think I scratched her throat. Any advice?

-------------------------

I posted this on babyledweaning.com forum, and since received lots of encouragement and suggestions on taking baby 1st aid courses. Well, I've asked Clinica Alemana but they don't have one for babies.

Just wrote to Red Cross Chile hoping to receive some respond.

For anyone's having similar issues or worries:

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/safety/chokingguide/ 

https://www.tesco-baby.com/babysafe/ 

http://childrenfirstaid.redcross.org.uk/
 

But Lesson Number 1, When chocking DO NOT STICK YOUR FINGER IN BABY'S THROAT but lower their back so that the butt is higher (with body and head supported) and smack their back (b/t shoulder blade) 5 times. 

Rayuela vs. Acuavita

Living in equal distance between the 2 mayor baby swimming pool makes a happy baby and a happy mom as I am able to take her to both swimming pools each week. (actually, WILL take her as the swimming class for babies did not start yet).

I've been swimming in Acuavita even before my pregnancy (and during), so I already knew the place. As for Rayuela, is kindda very expensive but we've decided to give it a try last Saturday.

Rayuela
PRO:
1. Water temperature is warmer than Acuavita
2. Has baby change cushion in dressing room
3. Baby friendly environment, with large mattresses to put on baby for changing or feeding in the ... lounge room?
4. Professionally baby focused, by that I mean the age group are well segregated so that smaller babies won't be intimidated or splashed by toddlers.
5. Adequate amount of chlorine
6. After exiting the pool one can rinse off with warm water right next to the pool.
7. Although there's 1 teacher/class, there's always the assistant or another teacher there to help out if you're going alone with the baby. 

CON
1. TOO expensive (15,000clp for trial class and then 50,000clp/4 classes/month or 80,000clp/8 classes/2 months)
2. Only 2 rinse off shower space

Acuavita
PRO:
1. Large swimming pool, able to provide professional-competitive swimming lessens all the way as the child grows.
2. ALOT cheaper (around 20,000clp/4 classes/month)

CON
1. Too much chlorine, you can smell it off your body after you get out of the pool.
2. The shower room is a bit of walk from swimming pool, a bit of problem for babies during winter time as you'll have to go outside the building and then in.
3. Change/shower room only has benches so might be a problem for changing babies.

Verdict: As long as we can afford, we will be going to both swimming classes as I've wanted to let the baby swim at least twice/week.