TGIF but i'm busy ):

Toom came up to my house last night and gave me a bowl of sweet potato soup. She also informed me her decision to move to Lincoln at the end of this month.

While waiting for darling to come home last night, i took out 1 baby magazine and sat on the sofa with a blanket over my cold feet. Awww...the baby models protrayed inside the magazine are so cute! So pretty! So sweet! I couldn't bear and took 1 photo of a little girl (((:

Darling reached home at about 2.15am last night. Immediately he took out his water bottle and started drinking. Haha! Darling knew that if he did not finish his water in the bottle, he will get a scolding from me! :P

It was a very cold night. I could hear the wind howling very loudly. Before we entered our dreamland, i was lying on darling's arm.

Me: I want to make chive dumpling on Saturday.

Darling: Why? You don't eat chive leh.

Me: You like mah! I know you like to eat 笋粿 with chive filling. I can mix with some minced pork and i will eat.

Darling: Actually i thought of making 红龟糕 (ang ku kueh) for you

Hahaha! Suddenly i lifted up my head, looked at him and smiled.

Me opening my eyes big: You read my blog? Why suddenly wanna make for me?

Darling: Cos this saturday is the 17th mah

I laughed. I laughed very loudly. In my heart, i felt very very very sweet. This Saturday marks our 30th month or 914th day of knowing each other (:

This morning we woke up rather late, at about 11.30am. Still very sleepily, we went to wash up and prepared our lunch. Lunch was thai glazed pork, ABC soup & sambal ladies fingers. The thai glazed pork was a very easy dish using only pork belly, garlic, 3T gula melaka, 2T fish sauce, 2T light soya sauce and 3 cups of water. Initially, i thought this dish might fail or maybe not taste good. Surpriseingly the end result is excellent! Definitely will make this again next time! My ABC soup was already prepared last night. I used finish all my sambal belacan for my ladies fingers.

Today i will not be going to the gym. Today will be a busy day for me. I will need to do the following.

♥ Mince garlic DONE

I always keep a small bottle of minced garlic in my fridge. In this way, it will be much easier everytime i need to use it. I don't have to keep taking out my knife and chopping board whenever i need it (((:

♥ Make a new tub of sambal belacan DONE

Intending to make laksa this coming sat for dinner. But well, sambal belacan will be forever in my fridge cos i can never live without chilli! Moreover i made mine using dried chilli padi! And its so easy for me to make sambal belacan now after so many attempts. Haha, i used only 30mins! (:

♥ Vaccum the house manually and using irobot DONE

I used the carpet powder this time when i vaccum the floor. Really very nice smelling. In such a cold weather, my windows and balcony door are opened. My house is clean, full of sunshine and smells good. A perfect love nest!

♥ Wipe the toilet and kitchen floor

Darling and i can't stand the floor being dirty and oily, especially after cooking!

♥ Wipe the kitchen stove and counter top DONE

Well, wiping the kitchen stove and counter top is a daily routine.

♥ Iron all the clothes DONE

Been 2 weeks of slacking already. My basket is piling up with darling's uniforms and vacation's clothes. Hai~..next time if i have the money to hire a helper, she doesn't really have to help me clean the house. But she must help me to iron all the clothes!

All right, its 4pm. Gonna start doing my housework as darling said he may be home earlier today, around 9pm.

Menu for next week

Last night, before darling came home at 2.15am, i was browsed through some receipes for next week menu. Also went to take a look at 白糖糕 recipe. 白糖糕 was requested by darling. Not difficult to do but find the ingredients is kinda challenging. The ingredients needed are wine biscuits & alkaline water which i am not sure if can be found in asian supermartket here.

♥ Sat lunch/dinner - Leftover braised pork with plain porridge/Laksa & chive dumpling

♥ Sun lunch - Leftover from sunday dinner or porridge again?

♥ Mon lunch - Huai Shan soup, Pork-tofu patties, vegetables

♥ Tue lunch - Assam prawns with cabbage, Braised pork with five-spice powder

♥ Wed lunch - Lotus Root soup, Tofu chicken in eggy gravy, vegetables

♥ Thurs lunch - Pork rib soup with peanut & black eye beans, coca cola pork chop, vegetables

On this coming sunday, there will be a new family arriving in USA, Waipan and his wife. Waipan was my photographer during my wedding day, hehehe. Hopefully no comments from him that i put on weight! Anyway darling & i will be in the airport to welcome them. After that, we will be going out for dinner with them. Means no cooking on sunday evening.

On friday, everyone will be going to the base to celebrate Deepavali as well as a farewell for SMO. So no need to cook on friday but not sure if darling gonna work.

my craving

Can someone get Angel an Ang Ku Kueh?

What's in for a surprise huh?

Last night, darling came home at around 12am. And of cos, i had prepared his pyjamas and towel in the bathroom. And not forgetting his supper - peanut butter sandwich with a cup of hot milo.

This morning, we woke up at around 11am. Needed to start preparing lunch immediately cos darling gonna leave the house by 2pm. Anyway lunch was yong tau foo, watercress soup and stir fry four season beans. Darling used a small butter knife to stuff the fish paste inside the ladies fingers & fried beancurd. I steamed everything for about 5mins and darling was in charged of pan frying them & drizzling some sauce over them. The sauce which was made of preserved soy bean, sugar, water and corn starch turned out good!

Darling also used some time to clean up his "garden". Despite the cold weather, i am so glad that some of my flowers are growing well. However, some had withered. Hmm...hibernating? Or died?

Yesterday i took out all my empty photo albums which i bought from Goodwill stores. I bought them for only $1.99 each. Very cheap and still in excellent condition. Think i'll go back to get more this weekend.

Then something caught my eye. A baby's book. Awww...this book is very sweet. I bought it a few months ago in Goodwill store too! Also for $1.99. This book is actually for recording purpose for everything related to the baby from inside the womb, all the way to about 5 years old. I can also slot in some photos at the last few pages. Very nice book and hmm...but when can i get to use it? Well, i shall let god decide for us (:

I read Liyi's blog about her surprise for her husband's birthday. So while cooking lunch, i just had a casual conversation with darling.

Me: So, how about our wedding anniversary? How about my birthday??? Have you thought of it? Or not even a single thought?!

Hahaha! Darling dreads me asking him such question cos he feels that its a trick question. It may lead to quarrel!! Ha!

Darling (smilingly): Yes, i decided to bake a cake for you!

Argh...its not the first time! Its not the first time darling honestly tells me about his planning! I remembered my 24th birthday. Darling bought me a ring and even before the day, he already told me everything ):

Me (sighing): Why must you tell me? Why can't you just give me a surprise??!! I don't care! Now you said it, i don't want you to bake a cake for me anymore! You better think of another surprise. MAKE SURE I WILL BE SURPRISED!!!

Darling (laughing and started to tickle me): SHIT YOU! Why must you ask me?? If you want a surprise then you better don't ask me anything! You know i will not lie to you!

Hai~...what a big dumbo.

Well well, i shall not ask anymore and spoil all my darling's very limited plans. Ha!

What time is it? Its jogging time.

If she loves you, if she really loves you, you’ll know it

If she knows what song is coming next on the mix CD you made her: She loves you.

If she calls you at work that day to ask, “How are those shoes working out?”: She loves you.

If she puts up with an entire Stars of the Lid album on a long-distance road trip: She loves you.

If she dances with your friends: She loves you.

If she says, “I love you” on the roller coaster, right after you’ve puked down your shirt: She loves you.

If she plays pointedly with strangers’ babies at the park, intermittently looking over to you with an expression that says, “See?”: She loves you.

If she ever says the words, “I hate you”: She loves you. Or she did at one point, anyway.

If she loves you, if she really loves you, you’ll know it. If you can wake up to her staring at you and it’s not even mildly creepy, if you catch her smelling the shoulder of the hooded sweatshirt you lent her for an autumn walk at the beach, and not for B.O., if she makes you a pancake in the shape of a shark, if she calls you drunkenly at four in the morning “to talk,” if she laughs at your jokes when they’re funny and makes fun of you when they’re not, if she keeps her fridge stocked with Guinness tallboys for when you come over, if she tells you how she wishes she were closer to her sister and that her dad makes her sad: She loves you, of course she loves you.

And with a love like that, you know you should be glad.

I'm out of love

I'm out of love ))):
(My Reese, my new love)

Feeling so fat...

Last night, dinner was pork trotters with soy beans, ants climbing up a tree and dou miao. The pork trotters came out very nice & sweet. Perhaps is due to the soy beans. As i scrimp on the oil, the ants climbing up a tree was a little dry. Never mind, point noted, next time i shall add more oil. Anyway its olive oil, no harm having more of it! (:

After dinner, darling and i had a hot bubble bath. The weather was cold and its so shiok to soak yourself in the hot water bath tub (((:

This morning, darling and i woke up at 9am. He was changed to the afternoon shift today and the rest of this week. Well, i don't like him to be in the afternoon shift but sometimes its not a bad thing too. When darling is in the afternoon shift, we will be able to run alot of errands in the morning. Today, we went to the bank to deposit money, CVS to collect my free 30 photo prints, Sprouts, Albertsons & Goodwill. All done within 3 hours. (:

The sky this morning was very foggy. Not cold, only foggy. Seems like snowing because of the water vapour in the air. How i wish it will snow this year. Darling said that the winter last year was not considered cold, thus it did not snow. This year, I shall cross my fingers (((:

In Sprouts, i bought quite alot of things as the deals this week are not bad. I spent $15 on black seedless grapes at $0.88/lb, navel oranges at $1.25/lb, yogurt at $4/2, dozen of cageless eggs at $2.49 & brown rice at $0.99/lb. Well, the eggs were not considered cheap. Actually eggs in USA are considered relatively cheap but darling and i always buy the eggs from roaming hens which is much more expensive. According to me, they are healthier with omega-3 and according to darling, they taste better! The tofu costs only $0.97 each after a 25% discount! The ones i usually buy from asian supermarket cost about $1.29. I bought 3 tubs immediately! Hahaha, i love tofu!

In Albertsons, very good deals too! Many things were buy 1 get 1 free. I bought 2 packs of Angel Soft Toilet paper for $9 (BOGO), 4 boxes of kashi cereal for only $2.50, 1 peanut butter at $1.69, sugar at $1.60 & 2 packs of nuts snacks for $1.40 (BOGO). Haha, of cos all these are bought with coupons! Total i spent also about $15.

After that darling wanted to go to Goodwill to look at his gold clubs. But too bad, he couldn't find any good clubs so we left there empty handed.

We reached home at about 12pm. Just in time for lunch! We were both hungy, hungy and very hungry! Lunch was the leftover braised pork belly. Darling cooked kueh chap to go with it. The grapes which we bought from Sprouts were very sweet! Hmm, maybe i will go back again during this weekend to get more!

After lunch at about 12.30pm, darling and i felt tired. We could still take an hour nap as darling needed to leave the house by 2pm. Tick tock, tick tock...time passed so fast. An hour passed and time for darling to wake up and bath. Hmm, the foggy weather really made both of us very sleepy. We were so reluctant to wake up ): Darling and i bought megamillions from Albertsons just now. Hopefully we can strike first prize and hoohoo! Italia, France, Germany, Switzerland, Rome, etc, here i come!

Got freebies in my mailbox again! A box of cereal, supplement for bone and a free panty coupon from Victoria's Secret.

Guess its time for me to hit the gym. Been slacking for the past 1 week? Or is it 2 weeks? Hmm...my fats are accumulating, argh!! I better not give darling a chance to say that i put on weight! Ha!

After i come back from the gym, i need to do my photos again. I want to print out all the photos which i had taken during my recent vacation. But its thousands of photos! It took me a whole day yesterday to load onto the printing software. So frustrating cos it kinda slow down my system. I already got 30 free from CVS. Guess I will order the rest from artscow with my credits. (:

Yanfen, be happy

Hmm...the below is for my good friend Yanfen.

Hey girl, always remember, you have to meet a few wrong ones before you can appreciate the right one. The right person who will make you happy, the right person who doesn't complicate your life and the right person who won't hurt you. And remember to SMILE! Someone out there might be falling in love with your SMILE! So SMILE, SMILE & SMILE!

Sometimes we just gonna meet a few wrong ones before we know how to appreciate the right one. So...life is short. Be happy and stay happy.

Darling is back to work today

Woke up at 6.15am this morning *yawn*...darling gonna report to work by 8am. Breakfast was coffee with my homemade kaya & toast. Darling usually likes white bread but i prefer wheat bread as they are more healthy. Wheat bread tends to be more expensive but when it comes to healthy living, i guess we don't have a choice (:

Yesterday, darling came home at around 4.30pm. The game got extended because of the weather. And since the golf course was just opposite Asia World Market, i asked darling to help me do some marketing for some pork, fish paste & shallots. He came home with a pack of frozen gyoza and my favourite egg tart! With my egg tart on hand, i am one little happy girl again (((:

Well, since its already 4.30pm, we decided that our lunch will be our dinner. Thus our dinner consisted of leftover curry chap chye, 10 gyoza & a plate of stir fry dou miao.

Of cos, darling was the chef while i'm the assistant who is in charged of cooking the rice & photography.

The gyoza turned out not bad actually. Darling used the traditional cooking direction. He pan fried them, poured water into the pot and let the gyoza cooked. The gyoza were unexpectedly nice but definitely did not turn out as nice as those we ate in Las Vegas Chinatown.

Those we ate in Las Vegas were prepared by Shanghai chef and they were really delicious! Thinking of it made us drool!

The house smelled again after the reheating of the curry and cooking the gyoza. Darling used limes & vinegar this time to get rid of the smell. Very very fast, our whole house was free of cooking smell!

After an early dinner at about 5.30pm, darling took a bath and we decided to have an hour nap. But as time goes by, an hour nap became a 2 hour nap. Both of us were completely knocked out. At 7.30pm, we decided to wake up just in case we couldn't sleep at night. Just like babies, both of us were like happy babies after the nap.

Hmm...craving for snack, i thought. Ah huh! Cheesecake! Cheesecake Factory cheesecake! The 2 slices of cheesecake were sponsered by Bingbing. However it was already months ago. Perhaps 3 months ago? Hahaha, as i kept them in the freezer, the cheesecake were definitely still edible. Yummy! Darling made hot coffee as well and wow! Its a treat to have coffee with cheesecake.

But i wonder if there is a worm in darling's stomach. He was hungry again after the cheesecake. Thus i made a sausage bun for him. But after the sausage bun, he took out a pack of potato chips and a bottle of beer. Wow, so envy! How i wish i can be like my darling. Eat so much but forever so slim...

Last night was cold still. We bought a blanket during last winter and placed it on our sofa. This thick blanket serves a good purpose! It keeps us warm while we are in the living room. Burrr....the weather was so cold until a jacket and a blanket couldn't keep me warm. I needed to snuggle beside darling and share his body warmth.

Darling browsed through all the photos taken during this vacation. Time passes fast, especially happy times. Today he got to go back to work ): But never mind, we have got another vacation coming up in december! Disneyworld Florida!!!! Hehehe...shall wait for darling's leave to be approved then we can start booking all the hotels and etc.

Best Hubby Award goes to Papa & Darling!

Last saturday, my mum asked me a question, "So girl, you are married for 1 year. Do you think you marry the right man? I gave my mum a super big radient smile and replied her, "What do you think?" I supposed my mum got my answer as she only smiled and nodded her head. (:

Well, if i will to write down my answer to my mum's question, i know it will be a never-ending and super mushy essay. All i can say is, darling is a perfect hubby in my world. There is nothing else i can ask for. Sometimes darling is abit dumb & super unromantic, but i know he is trying his best. Whenever we quarrel, i can see billions of frown lines & swollen eyes on darling's face. Sometimes, the quarrel got so serious until darling cried and used his fist to beat his own chest and sometimes he will mumble, "why am i so useless.....?" And when after everything is over, he will say in a very sad voice, "my heart was so pain & i couldn't breathe properly. I need hug hug..." Hahaha! Darling can be cheeky & naughty at times too! (((: No matter how unreasonable i am, i am so so soooo glad that darling has never spit out a word of vulgarity on me. And most importantly, our quarrels never last long! Darling and i have a very dependent relationship. We talk everyday, we kiss everyday, we say "I love you" to each other everyday, we hug everyday & of cos, we miss each other everyday. And now, i am taking photos of us everyday. We seek each other's opinion and permission before everything that we do. When we are not beside each other, we call each other many times a day to report and to say "I miss you". All these daily small actions and words really help to bring sparks to our relationship.

Sometimes i hear my mum smilingly "complaining" about how much my dad depends on her. But i know. I know deep down in her heart, she feels sweet and lucky to have such a hubby. She always boost in front of her 4 girls, "My colleagues always say your dad is so nice to fetch me to and fro lunch & work everyday...Your dad is so nice to do all the household chores before i come home...Your dad buys me a handbag for my birthday.." My dad can't eat if my mum is not home from work. My dad can't sleep if my mum is not lying beside him. My dad calls my mum everyday during lunchtime, after work or whenever he is free. My dad does not know english but he will sms my mum "I love you" on her birthday. My dad will still buy flowers for my mum during occasions! Awww...so sweet right? Still so lovey dovey after 35 years.

Everyone has got their perfect hubby in their heart. But in my heart, my dad & my darling are the best. How about yours?

a home alone mon morning

Today woke up rather early at 8am. Its public holiday in USA - Columbus Day. Darling had an golf appointment with his golf khaki, Eric Tay. It was a good night to sleep and both of us were very reluctant to get out of the bed. I made a cup of hot coffee for darling while he was washing up. I prepared his water bottle and 2 stick of energy bars for his snacks. As he will be playing 18 holes, he will only finish his game at around 2pm.

Last night, it was so cold especially after brushing my teeth. I cuddled myself in darling's arm. He had to hug me on bed to warm up my hands and feet in order for me to feel better. Nice!

We did not switch on the heater as we felt the cold is still bearable with our quilt blanket. Our electricity bill for September came. Woohoo~! Its only $81! Haha!

Lunch for today will be the leftover curry chap chye with rice. I'm currently cooking our dinner tonight and darling & bingbing's tomorrow packed lunch. Easy meal. Just braised pork belly with pig stomach, egg, tau pok & bean curd. I can eat this dish with anything. With rice, porridge or kueh chap. I will also be stir frying some dou miao for dinner tonight.

Stupid migraine!!

Just had a hot hot bath on a cold cold day. Oooo...its cold. Its really cold now.

Today, darling & i woke up rather late at 11+am, thus we decided to skip Allen Factory Outlet. So our itenerary for the day had changed to CVS, Walgreens, Grapevine & Yue-mei.

As usual, we had our brunch at home. I made a quick and simple lunch. Minced pork, century egg & salted egg congee. But due to the lack of time, my congee is not so much like congee )))):

It was a cold day today. Thus i decided to put on my boots again, haha! YES, AGAIN! Darling initially wore a burmudas but decided to change into a pair of jeans after he saw that i was wearing a dress, haha!

We finally stepped out of our love nest at around 1+pm.

Our first stop was CVS. Well, i did not get anything from CVS as there was not much good deals this week. As in no free stuff :P

In Walgreens, i needed to get some stuff as my $9 register rewards must be used by today. So i got 3 Calbury chocolate bars at $0.79 each and 2 Scope mouthwash at $7. Well, i only spent $0.40 in all (:

Perhaps i did not sleep well last night. I had a terrible headache. While i was in the forever messy Forever 21, i could not see properly. My head was spinning and i left F21 empty handed. However i saw some beanies hats which i thought of getting it for this coming winter. So nice if i can wear a dress, a coat, a pair of boots & a beanie hat on a snowy day!

Darling got himself a long sleeve golf shirt in Burlington Coat Factory. Winter is coming and i do not think the cold weather will stop my dearest from playing his favourite sports ((((((:

I went to Victoria's Secret.

There is a promotion going on in VS. I will be able to get a PINK t-shirt for $5 with any pink purchase. Hehehe, and of cos the cheapest pink purchase is a $1.50 lollipop! Initially i wanted to give up getting the t-shirt as i could not find any lollipop. But suddenly, something caught my eye. LOLLIPOPS! A big tub of lollipops! I quickly got 1 lollipop & 1 $5 PINK t-shirt. I also received a card for a free VS panty. And how could i give it up right? I got myself a white bikini cut panty. Total with tax, i spent about $7 in VS (((:

My migraine was getting worse and i forgot to bring out my pandadol! ARGH! I sugguested to darling to buy something to snack in and rest on the benches in the mall. We bought pretzel. This time, we got the bite size pretzels combo for $4.99. Yummy!

After grapevine, darling drove to Sprouts. I like sprouts. The things sold there are fresh and not expensive though it appears to be a high class supermarket. I had a Sprouts coupon for 2 cups of free yogurt.

I also bought a loaf of bread

Darling's half dozen of Belgium Beer @ $3.99

4lb of brown rice @ promotion rate of $0.99/lb

2 packs of potato chips for $0.99

and many other stuff such as skim milk @ $1.29, 2 pears @ $0.77/lb, chicken breast at $1.49/lb & black beans @ $0.79/lb. All of these were actually on sale. Good buys i presumed.

Finally our last destination was Yue-mei to do our weekly grocery shopping. Actually wanna go to $1 shop which is just beside Yue-mei but it started pouring. So i guess its best that we quickly finished our marketing and go home asap. As it was a cold day, darling was craving for something hot and spicy. Curry Chap Chye! Yeah! I like curry chap chye! With our own homemade chilli paste and lots of vegetables in it, i can eat alot!! (: Darling also bought 2 spot croacker. He loves steamed fish and so do i! We came back rather late, at around 7pm. I immediately took out my painkiller for migraine. And after 30minutes, i felt so much better. Now the pain is gone. (((:

Darling started to prepare the dinner by cutting the vegetables and cleaning the fishes. I was in charged of unpacking all our purchases, divide the meat & vegetables into smaller packs and put them into the freezer. And of cos, a photographer. Finally at around 8+pm, dinner was ready. Wow...our curry chap chye smelled good!

Dinner was nice but errr...the clearing up was not so good. As our dinner consisted of curry and steamed fish, the whole house smelled. I had to boil a pot of water with vinegar to get rid of the smell. Our kitchen floor and cabinets were oily. Poor darling! He had to clean up everything after cooking the dinner and washing all the dishes.

But lucky me! Lucky that i had such a wonderful hubby who dotes on me soooooooooo much! My dad always ask darling not to spoil me but well...hahahahaha! I am a pampered little wife to my darling!!

Darling cut the pears which we bought at sprouts. They were sweet! Nice nice...maybe can go back tomorrow to get more pears and perhaps more free yogurts??