East meets West

I miss Malaysian food.

I know that sounds like a constant yap, but seriously.. *sigh*

I miss soupy noodles, chicken rice, all sorts of different snacks and hawker food, road side stalls, night markets etc. etc. and although there is a big variety in Western cuisine, I have to say that I never baked a fish, chicken etc before I got here. Plus, almost all the vegetables I had was stir fried or in some soup etc.. (it's still difficult to find a lot of Asian vegetables/fruits in the market)

Sometimes, I'll make a soupy dish for myself for dinner and make more Western fare for David. Like a couple of nights ago, we both had fish, except he had baked fish with a salad, and I had fish and vegetable soup. Yum.

David's dinner

My dinner

Tonight however, we both had turkey chili dogs...*laugh*

Fires in Texas and Oklahoma

We always hear about fires in faraway places

like California, but now it is so close to home it's scary.

( Excerpts and photographs borrowed from Abilene Reporter News Online )

CROSS PLAINS -

Fires have swept across Texas this week, engulfing Cross Plains, a town of 1,070 about 47 miles southeast of Abilene in Callahan County. After a particularly dry season, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for a number of Big Country counties because of the heightened risk of fires.

Taylor and most area counties have enacted bans on outside burning, and some counties also are restricting firework use. Of 23 counties in the Big Country, only Scurry and Throckmorton do not have burn bans, according to the Texas Forest Service on Wednesday.

I'm going to be an aunt again! Twice!

Beautiful Babes and their babies..

I became an aunt in Nov 2003 and then again in Dec 2003... now both my sister Joanna and sister in law Winnie are going to be mommies again in 2006! Congratulations, girls!!!!!

Practise being good big brothers now, boys!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND SEASON'S GREETINGS 2005

Season's Greetings, Y'ALL!

T'is the Season .... to be SILLY

Shana's Birthday Party earlier this month...

Merry Christmas one and all!

T'is the Season ..... still

My First Roast Turkey Attempt

The Trusty Oven



"During"

TA DA!!!!

Not too bad, aye?

My sinuses hurt

Artic Front, they call it...

From a low of 18 F ( - 7.8 C ) at 6 a.m. this morning, it's just gone up one degree to 19F and it's 1.30 in the afternoon. No wonder my sinuses are aching. *sigh* K. Restoule in Canada would wonder what all the hue and cry was about, but a few days ago it was in the 80s!!!!!

My Father Always Said...

A Family that Eats together Sticks Together

Yesterday, we had dinner at the Abilene Civic Center - a free meal sponsored by the H.E.B Grocery chain, a Texas grocery chain that, in the past 10 years or so, has expanded over to Mexico.

This year, H.E.B. celebrates its 100th year of serving Texans ( or Texicans ) and the free meal that we attended was one of their annual Feast of Sharing events that is held in cities all over Texas.

Glazed Ham, Southern Style Corn, Mashed Potatoes, Rolls AND apple pie (yummmmmm )

It was advertised that they were preparing meals for 7,000 and the event was from 3 pm till 7 pm but it looks like they may have underestimated the response!

Am I wearing the antlers the wrong way? *grin* Walter doesn't seem to think so!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us.
They're green when summer days are bright:
They're green when winter snow is white.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us.

It was the first time it was held in Abilene, so we were part of a pretty historical event.
*burp*

Immersing in Culture

There may be lights in Malaysia during Christmas

but being a predominantly Muslim country, there aren't many pre-Christmas traditions/happenings that are observed. Sure, there is the departmental store sales, the lighted streets and commercials on TV as well as Christmas songs on radio stations, but that's almost about it.

That's why it's so thrilling to be somewhere where the whole Christmas experience is maximized. Granted, some of it is the result of a lot of commercialism and economics, but still, there is no missing the Spirit in the air..

Today, we joined Cindy at Church for Breakfast with Santa, and I had my picture taken for the very first time with the Jolly Man in Red himself ( but as Elizabeth, our 5 year old niece whispered to me, "Well, you know he isn't REALLY Santa"), had pancakes and sausages and decorated Gingerbreadman cookies..

Unfortunately, my cookie fell on the ground and poor Gingerbread Guy broke his left arm..

Watch this space for some Christmas Parade Pictures soon!

Beat the Christmas Panic

Last year, our Christmas presents arrived in Malaysia

a day or two late.

This year, we're trying to make sure they get there in time, so off they went via the *crossing-my-fingers* US Postal Service last Friday.... and oughta be there in a couple of weeks!

Hurrah! Just wish that shipping wasn't that atrocious though...*sigh* We may have to ship Christmas off in OCTOBER next year..hehe..

SEASON'S GREETINGS EVERYONE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!!!

Henry is officially 1 year old...

Love ya, henry slobberlips woods.

MY TOMATOES ARE DEAD!!!!

A hard freeze hit

and lasted about 10 hours, and so my crops are deader than dead..*sigh* We managed to get some tropical plants indoors into climate controlled circumstances and those ones were saved..*double sigh*

see ya next year, little tomaties...

T'is the season.

We were brave..

and got our flu shots today...

Mystery of the Missing Kitty

Tuesdays are for Tacos

at Rosa's, with their famous Taco Tuesday

Last Tuesday wasn't any different. We got ready, met up with the rest of the family for dinner, shopped at Walmart afterwards, came home and got on with our business.

A few hours later, David comes around to my "study" and asks if I've seen Tabby in the last few hours. Hmmm...

We look all over the house for Tabby for a bit, especially his "favourite hangouts" when I suddenly wondered if one of the things I'm always afraid would happen, ( other than one of us leaving the door open and Tabby "springing free" - which he wouldn't, with the good food he gets in here! ) actually did happen.

I walked straight into the bedroom, opened up my closet door, and was greeted with a mess.

Clothes on hangers were now on the floor, clothes on shelves were also on the floor, and before I could even roll my eyes, a squinting Tabby ( it had been dark in the closet ) zips out of the closet past my legs and runs out of the bedroom.

Well, partly my fault for not looking more carefully before, and now i'm stuck with having to do more laundry than I had anticipated, not that Tabby had peed on anything, but oh well. He didn't seem too traumatised by the whole thing.

Knackered Kitty

Pumpkin Carving for Beginners

Excuse my enthusiasm,

Halloween being over and all that, but I carved my first 2 pumpkins this past halloween and like a proud momma, wanna share the results :)

*Please be patient as the pictures load*

The Template, Witchy Poo

Cut out the top, use scraper to scrape out the insides of the pumpkin

Take a moment to prepare for what comes next...

Paste stencil on pumpkin, use the sharp thingy to outline pattern on pumpkin, then use the saw to carve out pattern

Witchy Poo in all her splendour, flanked by the actual FIRST attempt, a Chinese halloween pumpkin with the words Prosperity and jaggedy teeth..Bleh.

Happy 5th Birthday, Girl!

Elizabeth's Birthday Bash

Can you guess her favourite movie of the moment?

(pssst: Madagascar..Kudos to Shana for a GGGGRRRRREAT cake!)