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!!!