"We are no longer in Kansas", I mean, Texas..:)

I know, I know, I haven't posted for quite some time but there were some major changes in our lives these past couple of months. First of all....I'm no longer in Texas..:( I've relocated to Lawrence, Kansas, a small college town somewhere in Kansas. Technically, my lil' family had moved here. It was not an easy decision but it was for a better good, rather, a better goal. So despite all reluctance to move from Texas, a place where we have called home for ten years, we packed up whatever we could hold in two cars and left the state to another. It was heartwrenching for me. Sometimes, you never know what you had lost till you lose it. I didn't think I would miss Texas that much. After a while, I began to realise that I was homesick!! Strange even to say it.
When I first lived in Texas, I chanced upon this bumper sticker, it said "I wasn't born in Texas, but I came as fast a I could". I thought that was just too funny. Now that I'm no
longer residing there, I totally understand what that means.

Texas is one of those places that grows on you, it sneaks under your skin and before you know it, you're hooked! I'm always a little cynical of Texas' bigger than life mentality and sneered a little at their belief of it being a "worldly metropolitan" city. Well, I was wrong! Yes, it has its quirks and what not but trust that bumper sticker! The only regret I had was that I didn't really "make use" of my time there. In retrospect, I could have "utilize" my time there a little better. As for considering itself as a metropolitan town. It is, in its own special way; it's very multi-cultural and you have almost everything you would need in that lil' big town.
All in all, Texas is a big state with an even bigger heart! Definitely one of the friendliest people I had ever met! You know what, I could even live with the heat if I could stay there just one more day. Alas, we had to move and move we did......

Lawrence is a good place for small families like us but it's not Texas. Being brought up in a city environment, I guess I'm just not used to the small town, country life. Lawrence has its beauty, it's very scenic (codeword for country/rural) and very quaint (codeword for one of everything instead of 50 of everything). You don't pay for "options" of the big city which is a very good

thing. And once I get over the FACT that it's NOT Texas, I think I would be able to enjoy its perks. Meanwhile I'll just wallow over the fact that I'm no longer IN Texas!!! Lawrence, Kansas is a good place but Texas....an even better place...

The pics here are taken on my day in Lawrence from our apt balconey. All that snow is a pretty sight, a definite change from Texas scenery (give my city skyline!!). My husband had been real "guilty" about the move since he knew I love the city life, so he had been so nice as to drive us to Kansas City each weekend so I wouldn't be that "homesick". It's awfully sweet of him, but really, I'm sick of the long drive already!!!! On a bittersweet note, we are going back to Dallas next week................TO PACK UP THE REST OF OUR STUFF FOR THE MOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sugar Plums

I never had sugar plums before; plums, yes, but sugar plums...nope. You hear all about them during Christmas time, it's always sugar plums this and sugar plums that! I always thought they were just candy for Christmas! Little did I know that they are actually fruits?!?!?! And after all my years in the US of A, I'd never ever seen a REAL sugar plum. So when I saw that in my local grocery store, I bought a bunch of it! I mean, with a name like sugar plums, you really can't go wrong. And I wasn't....they were sweet!!

Unlike most plums, these sugar varieties have "sweet" skins instead of the tart ones on regular plums. A real and rare treat for me; who loves plums but just hate peeling the outer skin just to get to the sweet fleshy insides. With these sugar plums, all you need is to wash, dry and bite right into it! They are not that big either, smaller than the usual plums bigger than a grape, so you can really get carried away with the eating part.



However I found that they ripened really fast even if you try to keep it refridgerated. Solution to that, buy as much as you think you can consume within the next couple of days and finish it so you wouldn't have to keep. We don't have any problem with eating part since I've got a fruit bat for a son.


The only problem is that plums seems out of season now and I just can't find them in the store anymore!! It was such a short season too...:( Still I'm glad I finally can say, I'd eaten sugar plums and, boy, they were great, not just as a decorative piece!!! :)

First Timer's Wedding Cake

One week researching on the internet and books, three days coming up with the actual design on blueprint and planning, plus three more days of actually making it in various stages.....this is the outcome............

Yup, I made a wedding cake for a very close family friend. They are FINALLY tying the knot, so why not! This is also my first attempt of making a fondant type cake. I made everything from scratch, except for the flowers, I didn't grow them!!! :) I didn't tell them about the cake coz I don't want to dissapoint anyone if it turned out to be a disaster and I didn't have a cake to give when they expected it. Well...it turned out to be a lovely surprise for them...they didn't expect it...LOL



I did so much research on the type of cake that I was really really stressed out! It also had to be assemble over the course of three cakes. So lets say that I screwed up on day three...I'm pretty much done and over with!!! Didn't have the time to do any thing else...and all effort would have gone down the drain!

The toughest part, surprisely, was baking the cake itself. I guessed I was a little over confident with the cake part since I bake a fair amount of it with no major disaster. The part which I thought would most likely to fail turned out to be the "easiest".

Of course, by the end of the whole thing, I was totally exhausted to say the least and was not really paying a whole lot of attention to what I'm doing. Main goal at the end was just finished up with whatever and slap it aside!! Hehehhe...bad attitude but with barely six hours of sleep each day and having to do everything else...it was definintey a brain drain!



Ed thought it was pretty good especially for a first-timer and asked if I was gonna start a new profession. Sure....that and find a cure for Cancer and AIDS, end world hunger, create world peace...oh yah oh yah.....find time to sleep...:)

Just for you guys, N & K, congrats again!!!! See ya this weekend!!! :)

PS: Did I mention I LOVE FONDANT!!!! They are like foundation, pretty much cover up MOST "blemishes"!!! ;)

PSS: San, CONGRATS AGAIN on your baptism!! Sorry that I didn't know....I'm a lousy friend!! :(

Arboretum in Autumn

 
  

Weekend Bounty

Ethan and I love the local Farmer's Market; espeically during the weekends when there're more produce out there! It's an open air market and they have tons of fresh vegetables and fruits that even non vege lovers, like my husband, can't resist the temptation of getting something....just because...:)On top of that, each vendor distributes slices of their fruits in order to lure innocent grazers like my husband and Ethan. Oh yah...they inhale EVERYTHING, did they INHALE!! My little boy was on a sensory overload with all those wonderful luscious fruits baiting at him. He just couldn't resist in grabbing every little morsels given by every vendor. Most of the time I try to be cautious with food given in this manner but I figured that it was pretty much "clean" since it's cut directly from the fruit and not place on anything. Besides, I really can't bear to stop Ethan from all his unadulterated innocent greediness!!!

As you can clearly guess what happened during one of our hunts, we came back with our loot - a whole crate filled with fresh lovely summer strawberries on top with many other things. I wasn't planning on strawberries but really, can you resist such beauty glaring at you..:) Well, I bought my crate, there's only two adults and 1 child, of course, Ethan wouldn't have any problems stuffing his face with just strawberries at every meal but somehow I don't think that would speak much for my husband and I as "good" parents. Besides eating all those strawberries as it would just be too boring....:)



Soooo...I made strawberry jam with half of strawberry loot! And yah...I made it with a little less sugar and substitute that with Splenda to cut the sugar content down a little (Advice: it does give an aftertaste like that of aspartame). Nevertheless I did that to cut all that sugar from jam making and yes I also use pectin which in hindsight, I shouldn't have but I did, regretably. In any case, my pectin didn't exactly jell my jam well and made it more like a compote instead. Nevertheless I thought it tasted very strawberry jam like and kept it as such. I also tried to make a jelly roll out of the homemade jam but it was just too runny and ruined my roll! Since then, I'd looked into other options other than using pectin! Probably will try it again some other time. It was just a little more time consuming that I had initially thought. A little too fussy as well considering that it only has two main ingredients; strawberries and sugar and oh yah, pectin! And all that cleanup?!?!? I don't think my kitchen recovered from my weekend strawberry explosion!

As for the jam recipe using pectin. Do some research on the net, buy the pectin and it usually comes with the instructions right there. You pretty much only need 2 ingredients, like I said, strawberries (if it's gonna be strawberry jam) and sugar. And pectin is a real sensitive ingredient so I guess another "ingredient" would be PRAYERS! :D

Mother Nature

Just something I wanted to share from my photo collection. With all the negativity that we are having these days, sometimes it's good for the soul to look at something positive! I took these pics a while ago, I think in Spring, and just didn't want to post them for some unknown reason. I guess I was just forgetful! Hehehhe.. anyway, these flowers are compliments of the Dallas Arboretum. Ain't they beautiful? Enjoy and have a great week everyone!!! :)

Doggie Dreams

Picture of my bro's doggie, took it when I was back home few months ago, she's sweet huh?!?! Well, this post will have nothing to do with this cutie though...hehehe.....

Each time I go back home, there's always some sort of "trend" that people will follow to the point of worship. You know those people...;) Sometimes they do it with so much fervor that it completely amuses me. Most will know that food is topic that you can't avoid when you're home, in fact it's the main thing that preoccupies one's mind at all time. And with people like this, it's pretty much all the time..;)

Ok...here comes the ranting....:) (promise I'll TRY to make it as short as possible...)

Ironically, when it comes to all those glorious food out there in Singapore, people I know, are just not that interested in it. To be specific, it's a battle for them, there's food, but they are so particular about cholestrol this, fat that, oil this, sugar that, it's just IMPOSSIBLE to eat ANYTHING without someone remarking "it's too fattening". Ok...I'm just tired of hearing that phrase. It's also rather amusing at the same time. Their concern is not moderate, it's what they live for, it's consuming their commonsense as well...it's basically, eating them up!!!! (ignore the puns :) )

Let me give you a short list of what's no-no back home. Anything fried, bad! Anything with coconut milk, really bad. Sugar, there's always some excuses of it being bad but will eat with "moderation" (saying this with tongue in cheek)..hehehe.. Rice, bad, coz we all "know" all white foods are bad (all thanks to those fad diets out there naming white foods as culprits). So more or less, EVERYTHING is bad!!

Look, you've got to eat some time or another....besides what a way to live...NOT EATING! I wonder if the word "moderation" is mis-interpreted somehow??? hehehe.. I believe that everything is ok to eat, it's not what you eat, is how much you eat. I mean, if you want to live a "healthy" life by simply eating raw vegetables only, I'm sure somehow that would seriously mess up your body. Everything in moderation is my motto. It really doesn't really matter what you eat, as long as you eat in moderation, and eating balance meals, I think that's the way to go. Not going around starving your body of so-called "bad" foods and condemning others who would venture to eat them..*winks*

With all those funky food fads and diets out there...it's really impossible to send out the message that it's alright to eat foods with oil, with butter, with sugar, with salt, with red meat, etc....just do it in moderation...that should be the key....;)


Note: No, I'm not a dietician nor a diet guru....just expressing my personal opinion on a constant amusing observation..:) Did I mention....I saw a square watermelon as well...;) Next post...ehehhe

Cookbooks Have Arrrived!!!!

My terribly belated Valentine's gifts...well, actually, not so much as gifts. I had them in my wish list and my husband thought it would be a good time to get me these books (erm, actually just joined this discount book club and to make himself feel less guilty for buying HIS books, he bought some for me as well...*sigh* so to kill two birds with one stone!!). As for me, I'm happy that I got them.....regardless the intentions....hehehe..

My favourite is the Boulevard: The Cookbook. It's fantastic and I'm dying to try out of the recipes. I can't wait to go to the store to get all my ingredients. It will be interesting since some of these recipes takes a little skill and TIME!! LOL!

I think the "simplest" book to follow is Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners. It's easy and looks soooo tasty and so family friendly!! I love it!! I had tried out 2 of the recipes there (both desserts) and both hubby and son loved it. Plus the fact that the desserts were sweet (too sweet for me). I can't wait to try out more of them!! I had the whole book so laddened with tags that Ed asked why I even bother, I might as well just save the tags and use them to mark those that I wouldn't be trying out sooner!!! WHATEVER!!

The other two books were just as amazing, I just didn't have enough time to scrutinize them enough! hehehe.. My next book would be Batali's books....I think it would be interesting espeically now that I'm into making my own pasta. I think his book would be helpful...

For now I'm seriously contented with these wonderful "gifts" even though they were given under a different motive!!! ;)

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 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*

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!! 

All Hallow's Eve