Welcoming in the Year of the Ox

Today is the eve of Chinese New Year. The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the reunion dinner every family will have. So not forgetting this tradition, we had a little feast and invited the family over. We were also fortunate to have our friends, Selena and Phillip, over for the weekend.

It is also believed that the color red is commonly worn during Chinese New Year because red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. So here we are in red...


Here are other beliefs :

For Good luck

• Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year. (It's going to be really cold tonight)
  
• Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year. (maybe the night light counts)
  
• Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year. (chocolates are sweet. So that counts)
  
• It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, cleaning the house on or after New Year's Day is frowned upon)(Hmm... I tried. But the house is never completely clean, but I can be sure I won't be cleaning tomorrow :))
  
• Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Chinese people will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity. (so I should play poker on Facebook?)
  
• Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you. (Check. Yes, I am wearing one. So stop gossiping about me you people)
  
• The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year. (Would showering in handmade soap that smells like pomelo work?)
  

Kong Hee Fatt Choy!!!

Of parties and eggs and SpongeBob

It's the time of year for holiday parties and Santa gift exchanges.
Last night, we went to Jason's colleague's house for their holiday party. We all pitched in and brought a dish. So I made some deviled eggs. I boiled 2 dozen eggs. Broke one. (Fried that one for later) And some didn't peel well. I ate those uglier looking ones and boiled 5 more. Sliced those eggs in half and placed 36 halves on the egg tray. And ate the extras. And ate a couple more at the party.
(I hope there is nothing wrong with eating too many eggs in one day. My cholesterol level probably just hit the roof)

Party was great. We each brought an anonymous gift and did the Secret Santa/White Elephant gift exchange. You pick a number. Smallest number gets to pick a gift first. Number 2 gets to decide if he wants to steal Number 1's gift or pick a gift from under the tree, and so on. If a gift gets stolen for the 3rd time, it's frozen and nobody gets to steal it anymore.

I decided to steal someone's Panera cookies and Panera gift card. Unfortunately, someone stole it right back from me. There was one last gift under the tree which I could not pick because it was the gift we brought. So I had to steal again. We ended up going home with a hideous pineapple frilly handbag (think SpongeBob), some chocolates and a handheld game.
But it was better than that Snowman lamp that Todd got stuck with, or the apron that keeps coming back year after year... Maybe the SpongeBob handbag will show up again next year as a gift bag.

Happy Easter

It's been awhile since I made something for the neighbors. So since it's Easter, I thought it'd be a good time to give everyone something. I made some Pecan cupcakes and decorated them with carrots. The carrots were molded out of Starburst fruit chews (featured in last month's Woman's Day magazine). I got tired of "making" so many carrots so Jason came up with his brilliant idea of using white chocolate bits and mixing colors and turning them into carrots. I now have a lot of extra chocolate carrots. Anyone care for some?


And I just finished making a Easter Brownie cake for the Easter brunch on Sunday.

Thanksgiving prep

Thought I'll just share the recipe of this Strawberry Pretzel Salad that I've been requested to make for tomorrow.

Crust : 2 cups crushed pretzels, 3/4 cup butter (melted), 4 tablespoons sugar.
Mix together and press onto a 13x9" dish
Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes
Remove from oven and cool.

Next layer : 8 oz softened cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, 8 oz (1 tub) cool whip
Whip together and fold in cool whip
Spread over cooled pretzel crust

Next layer : 6 oz package strawberry jello, 2 cups boiling water
Mix together until jello dissolves.
Add 20 oz of slightly thawed frozen sliced strawberries and mix until mixture is cooled.
Pour evenly over cream cheese mixture.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny cake that my mom-in-law made.

Irish for a day

I shall be Irish today. I'll wear green, eat Irish food and maybe take a sip of Baileys.
We'll be making some glazed corned beef, potatoes and cabbage.
And I made a Cinnamon Swirl cake. (I know that's not very Irish so Jason and I attempted to decorate it with a shamrock on the white frosting to make it look Irishy)
The conclusion... I simply cannot bake. The cake was kinda lopsided eventho I obeyed all the instructions. Put on low speed mixer 20 seconds, then medium speed for 2 minutes.. bla.. bla.. bla . I had the timer set and everything. And guess what? It was a BC Cake Mix in a box! So how difficult can that be, right?
Remember my disastrous cheesecake last time? Yup, I cannot bake! Period.
The shamrock on the top of the cake may have been my saving grace.

Anyways, Happy St. Patrick's Day y'all!! Be off with ye now!

Lo Hei

I meant to post this last week... but procrastinated.

To end the Chinese New Year celebrations, we had our in-laws over for dinner and did the "Lou sang". This is a CNY custom for families and friends to gather around the table and, on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying auspicious wishes out loud to mark the start of a prosperous new year.
Yee Sang is a Chinese-style raw fish (usually salmon) salad mixed with shredded vegetables (usually red pepper, ginger, pomelo, carrots, turnips, peanuts and sesame seeds) and a variety of sauces (usually plum sauce) and condiments and fried crackers.
It is believed that Yu Sang originated in Kuala Lumpur as far back as in the early 1950's.


Thanks to Felicia for the box of Yee Sang and to Fiona for bringing the box to us!
After dinner, Trouble and Jason collapses infront of the TV.

Kong Hee Fatt Choy!

Not wanting to be left out from the Chinese New Year celebrations, we put in some effort to celebrate in our own little way.

Mom-in-law decorated her kitchen with a tray of mandarin oranges (and other fruits to add color), a pomelo, a miniature lion dance head, a book, some cherry blossoms and Ang Pows.

We gave the nephews their Ang Pows

Dumplings, lemongrass rice + spicy meatball spinach soup. (The cherry blossoms are not edible)
Notice that we are using chopsticks. The chopsticks only make an appearance on rare special occasions.

We hung lanterns in the living room

And we'll go to Tin Tin Buffet for dinner tonight.

Welcome the Pig!

Today is the eve of Chinese New Year. This is the year of the pig/boar/babi. Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury.
If you are born in the year of the pig, tell me if that's true.

I can imagine my family back home sitting around the dining table having their family reunion dinner right now. Grandma will cook her specialty pork chops, long-life noodles, maybe some curry , fish , Fatt Choy and some other goodies. After dinner, the cousins start playing firecrackers outside while the older ones play poker indoors.

On Chinese New Year's day itself, my mom will make me wear something red and we are not allowed to wash our hair or sweep the floor because it would mean we are washing or sweeping away our good fortune for the New Year. I've always wondered why shouldn't it be sweeping away our bad luck from the previous year instead. Anyways, lets not argue with ancient wisdom. I don't like sweeping floors anyway.
The non-married children (does not matter how old you are) will receive Ang Pows (red packets filled with money) from Grandma and the married couples. Now you probably know why I married at such an old age. I used to be richer at every Chinese New Year because I had lots of generous aunts and uncles :) Parents do still give Ang Pows to their children irregardless if they are married or not.
At this point, the women usually play Mah Jong and we kids will hang around and eat cookies all day. The variety of cookies and CNY snacks sitting around the house will make you salivate all day. So we eat, and eat and eat.
Sometimes, the neighbors will invite a Lion Dance troup and we would stand on the streets to watch. It is a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises.
Then dinner... another big meal of the day. Eat again.

On the second day of Chinese New Year, we would visit with my mom's side of the family to say our wishes (and collect more Ang Pows and eat more cookies). Each family will usually exchange gifts in the form of oranges, cookies and sweets. And we will have another big dinner and eat Yu Sang (People get together to toss the colorful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity)

Chinese New Year lasts for fifteen days. Most people take a long vacation and some offices will close for the whole week.

I will close my eyes and imagine I am back home now. Oink!

Happy V-Day!!

I know this is probably one of the most overrated days of the year. Every store is trying to sell you some cheesy pink and red heart-shaped stuff. Every restaurant will come up with some fancy menu and make you pay double the price.
Still, it is Valentine's Day, and it is a day to remind us of all who are special in our lives, of being loved and to love.

Husband brought home a box of 8 sake nigiri for lunch. Now, that's love. Nothing pleases his wife more than raw salmon! No need no fancy dinner.

This morning, I left a little handmade giftbag of 4 Atkins snack bars and a handmade card on the driver's seat of Jason's truck, hoping to surprise him and that he will not sit on it.

Tonight I will cook dinner.

And while everyone is out dining, we will go grocery shopping, and watch Beauty and the Geek.

These are the cookies husband brought home from work .His boss makes really good cookies!

This beautiful day ended with me stepping on cat puke. Nice.
And, this is what I wish I could do to the cat

So this is Christmas

Here's our Christmas in brief :
Christmas eve -
Went for a movie at the dollar cinema. Watched The Pretige. Enjoyed it very much.
Had tacos for dinner at in-law's house. (family tradition)
Went for midnite mass at St John Neumann.
All of us stayed the night at in-law's house. Took presents down and filled stockings.

Christmas day -
Breakfast.
Digged into our stockings.
The boys distributed the presents.
Then took turns opening presents. Youngest member of the family gets to open first.
Finished opening presents at 3pm. Had Christmas lunch. Yummy!!
Went home. Gave Trouble his presents. Trouble got a new mat and plenty of kitty treats.
Husband gave me a radar detector so that I can drive faster without having to worry about being pulled over by the cops :)

Boxing day -
Slept till 10am

This Christmas was extra special because we had my parents with us.

Mele Kalikimaka

The presents are all wrapped. The stockings are up. The kids are ready and so are we.
We'll all be staying the night at my in-law's place so we can wait for Santa to come down the chimney tonight.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Ho Ho Ho

We were doing some window shopping on Saturday at a furniture store and suddenly we hear a voice say " Hey !!! We know you people!!! Come on over here!"
We saw Santa taking photos with the kids. Turns out that Santa and his lady helper are our neighbors who live in the cul-de-sac up the street. They coaxed us into taking a picture and we did.

Gobble, Gobble

Wow, the much awaited Thanksgiving weekend came and went by so quickly. Too quickly infact. This year I have so many things to be thankful for. One of which is having my parents here with us. The time spent with them here will be precious. I am also thankful for having such wonderful in-laws who makes me feel truly welcome to be a part of this family. They have definitely made my transition to the U.S more pleasant.
And ofcourse, I am thankful for the yummylicious spread on the table. The call of the turkey makes one do insane things. Things like waking up at 5am in the morning on Friday, walking into various stores looking like a zombie and walking out feeling like "Hah!! I got this last travel charger on the shelf for only $4.99!! I bet that man behind me was looking for the same thing... but I got to it first! Na na na na naaa"
Then I come home and tell myself that I wouldn't do such a ridiculous thing next year because sleep cost more than $4.99.
But who knows what the turkey will do to me next year.

The boys in their Halloween costumes

Superman

Mickey Mouse

Superman gets a smooch from Mickey Mouse

And they come a-knocking on our door

Our first halloween in this house.
Jason put on his artistic skills and carved out a Blues Brothers pumpkin a few days ago.

We had Brian, Sophie and little Elise over and enjoyed their company as always. Elise was a joy and was constantly babbling and trying to join in the conversation. We all loved her.The kids started knocking on our door as early as 6pm (it gets dark by 5.45pm). They were dressed in various costumes and looked real cute. We kinda underestimated the number of kids in our neighborhood and ran out of chocolate bars and candies by 8pm. There were atleast 50 kids that came by.
Perhaps next year I'll don a costume too! What do you think... a geisha, an elf or Gollum?

Oktoberfest

Saturday night, we went to Waldhorn for Oktoberfest. Every year, The Waldhorn restaurant holds 3 weekends of Oktoberfest festivities where Germans and non-Germans alike converge on food, Oktoberfest beer, fun and a dose of German Gemutlichkeit.

We also invited our neighbors, RC & Betty, to join us. They were dressed in their German costumes and lederhosen. Dinner was plentiful and good. My wonderful husband had also arranged for the waitress to bring out a surprise blackforest cake and a candle on it to celebrate my dad's birthday which falls on Sunday. He was surprised for sure.

After dinner, we adjourned to the big tent outside to join in the festivities. It was really crowded and we shared the table with five crazy young out-of-towners. 3 of them could speak Bahasa Melayu because they spent 7 years in Indonesia. How ironic for us to meet someone who could speak Malay in a tent of thousands of people.

There were lots of dancing and shouting and singing and drinking. My mom earned herself a chicken hat from my mom-in-law for dancing the chicken dance. One of the guys at our table had also coaxed Jason to go dance with my mom.
We had a great time. I felt like I was on vacation in beerland:)

The chicken dance song is still stuck in my head.

Hello 2006!!

As the new year dawns, I begin reminiscing events in my life throughout the past years. Lots of changes, big and small, lots of hellos and goodbyes, lots of paths crossed and bountiful memories.
Here are some of my profound memories throughout the recent years , and not so recent years. (not in any order of preference (except the first one that is)) :

(2005) Walking down the aisle with my soulmate

(2003) New Year countdown in Sydney : watching fireworks from Harbour Bridge


(2003) Climbing up Harbour Bridge, Sydney


(2003) Hiking in Alaska's Eagle Lake


(2003) The view of Mount McKinley from a 4-seater plane.. and then puking


(2003) Catching my first fish in Pertang Village


(2002) Making my first snowangel


(2002) Spelunking in Gua Tempurung (Tempurung cave)


(2000) Millenium countdown with my co-workers in Melaka


(2001) Running across a field of mean looking iguanas in St Thomas

And events that I wished I had pictures of!! :-

(2000) Evelyn and I went out with a group of male models that we had a crush on.. and we ended up in a gay bar!

My partner in crime(Felicia) and I pushed our sleeping-on-the-sofa Aunt Annie out of the house on the patio in the middle of the night (sure wished we had taken a photo of that)

Cycling with my dad

Just hanging out and talking with my mom

Cousin and I pulling pranks on her ex-boyfriends

Riding on a motorcycle in the rain

Hiking in Frasers Hill and pulling a dozen leeches off from our body

The International Girl Guides Jamboree

The Charismatic Youth Rally - seeing my mom walk in in the last session

Wendy and I sprinkling curry powder on my 2 sleeping cousins.

Christmas in Charlotte

My first Christmas in Charlotte!! Here's how it goes...
Christmas eve :
8.30am - Got up and went for breakfast at Bob Evans with Jason. We split a platter of scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, potatoes and a slice of country ham.
9.15am - Did some last-minute Christmas shopping at Petsmart. Bought Trouble a Water L'eau Aqua ( a watering system so we don't have to fill his water bowl so often), chicken and cheese flavor cat treats and an all natural shrimp cat treat!
10.00am - Drove across to Media Play to check out their closing down sale. Bought 2 DVDs - Sweet November (I can never resist Keanu! Bet it'll make me cry again) and our all-time favorite - Somewhere In Time.
11.10am - Called my family in Malaysia to wish them all a Merry Christmas (yup, my folks get to celebrate Christmas earlier thanks to the timezone difference). They were all singing carols and talking and laughing and having fun and getting ready to open presents. Sure made me miss them loads! They passed the phone around and I got to talk to all my aunts, uncles, cousins and my parents. Felt really homesick! I miss laughing hysterically with them, the teasing, the pranks, the noise , the constant chatter, stuffing faces and opening presents together. It's tough being so far away from home during this time of year.
12.05pm - Bought lunch at Bojangles and took them over to Grandma's and Carlton's. Jason helped them fix the bed.
1.00pm - Jason and parents spend the next 3 hours watching the ballgame on TV. Carolina Panthers vs. Dallas Cowboys. And I try to finish wrapping the remaining stocking presents. (and still feeling homesick)
3.30pm - Susan, Greg and the boys arrive.... and watched the ballgame.
5.00pm - Jason and I go out to buy herbs and spices for Jason's Rib-rub.
6.30pm - Dinner is served!! (tacos, with yule log for dessert)
8.30pm - Susan, Greg and boys leave
8.45pm - We bring down the presents and put them under the tree.. and filled the stockings.
9.15pm - Just lazed around... listening to Barry Manilow crooning Christmas songs on the CD.(and feeling homesick)
11.45pm - Jason , mom-in-law and I leave to go to church for the midnite Christmas mass

Christmas day :
9.30am - The Gower family and Santa(aka Wrenn) arrive and we all sat down to have a sumptious breakfast.(same as previous day - only homemade)
10.30am - All start opening stocking pressies (including Chelsea(the senile dog) and Trouble (the obnoxious cat)
11.30am - Then we start opening the presents under the tree. (taking turns each, and ooohing and aaahing at what we got)
12.30pm - Family in Malaysia starts calling up and wishing us Merry Christmas.
1.30pm - Lunch is served (ham, potato salad, devil eggs, butter beans, yeast rolls, and key lime pie for dessert made by hubby)
2.30pm - I had to go take a nap because of a migraine.
3.30pm - Everyone else proceeds to bring presents over to Grandma and Carlton's.
4.30pm - The Gower family leaves
6.30pm - We eat leftovers for dinner
8.30pm - We look at our presents again... and watched the video that we took earlier today.
10.30pm - Everyone zonks out and get ready for bed
11.30pm - I indulge in those Godiva chocolates!! Ahhh... what a nice end for a first Christmas in Charlotte!!

Now I have atleast 5 pairs of socks, 2 sets of snuggly plush robes, a sewing kit, a scrapbook set, office wear clothes, home accessories, plenty of chocolates and useful everyday items.. and a Digital-cam from Jason!!!