Thursday, August 30, 2012

You're such a tease, Walmart.

At first you make me think I'm going to get a great deal on some printer ink..

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I should have known you were "just kidding"

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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Just coz it looked pretty :)

At some point last week,  we had

Pork Chop with Mushroom Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Stir Fried Asparagus with Garlic and Tomatoes

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Hainanese Chicken Rice with skinless chicken breast, stir fried Yau Choy and chicken broth soup.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The Latest Addition to our Angry Birds Collection by Mama

 Lazer Bird


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aka Purple Space Angry Bird

aka Big-a-bong ( apparently that's the sound he makes when he hits them egg-snatching pigs, according to the little boy )

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Experimentation and Improvisation

I had gotten some bao/chinese dumpling/bun flour from a trip to dallas in May, and thought I'd give it a whirl.  I had never tried steaming buns before, and I was sure it was going to be a horrible failure.

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Well, as it turned out, it didn't LOOK too bad, but it certainly didn't taste like home.

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I  made the filling too sweet, and nowhere near what I was used to, but in my defence, I followed the instructions on the package to the best of my ability.  I'll just have to try something different the next time.

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Anyway, since I didn't think they would turn out okay, I had a Plan B as well, and that was to fry the filling in Popiah skin.  That one turned out okay too.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I suppose one should always take change in one's stride, but I have not been looking forward to Facebook changing my profile to the dreaded TIMELINE

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I think that if you use Facebook on your phone or tablet, you are converted to the timeline much earlier, and I usually just open it up on the laptop. I was hoping that by some glitch in their system, that I would be spared it as everyone around me started getting theirs converted and I still had the old format.

Alas, t'was not to be so. *sigh&

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Dinner at Our House

It is soooooo hot in the summer time - it was 108 F for a high today.

Which brings us to the dilemma of making meals.  The oven is out of the question on these dog days, and I come from a culture where we don't traditionally eat sandwiches or salads for dinner, so I naturally gravitate to stir frying each time.

Tonight we had stir fried beans with carrots and glass noodles,

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Stir fried "tomato" chicken and tofu with vegetables

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served with some simple stir fried thin spaghetti noodles, asian pear and grapes.

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On days like these too, I am thankful for those little mini microwaveable cakes ( shared with the hubs and the little boy ) that are wonderful with a dollop of frozen yogurt.



Saturday, August 11, 2012

Just like Daddy

"Look Mummy, I have a beard and moustache just like Daddy!"
( courtesy of some bacon )

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Some say "Splash Pad", some say "SprayGround"

But to Jaxon, the water feature that has just opened over at Nelson Park ( dubbed Nelson Splash ), is just fun fun fun!

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We were on our way home from Sabrina, Holly & Tyler's joint birthday party, and thought we'd stop by the park to have a look at the splash pad.

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Of course, once the little boy caught sight of it, there was no way we could just turn around and LEAVE :)

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I always keep a change of the little boy's clothes in the car, and so we took off his shirt and let him loose :P

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It was evening when we got there, just a little over 8 pm, I think, and there was a glorious sunset in the background. It was still warm enough to splash in the cool water without getting too cold either.

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I mean, just look at that face! :)

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I know we'll be back several more times before the summer is over, for sure :)

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Thursday, August 09, 2012

Blimey, a food post!

I haven't posted food posts in a while.  Now that we have stopped doing Letti Thursday all together since Grandad passed, I need extra "inspiration", I guess, to do one.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED taking pictures of the food I made - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Well, a blogger friend of mind, Pris, decided to be brave and made some Chai Tow Kway ( Fried Radish Cake ) the other day.  Since I haven't had this "hawker food" in almost a decade, I decided to give it a try.  And amazingly enough, I had all the ingredients - I mean, fish sauce?  pickled radish?!  rice flour !? It was like I was hoarding these ingredients just to make this dish :)

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I followed the recipe featured on Rasa Malaysia, and surprise surprise, the hubs was very impressed! He was singing its praises and all that, even when I told him it had "fish sauce" in it. LOL!

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That, along with some stir fried Japanese Eggplant/ Brinjal, some leftover hot wings and yellow watermelon, dinner was yum yum good!




Monday, August 06, 2012

On the Sewing Front

I haven't made any dresses or shirts, or any more pillowcases,

but rather, what I HAVE been making, are these....

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the ones that are "spotlighted or highlighted" are the ones that I have made for the little boy. Throughout the next few photos, you will notice that they are not looking very snappy, but then when a 3 year old plays with you day in and day out and makes you perform as he believes an angry bird and pig should perform, you would be a little worse for wear as well.

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They are made out of felt - not the best/most durable thing out there, but they were cheap and easy to deal with, and was what I had left over from some Felt Board projects I did with the little boy.

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Most seasoned seamstresses would probably roll their eyes in sheer horror at my "handiwork", but hey, for someone who has hardly any experience in sewing, I think I didn't do too shabby... except for this "space mask" for Sad Bird in the next pic. That one was pretty bad. LOL.

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BUT more importantly, the little boy enjoys playing with them so much and is sooo appreciative that it just doesn't matter.

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It makes me happy to see that little face light up and the little boy start squealing in delight whenever he is surprised with a new bird/pig to be added to his collection. :)

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He found a little piece of black scrap felt in the room, and gave Green Space Angry Bird a cape! :)


Are you watching

Curiosity land on Mars too? :)


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Saturday, August 04, 2012

Overzealous

Someone had some passive aggressive issues or SOMETHING.

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That's one way

to beat the heat...

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while giving the grass a much needed drink.

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Wednesday, August 01, 2012

A Wedding

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Last Saturday, we attended Xiaqi's wedding at Jacob's Dream on the ACU grounds.

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Xiaqi is Xia Yu's sister, and if I'm not mistaken, was previously a dance teacher in China. She certainly looks the part, what with her petite-ness and poised elegance.

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It has been an unrelenting summer ( as well as spring, but that's another story ), and so it was no surprise that for an outdoor event, the wedding was scheduled for 9:50 am.

Even though it wasn't sweltering by the time the nuptials were over, we were still glad to be in the air conditioned family room at University Church for the reception.


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Needless to say, our little boy, who is usually not too shy, made a few little friends there as well :)

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