Meme----> You're what you eat

It's true, I've been delaying in doing this meme...hehehe...the lazy lazy person that I am!! And how true this phrase is, "you're what you eat". When I think about it, I think the food you eat defines you as a person and your character. So here's my top ten....:) Enjoy!

1. Avocado : I LOVE THOSE DARK GREEN OVAL SHAPED FRUITS!!! What can I say, I can eat it with Sushi, I can eat it with salad, I can even eat in my sammies. I can eat it here, I can also eat then there, I can eat them ANYWHERE!!! (okkk...a little overdose of Dr Seuss here!). I was introduced to them when I first lived in Canada and since then, I'm hooked!

2. Tea : I love black tea most but I drink almost any tea. I used to drink them on a daily basis, but had to stop doing that coz I think the caffeine in it is keeping me up all night!!! And for the tea lovers out there, go to Teavana!!! You would be in tea heaven!!!

3. Sea Urchin Roe : I know, I know, but it's not as bad as it looks! I love them!! I could just eat them as a meal! Most of all I like it as a piece of sushi!! Oh man, just thinking of it makes me want to eat them!! Hmmm...I wonder if Ed would be up for some Japanese food this weekend!!;)

4. Tofu : I eat almost any form of tofu except for tofukey! For those people out there who "invented" this monstrosity, you totally ruin the beautiful delicacy of the simple tofu!! Tofu I think, best enjoyed as a dish by itself! I make sure that we have tofu at every meal! hehe..that's how much I like it!

5. Chicken : Everyone loves chicken, I'm no exception. It's great tasting, versatile, and great accompaniment for many food.

6. Water Convulous/water spinach/Kang Kong : Yes, I throughly enjoy this humble vegetable, my only regret is that I can't eat it everyday! Most of all, I like it stir-fried with sambal!! Yummy!!!!

7. Sushi and Sashimi : Yes, I guess it's an acquired taste. Yes, I do love those sliver of raw fish pieces....hehe....a little seaweed here and there and a tad of rice too wouldn't hurt! :D

8. Fresh Cherries : With the exorbitant prices for fresh cherries these days, eathing them in some thing of a luxury. The price to date for Fresh Oregon Cherries, $7.49 per pound! You kidding me!!!!

9. Noodles : I think I love noodles more than rice. There, I've said it! hehehe...Yes, I'm a noodle person, if I get my way, we would have noodles every meal or at least WITH every meal

10. Shellfish : Scallops, clams, mussels, oysters, abalone, etc. Yah, I love my shellfish!! Not something I can get every day coz of the high cholestrol count on shellfish. But they are soooooo sooooooo very good!!!! *sigh* Guess I would have to wait for special occassions for those lovely morsels!

Now, let me go tag someone else....

San....you know the drill!! :D Have fun!!!

Happy New Year

Hey I hope everyone had a great one!!! I know we did! We had a week long feast....almost continously, I'm glad that it's over now, with a little break before another "feasting", Chinese New Year!! Now that the barage of cooking, baking and eating's over, it's time to keep up with my New Year's resolution! So far I'm doing good...hehehe...



For Christmas, we had loads of the usual Christmas fixings; honey baked ham, Yum Woonsen, Prawn Crackers, Stuffed Mushrooms, and buns. But know what, we got so hungry that I forgot to take a pic of it!! Talk about greedy!! ehhehe.... But I managed to take a pic of the dessert which was great!! Considered that I've NEVER EVER seen or tasted this recipe!! I guess I fell in love with the ingredients of it that I could envision it!! hehehe... As for the "decoration" of it, I simply use my imagination!! hehehe.... If anyone's interested, it's called "celebration cheesepie" and it's from foodtv.com. For those who are weight conscious, I substitute most, if not all, of the possible ingredients with either their fat-free or light counterparts. Trust me, you don't lose anything in taste!!! It's that great! I used my KitchenAid for it and it totally whipped a lot air into the cream portion of the pie! It's GREAT!



With all the cooking and baking over the Christmas holidays, we decided to dine out for New Year instead. We went to this Brazilian restaurant called Texas de Brazil and let me say, they are good! We had been to another similar restaurant, Fogo de Chao and I loved that one. Now I know I would have another option! I love the ambience of this style of service. They are actually a form of brazilian grilled meats, mainly beef here. And they would bring the whole meat on the skewer to the table and carved it for you! I LOVE THE WHOLE PRESENTATION! Of course, with a little kid by your side, you've got to make sure that he's at the end of the table in case of accidents!! They DO carried very sharp knives! Overall I think my friends had a great time here for their New Year celebration! I know we did! Of course, there's always some celebratory drinking! :D Found some seriously great wines too, will share with you all in a later post! ;)



With all those outrageous amount of eating and drinking and what not, all of us managed to catch stomach flu!!!! ARRGHHHHH!!! I know, it's a virus and not the food! But that did stop us from eating for a while! It's payback I say, payback for all those lavish consumption!! :D`

Bum

Gosh I've been soooo lazy these days. I can barely bring myself to open my laptop and even check my emails! Yup, it's the end of the year and I'm allowed to have a relapse now and then!

With Christmas peering round, I really have to get off the couch and get all my shopping done! 'Nuff procrastinating! So over the weekend, I forced myself to get to the busy streets and crowded malls and joined the mass population doing last minute shopping. *Sigh* Finally all done but I'm totally out!

My husband asked me what I'd like for Christmas. Well......I've already got what I want. :D But what I really want is not something he can buy...with everything that are going on these days...this is what I really want....

Grown-up Christmas List

I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies
Well, I'm all grown up now
Can you still help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream
So here's my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up
Christmas list
What is this illusion called
The innocence of youth
Maybe only in their blind belief
Can we ever find the truth
There'd be no more lives torn apart
And wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list
This is my only lifelong wish
This is my grown-up Christmas list

Lyrics By Natalie Cole

And to all my friends and family,

Merry Christmas!!!!!Happy New Year!!!!!

Cabin Fever

Yep, crazy is what happened when you are "trapped" at home with a hyper-active 19mth old boy for 2 whole days! I love winter but I hate it when there's black ice, don't like driving on those slippery roads! I guess staying at home has its advantages. :D



Decided that I wanted to paint, or rather "re-decorate", my little boy's room. He's approaching the terrible twos (erm....I think he's already there...) and somehow wanted to give his room a little of that little toddler look. Went on the net and surfed for some designs and inspiration. Decided on the theme and started to "decontruct" his room to make way for the BIG EVENT! Today!! My husband, to his credit, decides to keep mum and let me have my way before I jump in his throat. Sooooo...crazy me, after being stuck in the house for 2 days, went to Home Depot, bought 2 gallons of 2 different color paints. I'm all ready to go now...just waiting for Ethan to finish napping....

Meanwhile I'm having some doubts, started off really hyped up and excited, now I'm just worried if I could complete this within a day???? In fact, within 3 hours, that includes painting dual color AND stenciling!! I'm beginning to think I was getting a wee bit over my head!! But it's too late now!!Just have to keep moving forward..........

I've decided that this would be my Christmas present for Ethan...hehehe....plus he would be getting some "grown-up" furniture in his room (from dad) so I think it would be good. Besides, today would be a good day to embark on painting a room, afterall, it's high of 58F *tongue in cheek*. You've GOTTA love this weather!!!!


Stir-fried Aspargus with bacon bits/Home-made Rendang/Cranberry-Pumpkin Bread/Thai Boat Noodles/Soy Sauce with Vinegar and Chillies Dipping Sauce for Noodles/Ma Po Tofu/Banana Muffin

With the approaching holiday, my kitchen was a flurry of baking, baking and more baking!!! Didn't have a lot of time to really get cooking. Meanwhile still trying to clear my freezer to make way for Christmas dinner...yet to decide on the menu...it's really mind boggling! :D

Post Thanksgiving Pics: As promised

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and all of us had the best time! It was soooo relaxing and stressless for me (hehehhe...especially so since I didn't have to cook!!). Of course, there was Black Friday which I didn't shop at all! Amazingly! But my husband did...*sigh*...."damage" was done regardless of all the justifications he had "presented". Nevertheless, it was still a great Thanksgiving weekend. Most of all I'm thankful for everything I have, family, health, good friends, and most of all, good food. :D


Egg Tarts(I made some for the Thanksgiving dinner)/dinner rolls, great garlic mash & Bread Pudding from scratch/more dinner rolls/closeup of bread pudding/cranberry-orange-apple sauce/corn on the cob/asparagus wrapped in bacon, corn, & pumpkin-apple butter pie/THE BEST TURKEY IN THE WORLD/more turkey, corn and asparagus shots

Everything you see on the table is made from scratch by my friends except for the dinner rolls, corn and the egg tarts that I brought. I made those tarts the night before and just heat them up a little before serving in order to give a "freshly baked taste", surprisely it tasted just like it. Neat!As for the turkey, I can't say enough of it. It's just marvelous, juicy, tender, tasty, melting in your mouth sensation! It was perfect!!!! And the rest of the food, well, what can I say...they were just as great!! There were so much food that it took us 2 days to finish that whole meal! Yah....2 days!!!


Soy Sauced Chicken(KC recipe)/bean sprouts with water spinach and Shrimps/Ching Ting(another KC recipe)/Dry Noodles with soy sauced chicken/Black Forest Cake from Jo's Deli Bakery/Thai stewed pork/Stir-fried brussel sprouts with garlic and dried shrimps

Just some stuff I'd cooked BEFORE Thanksgiving!! Imagine!! hehehehe....I was just too ridiculously lazy to blog...I'm such a bum! :D

Post Thanksgiving Note

Got back from our Thanksgiving road trip. It was great but seriously tiring. Weather wasn't great when driving home, the winds were going at 50+ miles/hour!!! We were being "blown" away as we drive, if it wasn't for gravity who knows where we would be now. And each time the car door made a whistling sound (the angle of which the wind hit), Ethan would say "uh-oh", it was 2 hours worth of "uh-oh"s but I think it would last me for quite some time if I don't hear it any sooner.

Well, just a short note to inform friends and family that I'm back and seriously stuffed. I think my friend had outdone himself this year! It was the best turkey we ever had, as in all that we've eaten anywhere!!!! Will post pics on a later post. Meanwhile, still catching up with sleep and routine, it was some great 4 days "vacation". So many things, so little time....

10 Things I Like About Winter

1. There's no worries of showing unwanted body fat coz most of the time you're pretty much BUNDLED UP! :)
2. Due to the "bundling up", there's also not a real need to constantly shave your legs, or arms...just let it grow.....(I've hit a low point..:D)
3. No more mowing, watering, and pruning lawns/hedges/weeds
4. The wonderful crisp winter air with a hint of firewood burning; EXHILARATING!
5. Something about seeing all those over-commercialized Christmas' decoration and the hint of pine fragrance in the malls make you feel all happy happy inside and hypnotized you to keep on shopping and buying.
6. Days are shorter!
7. Great hair days (most of it) due to lack of humidity
8. More holiday time (for Ed)
9. Great excuse to continously stuff your face (I'm lame AND greedy)
10. Most of all, cold weather makes you more tranquil, calmer and happpier...aaaahhhhh....

So to everyone....

Busy Bees

Gosh, what a week!! Both Ed and I were having the same cold over the whole weekend, courtesty of Ethan!!! Big Surprise. It was so bad that we had to tag team to look after our whinnier-than-usual-coz-of-a-runny-nose Ethan. We even took turns to NAP!! Yah, both of us were totally EXHAUSTED!!! But we are now much better and other than a few shiffles here and there, we are pretty much back to normal. Although it's not the same with Ethan. I think it's taking him a little longer coz he's so fussy with everything. He's still very "snotty" and totally HATES it when I try to suck the mucus out from his nose. Sounds worse than it really is, but that's pretty much the only sure way to get him breathing through his nose instead of his mouth!

Out of all this "mess", I still managed to catch a movie the weekend. ONLY ME!! I know, I'm THAT desperate. I went alone coz 1. there's no babysitter available, 2. Ed said he would rather be sick AT HOME WITH SICK ETHAN than to go to watch this show, 3. Unless he needed to save lives, he would pass this movie! Hey it's not that bad...well....it's not comparable to the five hour miniseries one, but hey, it's my all-time favourite book!! Yah, San, I think you've guessed it, it's Pride and Prejudice!! I HAD to watch it, it's that serious! Ok, I don't want to go into too much of this movie for those who haven't seen it yet........but I WILL!!! hehehehhe

I'm definitely a strict "Austenian". I like it the way she wrote it, AS IT WAS! I understand that with a moive(especially one that's condensed into 2hr 7mins)you can't have every itty bitty detail from the book written into the moive. But please....PLEASE.....DO NOT ADD THINGS INTO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That seriously bothers me greatly!! If Jane Austen wanted those added details, she would have wrote that into her book but she didn't which MEANS THEY WON'T INTEND TO BE IN THERE!!! *sigh* I really feel that it's almost an atrocity that they added all the extras in it!!! Overall, it's good, as good as the one with Colin Firth in it...hmmm...can't compare, one's a made for tv mini-series, the other is a movie....sooo...it's really a personal opinion to that. One thing I've to say is that the cinematography is GREAT! Now....the only thing left....is....go watch it......:D

Ok....I could go on and on about Jane Austen's works....but let's not......got a equation here....what happened if you add Ethan and a box of Legos
?? Seriously anyone would think that we were robbed!?!?!?





Meanwhile in the kitchen front, this is what I made over the week....you'd probably notice Porridge there.. Yah, it's my when-I'm-sick/down/cold weather comfort food! Ed hates it, but again(I can never stressed this enough...ehhehe), I"M THE QUEEN OF THE KITCHEN!


Raisin Rolls(courtesy of Ching's Little Corner with a slight modification)/Long Beans with Prawns/Pork, Dried Oyster & Century Egg Congee/Homemade Hokkien Mee(courtesy of Lily's Wai Sek Hong)/Prawn Mee/Modified Young Tau Foo/Oyster Omelette

On the weather forecast, WE ARE FINALLY GETTING THE CHILLS!! Ok, that came out wrong. What I meant to say is that we are finally getting the "normal" winter weather!!! WOOHOOOOOOOO...I LOVE THE COLD! It's soooo, sooo, sooo......winterish!!(ok, I'm a dork!). Sure brings out the holiday spirits. Now all I can think of is Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!!!! And Thanksgiving is not even here yet... :) Ohwell...at least I'm not stressing out for the Thanksgiving meal, we are going to N & K's place for that....yippeee...more food pics!

So for everyone who thinks I probably went AWOL....I was just sick...:D And San, I'll try to keep the KitchenAid Mixer a secret from your sis!! hehehehehe...:D Did I mention that I'm already planning on getting the ice-cream maker attachment for it! I'm contemplating of making Lemon Gelato for the Christmas menu *wink*

An Unusually Warm November Day

As most Texas' residents would know by now, there's no such thing as accurate weather forecasts, especially when it comes to Texas' weather! We'd been having such hot days (IN WINTER, NO LESS, averaging 80Fs daily) that only the a/c is operational!! So when you're given lemons......make lemonade!



Took Ethan to a neighbourhood park with a brandnew swanky playground. COOL! He enjoyed it. He was a little apprehensive about the swings(and still is!) but he loved the slides. Well, he always love the slides.... And he found this really bouncer thingy. (Don't know what it's called). Basically you stand there and moved that "bouncer" with your movements. He was totally tickled! They had all kinds of things, an area for babies/toddlers and a slightly modified and bigger area for the bigger kids. They also had this musical walls and it makes different noises when hit. Plus it's facing a stream, really nice. There were ducks and geese but we didn't have any bread, so just had to contend with looking at them. This place is really really awesome, they obviously took into consideration of entertaining kids of all ages.


Yum Woon Sen/Mysore Beef/Sambal Water Spinach/Pulut Hitam/Chicken with Tofu and Green Onions/Masala Okra/Choco and Green Tea Melting Moments/New KitchenAid

Some food I made over the course of last week...And yah, my new buy of the month!!! My spanking NEW KITCHENAID STAND MIXER. I LOVE IT! It was about time I retired my old mixer too. Plus now I can make my doughs using their dough hook instead of by hand (way too tiring and time-consuming).
I made the Choco and Green Tea Melting Moments with the new mixer too and it was wonderful! Compliments to Ching's recipe. It was easy enough for me. :D However my cookies never quite browned??? Odd. But it was ok...it's the taste that matter! HA!
As for the Mysore Beef, I got the recipe from KC which is a simplified version( as I understood) of the original Mysore Beef recipe from Banana Leaf Temptations, which I also have the book. I kinda combined both recipes and made it to my liking.
My husband does not like Okra/Lady's Fingers....well.....TOO BAD!!!!!!!! :D As for the Yum Woon Sen, it was his request. He just felt like eating that. I think you eat it with Lettuece on the side, at least that is what he told me, although he eats his like a wrap. Hmmm....doesn't really matter I guess, it's up to personal preferences.

Meanwhile have to rush off to take care of little rascal..this time, runny nose... *sigh* Don't quite know how he gotten that?????

Nursemaid's Elbow

Ethan had a little "accident" two days ago! We were playing "swinging monkeys" when he slipped off my hand and shifted his ligament off his elbow!!! He couldn't move his left arm without screaming in pain. IT WAS MAJORLY FRIGHTENING!!!! Had to call his ped and get an emergency appointment! Didn't know what it was, thought he might have fractured something. All I know was it was heartwrenching for me to hear and see him in so much pain. He was ok as long as he didn't move that arm!

Went to the doc's, told us that it was something called Nursemaid's Elbow. She re-adjusted Ethan's elbow and "popped" it right back into position. And almost IMMEDIATELY, Ethan could use that arm again! It was like it never happened! Almost like a miracle! Glad he was ok.

Conclusion: No more "swinging the monkey" anymore!!! My poor little goofboy! But boy, that was a scare alright!! 

Monkey ESCAPES from the zoo!!!

Ethan decided that the pumpkin patch was the way to go....ermmm...I don't think he realised that it doesn't turn into a carriage!! :D He's just a cutie! While we were at the Arboretum (and MAN, was it packed!), he just went stir crazy...so the only thing we could do was to let him loose....ON the REST of the people there!!!

All Hallow's Eve

Picky Eater

Ok, Thanks to San I HAD to make some Chicken Rice!!! Once again, thanks San! :p But luckily for me, I make this rather often and it was quick and almost "painless". Also there's now a "shortcut" to making the fragrant rice eversince I found Chng Kee's Chicken Rice Sauce. Makes things sooo much easier!!! Hehehhe...Now that I've said it...to the main issue!

My husband "claims" that he's not a picky eater!!! YAH RIGHT!! He's what I call a closeted picky eater, I think it's about time I EXPOSED him for what he REALLY is!!!

He always "CLAIMS" that he can eat everything...except when food's presented to him, he would give remarks like "you know, I always avoid eating claypot rice coz I don't enjoy everything in one pot" OR "I don't eat meats that are boiled" OR "It's steamed" OR "I'm not used to eating this this way". Ok, those are some of the examples. Thing is, he's a really fussy eater and doesn't want to admit it coz he doesn't want people to think that he's very particular of what he eat!

To statement ONE, he doesn't eat claypot rice but he would Steamed Glutinous Rice or better known as Lor Mai Gai. Erm...just the difference in the rice. He would also eat Chinese Rice Dumplings!!!!

To statement Two, he doesn't like boiled meats. He LOVES Steamboat!! Does that explain away the boiled meat issue! So are those in curry, they are boiled too, just not with plain water...*Sigh*

To the last statement, he's not used to eating ANYTHING that's not Thai style! Which in his mind means sweet, spicy, more sweet and spicier.

He also said that he doesn't like tomatoes but it's ok in curries coz he doesn't see them in order for him to complain about. What he doesn't see, he doesn't know.

He also doesn't eat a whole bunch of other things....oh yah, did I mention that my husband's not a picky eater?!?!?

Meanwhile I've to cook like I've two toddler boys in the house. TRICK THEM!!! What they don't see, they will eat without fuss!!! LOL!!! Both of my boys loved everything as long as it's FRIED, SWEET, DEEP FRIED, SWEETER and erm...fried??? Well, you get the idea. But you know what...:D They can complain all they want, I'm the only one in the household who's doin' the cooking....so they can either starve or stop whinning and eat up! :D I totally RULE!!! :D (my hubby can't cook and I'm not exergerating either!!!)

Oh yah...my email's been acting up again, so to San and Fib, thanks for those eCards!!! Thanks!!!!!!! :D

Halloween Party: Monkey

Just some pics that I'd taken of Ethan in his Halloween costume. He was a little monkey and sooooo cute! So many pics, but most of those at his party turned out rather blurred. However those taken with the camcorder was ok. I guess he was just too fast for the camera! LOL


Cheeky Monkey


Mischievious Monkey


Tired Monkey


Random Monkey Poses

Some random food I made over the course of last week. Sambal Eggplants / Wat Tan Hor Fun/ Deep Fried Thai Fish/ Siew Mai/ Gan Jiang Chicken

Meme: Childhood Food Memories

Carrying on the meme baton from Little Corner of Mine


I've so many food memories that I really don't know where to begin. I'm really blessed with all the wonderful food I had in my childhood. My paternal family's Peranakan and my maternal side's Cantonese. So I've a lot favourites...nevertheless, I'll try and limit it to just 5! hehehe..

Each time I utter these words my husband would sigh! Before he had tried it, he had never ever heard of this dish. I tried to describe to the best of my knowledge but failed. Then he finally had a taste of it, he didn't like it(I think it's an acquired taste, like durian). It's not easy to get it and most of the time, it's not even that good. The dish is Ayam Buah Keluak and I think it's as authentic a Peranakan dish as you can get. Translated, it's called Chicken in Black Nut Curry. And I think the Black Nut is only available in Indonesia. Each Peranakan household has their own special "brew" for making this dish. So there's no exact replica of this dish anywhere! The first time I had it(I think it was at my paternal grandmother's place), I fell in love with it!!! It's sooo sooooo gooooddddd.... It takes days to actually prepare this dish mainly because of the black nuts but it's worth the wait and the anticipation!

I know I'll always remember Sunday mornings whereby my dad would ask us(my bro and I)what we want for brunch as he and mom were going to the market. I would always asked for Yong Tau Foo. My absolute favorite!! Not just from any store, it has to be from this particular store at this coffeeshop at Clementi. They were really really good. They were always so crowded and you had to wait FOREVER to get your order. They are no longer in the Yong Tau Foo business now but I can still remember the great flavours of that dish. Somehow all the other Yong Tau Foo I had don't seem to come close to this store!

When I was little, we used to plant a lot of our vegetables. My maternal grandma lived with us and she is a great gardener. Everything she planted, grew beautifully. Of course, she's also a great cook. She used to teach me how to grow these wonderful vegetables, unfortunately I'm not endowed with a green thumb! So she would helped my vegetable patch on the sneak and I would then have the harvest that I can be happy about! I had this winter melon patch and each time it had winter melons, we would have this fantastic soup. My grandma would used the hollowed out melon as the bowl and steamed it with chicken, chinese mushrooms, dried scallops and what nots. This Double Steamed Winter Melon is what I craved for each time I see them winter melons in the grocery stores here. I can remember the taste of it, it's a full-bodied rich yet light soup. Something about growing your own food makes it taste even better!

Then there's the Apolo Banana Leaf's Fish Head Curry . Our family used to go to the original Banana Leaf wayyyy before they had a/c. You eat in the heat and you sweat with it! Tons of Lime juice to go with that. It was the best combination and still is. Now they are all "grown-up" with the a/c, the new location, the crowds, the glamour... But I still go back and eat whenever I'm in town. They are still as good, I believe (at least in my opinion).

Finally, one of my favs, Fish Ball Noddles! Not just any store. There was this famous Fish Ball Noodle store in the old Bukit Timah Market(of course, it's no longer there, they have been closed for a long time now). But that place has the best noodles ever, it's all in the sauce! I remembered having to take a number and wait for ages. They were always busy and it didn't help when you're hungry either. The "chef" was this old wry man and his adult children helped out. I would also remembered that although they had a real bad attitude, people would buy from them! They are THAT good! Their policy was that if you can't stand them, you dont' have to order from them! Ahhhh...good old days!! LOL

Well it was tough just limiting to five, but I made it! hehehe...Now I'm going to pass the baton to
1.Ventalation Space
2.Travel Light

Nature's Beauty

I love the Holiday Seasons!! I consider the start of October as "the Holiday Seasons"!!! You see, in October there's Halloween! Then in November, there's Thanksgiving, in December there's Christmas!! I mean, what more can you ask for (of course, there's more, but let's not digress).



Although the Texas weather has not been too cooperative(meaning, it really doesn't feel like the "season" since it's averaging at 85F to date, not at all "christmasy"), I think Autumn is peeking out. Some of the leaves are turning golden and falling off the trees, the grass are turning to almost a shade of burnt orange. Days are shorter and Ethan's getting cheekier(no relation, but what the heck!)



Took this opportunity to take some pics of the annoying creeping ivy growing on one of my hedges. Yah, it's a wild ivy and sprouts amazingly pretty red berries in the Fall season. I know it's a weed but I never had the heart to take that out. This is one weed that I allow to live in my yard (yah, I'm guilty of weeed-o-cide! I hired the chemlawn dudes!! *evil snickering"). They are just too pretty to destroy. Besides, it's too high up on the hedge for me to trim.



Made Kway Chap over the weekend. Had some company so I decided to make some dessert as well. Didn't have time to make an Asian dessert but had some really good-looking strawberries. So decided to make some Strawberry and Cream Short Cake. Hmmm....It tasted pretty good, although the presentation could have been much better. Hey, it's the taste that counts right?!?!

Weekend

Picnic at the arboretum

Had a little picnic at the arboretum on Sat. It was really nice and cool. A lot of people were out there too, enjoying the great weather. It was simply perfect!


Dallas Arboretum

Some pics I took while we were there. They had some really great fall flowers eg, mums and what not, lots of butterflies were around too, I'd have thought that the cool weather would have driven them away. Guess not...oh well...


food for the weekend

From left to right on the top: Herbs for my Steamed Herbal Chicken, then had to make some Thai Papaya Salad. You see, we were at a friend's place on Sat and his wife made Papaya salad and Yum Woon Sen. It was sooo good...I just needed more even after we left their place. I usually don't really enjoy Thai food that much but this was different, it was THAT good! So went back home, bought some ingredients on the way back and made some too! Heheheh.. I followed the Thai style of this salad and our friend's was more of a laosian style. Doesn't matter, it was GREAT!!! I didn't make the Yum Woon Sen (errmm...I got lazy) but I made Ground Pork with Lime Juice (next pic). It's Thai too and usually eaten with Glutinous rice but you can eat it with regular rice (ok....I didn't prepare the rice, it was an impromptu thing!!!) which we did. And lastly decided to make some Otak Otak (had serious cravings over the weekend!!). With the leftovers I made them into Otak Otak buns!! Also delicious. I still have some papaya left from making the salad, probably might make some more...hehehe...



Mischeivious Monkey

Just my silly monkey up to no good. Right now he's into climbing! He climbs EVERYWHERE!! He even went to the extend of pushing his toy box to the washer and used that as a step to get onto the washer. I heard him giggling and I knew he was up to no good!! When I found him, he looked at me and tried to hug and kiss me!! CHEEKY LITTLE BUGGER!!! Caught him here climbing onto his toy jeep!! *sigh* my little monkey. Currently he's into twirling!! Hehehe...sounds weird but he's twirling! He's also "discovered" his own shadow and kept trying to touch it! LOL it's hilarious to see the little goofball! And yah, he even answers to the name "goofball" I wondered if we are executing the right parenting skill???

Snippets of the little "monkey"

1 pea, 2 pea, 3 pea......errr...where was I??


yah.........that's not a pea mommy!!!


singsong voice :naaanahnahnahanaaaaaaahhhh


uh-oh

Footnote: Still trying to look for a monkey costume for my little "monkey" for Halloween!

Fall is PRICELESS

Getting Ethan ready to drive to the Arboretum = 15 minutes
Packing the essentials(snacks and water) for him while we are there = 10 minutes
Driving to the Arboretum = 20-25 minutes
Entrance fee to the Arboretum = $95 per annum for membership
The marvelous walk in the park on a beautiful morning = 1.5 hour
Drive home = 20 minutes
A pooped and tired out boy who fell asleep on the way back home and then slept for the next 2 hours = PRICELESS!!!!!

There's some things time and money can't buy......PEACE AND QUIET!!!!

A little Robert Frost

Looking through some of my poetry books and came across one of my favs. Thought I would just share it here. Somehow Look What You've Done by Jet seems oddly compatible with this poem. Oh well...


ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference


Robert Frost