Chinese New Year Blues

Chinese New Year Goodies

Although this won't be the first Chinese New Year I'll be away from my family ( it's only the second, though ), it doesn't get any easier. When I arrived in Winter 2003, I was still in awe over being in a new country, being with David at last and overwhelmed by the onslaught of new sights, sounds, experiences and yes, WINTER!

This year, having been "seasoned", I find myself aching for all things Malaysian. Especially now..when it's just a week or so away from Chinese New Year (CNY), which is probably the biggest Chinese cultural celebration anywhere. Abilene, having an Asian population of just 0.18%, is not the place to be if you're feeling the CNY blues...

Back home everything would be awashed in RED RED and more RED and streets would be decorated with chinese new year knick knacks and shophouses bustling with activity. This time every year, those that are back home already for big CNY reunion would be helping to decorate the house and maybe even preparing CNY cookies.

It's equivalent to the Christmas atmosphere over here and I miss it so much.

It's a Small World After All

Ever notice...

How similar the American and Malaysian Flags are?

Me too

Girls' Day Out

Happiness is having family members around who are artistic wonder women

Today, I went out with David's brilliant nieces and sisters and GOT MY WEDDING DRESS!!!! There won't be a preview of that for now ( will post at a later date, though..) but we also got a guest book, guest pen, flower basket for Elizabeth, the flower girl, some sparkly bling bling hair snaps, a tiara and a veil..which judy is going to sew sequins on, and i'm sure will turn out just gorgeous....watch this space for updates!

*Letti strikes more items off THE LIST..*

Beginnings of an Herb Garden

Spring onions/Scallions have always..

figured in a quite heavily into the stuff that i cook and so David bought me a bunch of em at Lowe's and so this morning we planted them in our backyard......

p/s is it AN herb or A herb?

Give me my Midol

Blog Explosion Knows My BioRhythms....

I was clicking through BE, reading blogs when I come across the "mystery credits" page and this was what I had to type in...

Too much information? *lol*

Tex-Mex Breakfast

Simple Fool Proof Tex-Mex Eggs

Ingredients:

1 bell pepper/capsicum
1/4 Large Yellow Onion
1 tomato
1 jalapeno pepper
4 eggs
Sliced Almonds
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Cumin seeds

Method:

• Chop up bell pepper, onion, tomato, jalapeno and either cook in microwave for 5 minutes on High and then transfer to skillet or cook on skillet till onion rather soft
• Sprinkle cayenne pepper, paprika and cumin seeds ( according to how much pepper/spice you can take - I usually use about a 1 tbs of cayenne, 1/2 tbs paprika and 1 tbs cumin seeds ) onto ingredients and mix in.
• Break eggs onto top of vegetables and cover ( optional )
• When eggs semi cooked, sprinkle on the almonds for that extra nutty taste and added crunchy texture
• Serve while hot

DEEELICIOUS!!!!!

Going to the Chapel and we're.....

It's confirmed...

I called up the Chapel this morning and we GOT THE PLACE FOR THE WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I can get on to all the nitty gritty details......

Too Much MUST SEE TV

After a marathon of ..

NUMB3RS
Amazing Race ( pre-recorded from last week to keep up with next week's episode ), and
Desperate Housewives last night,
I could not keep my eyes open to watch more than 10 minutes of HUFF, a SHOTIME favourite of mine....

And tonight there's Medium and 24!!!!

Am I a Prime Time Junkie or what?!

The Generation Non-Gap

*Gasp* was probably the sound..

that would have come out of me if i had allowed it. You see, the first time I heard David's nephew/nieces call him by name ( and without the customary "Uncle" in front ), i was shocked...and when they teased him or took jabs at him, my jaw must have dropped open. He took it all good naturedly and teased them back. I quickly realised it was all friendly family banter. David's oldest sister is about 13 years older than he is, so his nieces and nephew are either older than I am, around my age, or not that much younger.

Even so, it took me a while before I could call David's dad Walter, without feeling like I was supremely rude and disrespectful.

On the other hand, in Asian cultures, there is always a hierarchy of who comes first on the family tree and hence needs to be duly respected and addressed by their respective titles i.e aunt/great-aunt/grand-uncle ( as you can see from this list ). You name it, there is a chinese title out there for your mother's uncle's cousin twice removed and so forth but NEVER EVER call them by their first name.

At the dinner table, an Asian person would be considered rather rude if he did not address all the older people by turn, at the table and "invite them to partake in the meal", as it were, before they dug in! I still do that with my parents and family back in Malaysia.

Everyone in David's family calls me "Letti" - even his little 4 year old great-niece ( OMG i'm a great-aunt ) - and you know what? I love it because it breaks down all the generation barriers and allows you to be closer to one another on so many levels.

.

What cooking for 2 will do to you ( Part II )

More domestication....

BREAKFAST

David's mom used to make this "toast-with-circle-cut-out-and-egg-fried-within" treat for them when they went camping as kids

DINNER

Noodles, Crab Meat and Corn Soup & Stir Fried Vegetables with Fish

What cooking for 2 will do to you

A little over a year ago...

meals for me were whatever I could cook up in the shortest times, i.e. instant noodles and slapped-together sandwiches...

I would not have imagined that a year later, I would be preparing meals like this!

BREAKFAST

Eggs, sausages, bacon, toast and orange juice

DINNER

Spinach and Cherry Tomato Salad with Buffalo Wings

Does this mean i'm getting domesticated?

Sunsets in Abilene ( Part II )

These pictures were taken at sunset when the sun was casting a strong orange glow on everything...and with me on my tummy.

Pretty, ain't it?

The GQ Post

There is a function tomorrow..

that David and I are attending..and it's going to be a long day..

I know how he can get...looking for his tie and belt frantically at the very last minute tomorrow and worrying about creases in his pants and shirt; so I have laid out everything from his socks to his shoes and jacket to pants for him....everything.

Good thing is, he knows how lucky he is :)

Let the Idolism begin!

Just a couple of questions..

1. Did anyone else cringe at the auditions?

2. Will there be another William Hung??

That's a pretty scary thought

The Eccentric in Us

I don't like DiCRAPio (sic),

but we watched The Aviator last night.

It was a good movie and Howard Hughes IS quite THE eccentric, but in a way, I could relate to him. No, i do not wash my hands furiously till they bleed because I'm a germaphobe, nor do I have extravagant amounts of wealth to flaunt, but I related to the OCD part of him.

I'm not a true obsessive compulsive, but I do find myself locking and unlocking the car door with the remote deal several times over and over to make sure I actually DID lock it, and before I leave the house, sometimes I have to check the stove several times. And I find myself being like "Monk" sometimes in that if I see a picture on the wall that is a little askew, i'm itching to straighten it even if it was in someone ELSE's house.

Not too long ago, I came across a blog of a lady who WAS diagnosed with OCD, and who was quite crippled by it because she said that she often tries to get some things done so perfectly that an enjoyable family gathering or activity becomes really stressful and makes her frustrated and angry.

That's how I am sometimes too. Getting caught up with wanting things a certain way and getting so lost in all the stress that I forget the people around me whom I'm supposed to be enjoying doing the thing with in the first place.

So that is going to be a resolution. To worry less and live more.

Heaven is ....

an Asian Noodle House....

that does not Westernize their menu. I stumbled upon this restaurant about a week ago and had been looking for a chance to try it out. So, after trying on bridal gowns on Friday with Cindy ( and yes, i think i have found THE ONE ), we stopped by "A Taste of Asia" for lunch.

AND it truly was a taste of Asia. THIS is sooo like the food back in Malaysia it almost brought tears to my eyes. And yes, they have FISH WITH THE HEAD STILL ON, on the menu.

I didn't want to freak Cindy out by ordering anything that stared back at her, so I had duck noodles (right) and she had beef noodles (below).

Now I'm thinking of holding a Chinese Style Wedding Banquet there for family and close friends..

Ma'am's the word...

It used to be "Miss",

or even "Doctor Letti" most of the time back home, but now i'm a "ma'am".

However, that's the polite Southern way, and I am afraid I must had offended a bunch of people when I first got to Texas by not calling them "ma'am" or "sir" (only because it's not the Asian way, which by the way, calling someone "Auntie" might even be worse....) but do I look like a Ma'am to you!?!?

On the other hand, when i have children, i'd probably insist they called everyone a ma'am or a sir.

I've been Clipartified

I did a double take the other day..

As I flipped through some cliparts to see which ones I could use for my blog, I came across one that looked oddly familiar..

Can you tell which is the clipart and which is letti?

I need a Sombrero

Thank goodness for Betty Crocker..

I know there will be a lot of eyes rolling out there, but on days when inspiration fails and I really do NOT want to open another Asian Cookbook and at the same time do not want to search my brain for some American recipe that I'm probably really bad at, there's always the Cheesy Enchilada ( made with chicken ), Corn Tortillas and Guacamole dip with carrots and celery sticks..

But that doesn't stop me from ogling all the Malaysian Food blogs and demanding that people FedEx me stuff!

Clicking vs. Exploding

I guess just about everyone...

out there with a now has a

For now, i'm clicking on both to read blogs because there are still really good sites that are found on one that isn't in the other ( or at least i hadn't come across them before )

While with BE, i used to have a bit of a problem clicking on different iterations of the same numbers, with BC having to distinguish an upside down dog from an elephant that has been rotated 90 degrees clockwise can sometimes make me go *blink blink*. I wonder if anyone else has this little problem. Other than that little glitch in my brain, i'm really glad I came across BE while clicking "next blog" after "next blog" just a month ago, and now BC.

Maybe it's just my brain telling me it's time to get off my butt and out into the sunshine and fresh air for a while.