黄脸婆or superwoman?

Check this out! iphone's interface on my HTC! Is that cool or is that cool?!

Soup Soba for lunch.
Ingredients:

• Soup base cooked with yellow beans & prawn heads for that extra sweet taste


• prawns (deshelled)


• meatballs (self made)


• squid (cut in rings)


• fish sauce (just a little for taste)


• Soba of course!
  

Dinner last night. Cabonarra Linguini with seaweed chicken. YUM!

Today's lunch: Green Choy Sum (it's only 75 cents for two packets!); Hongkong style steamed pork ribs; and my favourite belachan Sotong. ALwyas so heartwarming to be able to eat with your love one.

Winter Melon Soup

Ingredients:

• 3/4 of a winter melon (it's really huge!)


• dried abalone (one slice and pre-soaked for 20mins to soften)


• Dried oysters (5 pcs)


• 1200ml of water


• Wolfberries


• red dates (3)


• dried scallops (5)


• fish sauce


• chicken stock
  
  White fungus for my Cheng Tng. MISTAKE! Don't soak so much, it's gonan expand tremendously! dont know what to do with the balance now.
  虾酱鸡 Prawn paste chicken
  

Ingredients:

• chicken wings (wings and drum separated for easy frying)


• Loads of oil for deepfrying


• Marinate with oyster sauce, belachan powder, shrimp paste (Singlong brand). Leave it overnight.


• Dip into egg white and dab on pre-seasoned flour (which include cornflour, blackpepper, belachan powder)
  

Brinjal & minced meat 鱼香茄子

Ingredients:

• Brinjal (deep fry it for like 5 mins)


• minced meat fried to perfection. Add sauce (pre packed)


• Fish sauce for taste


• Some chilli if u like it hot
  

Special request: Salted egg yolk prawns

Didn't turn out that well. Mashed the salted yolks and coated the prawns with it and fried. Added normal egg yolk for extra colour.

Steam Golden Snapper. YUM! dont' forget to add those salted sour plums and salted vege. But note to blanch them before hand, else it'd be too salty
WHat a longg brinjal!

For the last few days since Sunday, I've been doing quite a bit of cooking. It's rather therapuetic especially if one is cooking for her love ones. N it's especially satisfying when I get the thumbs up from friends. The dessert wasn't that big of a success. Think i added too much red dates to the Cheng Tng. But I've finally figured out how to make nice Prawn Paste Chicken (虾酱鸡)! It's 80% to perfection. Only problem was i couldn't get the flour to stick on whilst deep frying. Some parts apparently not well fried. Think my oil wasn't enough.

It's daddy's bday yesterday. Felt a little guilty that I didn't celebrate with him. Just met him over the wkend though at cousin's wedding. Furthermore we work till so late so how to celebrate right? But i did call him to wish him happy birthday. duno issit coz he miss me too much, he thought I called him on Sunday and called me back on Monday and kept asking if i called. Poor daddy, must be missing mi lots since I've moved out.

All the cooking is making me think if i'm turning into some 黄脸婆. I refuse to let that happen. M keeping my hair neat n tidy and ensuring that I take good care of my looks. Unfortunately, I m putting on quite a bit of weight!!! HELP!! so many clothes have become tight fit! very upsetting. However, I only ramble and take no action! Wish there's some pill out there which can just suck the fats out (with no side effects that is). It's actually quite tiring to be a superwoman. To take care of the family and to go to work. I seriously wish I can take the backseat for work and perhaps do something that's more in line with passion. THere's so much out there to discover, but I just dont have the time. :-(

Well, back to work again...no more cooking for the rest of the wk. FIL had expressed his wishes for us to go home and have dinner on Sunday. (sigh...i can't explore my culinary skills....the son goes home everyday to eat liao ma...can't I just have him on Sundays? )

So lame!

As I was cruising along the traffic infested roads of Singapore this evening, I heard something over the radio which is damn LAME! two DJs on FM91.3 who call themselves THE MARRIED MEN, were having a friendly "competition". It went like this: each were to call a unknown person and they are only allowed to say 2 words. HELLO & Hello! yes. can only say "hello" twice. The aim of the lame game was to see who was able to sustain the call longer. DJ Andre managed to sustain for 21sec before the person on the other line got fed up and hung up. Talk about patience! Gosh! Singapore DJs got nothing better to do these days issit?

Tony Leong & Carina Lau's Wedding

Heart in the sky! National day parade rehearsal as seen from my house

While waiting in the car, at the entrance. There was a snakelike queue coz the Valet parking guys were understaff.
Me, looking all pretty with my fake eyelashes and smoky eyes. I think i did a good first time job! What I wore. Shit! Putting on hell lot of weight!
Door gift ie. a glass coaster (useless if u ask me)
Forcing my sweetie to take a pic with me
Why am I best buy and he is person of the year? UNfair!


This is where the fairy tale begins
Blocked by the many pillars! grrrr

Somehow this didn't come up the way i wanted it to. But try to enjoy the melodious voice (albeit the wrong orientation and noise)
n nope, this isn't the couple who got married!haha

Finally they are married! How can a couple ever go through such a long courtship?..N I thought my hubby and I went thru it long -- 9 yrs! This golden couple have dated for 20 yrs! So happy they finally tied the knot in a grand way at a resort in the Himalayan nation Bhutan (i didn't even know such a place exist until today!) Did you know that Carina's makeup was done by Singaporean makeup artist Zing? WOW! Makes me proud to be a Singaporean man! That guru apparently left Singapore for HongKong and is a big hit with celebrities there. He did make up for Faye Wong and Carina and Fann Wong just to name a few. The dewy look on Carina's wedding day was absolutely princessy. Can't tell she's already in her 40s! The wonders of makeup. I recall having my makeup done on my wedding by Liren. It was great too..she had magic fingers too..just tat I saw more magic on others than on me.

On the topic of wedding, wow it's been almost 2 yrs since i've ROMed! Last nite, I attended my cousin's wedding at CHIJMEs. The place was nice, but it had loads of pillars. Half the time i could not see the couple on stage. Service was also poor. Asked for red wine twice before the waiter finally admitted that they had not enuff glasses and were in the midst of washing!!! It's not like we had 100 tables. there's only perhaps 30 tables! The food was YUCKS too! Cold. I think it's coz they do not have an in-house kitchen. I wanted to leave halfway but thought i should stay for the dessert -- YAM. It's one my fav but it was soooo disappointing! it was very lumpy n extremely sweet. Overall, i think apart from location, the place deserves a 3/10!

But, i must say the entertainment was great. There was live singing by a couple. I think cousin engaged them. The ger was fabulous! Hit the keys wonderfully!

Anyway, here's a little something on practices for those who are gonna get married:

1. Guo da li or betrothal

When: One or two wks b4 the wedding
What: gifts and cash delivered to the bride's home by the groom's family. The bride's family
will take some of the items and return the rest to avoid the impression that they are selling
their daughter.
Why: It shows the groom's financial dependability and assures the bride's family that she
will be well taken care of after marriae
Must haves: Pin jin (money in red packets), jewellery for Teochews (si dian jin), dried
seafood for Cantonese, pig trotters for Hokkiens, oranes, liuor and dragan and
phoenix candles. Symbolism: Pin jin is given to the bride's family for taking care
of her. Accepting the dragon candles signifies that her family accepts him as a
son-in-law. Offering the phoenix candles to the groom's family symbolies the
giving of their daughter's hand.

2. Dowry

When: On the same day after offering the guo da li

What: Gifts are presented from the bride's parents to their daugther and future son-in- law.
Why: The gifts are to bless the couple and to show that hte bride is ready to take the new roles of wife and mum.
Must-haves: Baby bathtub, basin and potty are to encourage the couple to have children.The sewing kit signifies a capable wife, the wedding lamps a brigt future and the bowls abundant food

3. An chuang

When: 8.30pm on the eve of the wedding (or any other auspicious day la)
What: Items are placed on the marriage bed and the couple is not allowed to enter the room till wedding ceremony is over
Why: Symbolises gd health, abundance of fortune and offspring for the couple.

Must-haves: Eight types of auspicious seeds and grains, oranges, red packets, metallic discs (da yuan and xiaoyuan) My mil used red packets. She placed them on each corner of the bed. Some will even get little children to jump on the bed

Symolism: The discs signify a blissful marriage while the foodstuff is to bless the couple with children early. The whole process is usually done by a woman with good fortune ie, have loads of children, parents still alive etc

4. Hair combing (I DIDN"T HAVE THIS!)

When: After 11pm on the eve of the wedding. In the Chinese calendar, any time after 11pm denotes the next day.

What: The bride and groom's hair are combed by their parents. Te father recites the blessing while the mother combs the hair three times.

Why: Each stroke holds and auspicious meanin for the various stages of life after marriage.

Must-Haves: Coms, sewing kit, mirrors, red string and ruler.

Symolism: The red string, which signifies a blessing, is used to tie the bride's hair. the ruler is to remind the couple to cherish the relationship and take care of the family.

Love's Tombstone?

After days of inspiration from appledaily.com, I've finally decided on my menu for this Sunday's cookout. yes, I'm rattling like some housewife again. Actually, it's a real joy to cook for people you love (not to mention a joy to eat!) but, u sometimes really wonder if the person really appreciates. I recall, during the good old days of courtship (or pak tor-ing), we used to accompany his mother (my MIL) to the supermarket and do grocery shopping. Though we didn't have a place of our own then, we've always enjoyed the process and in my mind i was thinking "boy, this man is THE man! we can cook together, and shop for grocery together". As time goes by, it seems to be different. Ask him sunday morning get up early go buy food, he grumbles. Not coz he can't get up, but rather, he doesn't like the crowd. He says he likes his wife to just buy without asking n cook without asking. Soooo MCP, wants food laid on the table when he comes back. WEll too bad, I'm always working till 10pm!

Anyhow, i went grocery shopping today alone. Had to cancel one lesson coz I was running late. I swear it wasn't coz i was tooo engrossed (okok, i was a little ...happy?), but there were just so many things to carry n there's one little me. my arms almost broke. there are still things (dried ones of coz) in my car!! by 12noon i was done shopping and by 1pm i was done packing and washing the stuff up. Talk about efficiency! then I had a quick lunch, prep for lessons and zipped off at 2pm! SUPER productive.

The day would have ended perfectly, if HE didn't break his promise. Promised to go have yonghe soya bean tonite after class, but obviously he has forgotten and have gone for beer with friends, thus I'm sitting here, blogging, and wondering at times am I just doing too much? Are all men like that? Almost snapped with him (well i did snap a little) coz it had been a tiring day with kids who just dont want to focus! perhaps that's why my tolerance level is dwindling. sigh. Get a life la! Sheez.

Marriage -- Love's Tombstone?

Inspired

The morning began with an inspiring thought. FOOD!
As suggested by student's mom, I visited www.appledaily.com. N boy was I in for a treat! There are so many dishes to learn from. Best of all, it's all streamed movies. Only problem, it's in cantonese. Being a cantonese, I'm pretty ashamed. I can speak basic canto and my listening skills are pretty good. Only problem are the words! I dont bloody know what ingredients they are using at times. See la, teacher always ask us to study hard, now regret liao lor. Dont know how to read those cheam cheam chinese words! Well dont blame me, blame it on the system. They taught us the simplified Chinese and not the traditional ones.

Anyway, I'm gonna figure out some recipes and try it out this wkend! Will post some pictures then!

Does such a man exist?

Alfred (Handsome!!) （acted by 林峰 who apparently is a singer!) and 常在心

AIyo..this is another favourite (the guy of coz!) for those who dont know, this is 《溏心风暴》黄宗泽＋杨怡. They make quite a handsome couple in the show.

7月21日。雨。

唐心风暴 is reaching its climax! Alfred, who has been trying to be Chang Zaixin's guardian angel, has finally met with an accident. His silver BMW did a triple flip after hitting a cab and instead of getting out of the car and wait for the ambulance, he tried to reach out for the shell he had picked earlier during a dive. He meant to carve the words "常在我心" and give it to Zaixin who by now has forgiven him. Unfortunately, he can't find it in the debris and staggered to the nearest telephone booth to call Zaixin up. the call was to tell her about a point he has concurred which would help her win her upcoming case! MY GOD LA! want to die liao still go tell her such things! Tell her I love u la! pls forgive me la!!! n guess what? the episode has to end with him hanging up the phone (after saying he will call her after he reaches home) and sitting by the booth, looking dead. Most prob he'll die in the next episode. I DUN WANT HIM TO DIE LA!!! I so totally cried whilst hugging my dearest (thinking that he is alfred, only alive) during this episode la! dont know how i'd react tomorrow man!

My gosh, it totally made me wonder if there's such a great guy on earth. Ok, to be fair, he wasn't a greeat guy..coz he got together with Zaixin's gf. But the stuff he did were sooo romantic. Wish there were more romance than hurt in my life. Romance always comes with hurt. I guess that's why i'm blissful now...coz there's not much romance!hahahaha. Once you are comfortable with a guy, the stuff u do tend to be really routine. Everyday it's waking up, doing work, eating lunch and see u at night in bed. there's simply no excitement. We must do something to spark things up. unfortunately, with the hectic schedule one has, it makes me wonder who has the energy to be like Alfred, go diving and get a silly shell to give to his ex. geez.

Is there really such unconditional love out there?

On the battlefield

7 月17日。雨。(inspired by 常在心in 唐心风暴...she's so into writing digital diaries)

It's midwk and I'm feeling burnout. Been doing stupid things since the start of the wk. First whilst making 爱心toast for my dearest, I placed the bread (with wrapper) on top of the toaster and guess what? it melted. Why am I not surprised! To think I teach Science! This is so embarrassing! Perhaps my brains weren't working or I was too excited to catch 唐心风暴。Felt really guilty. Baby took a scraper (not the wisest tool) to try scrap the residue away, but it's still stuck. now, there's an ugly mark.

Next stupid thing. I was downloading Adobe Illustrator trial version after being mersmirized by its prowess over the wkend. Been searching high and low for the installer from friends, but to no avail. thus, thinking I'm soooo smart, I decided to search for a crack key. Search I did, but i ended up having loads of trojans, adwares, spywares etc etc. I dont even know what the hell they were! They just started popping up! it was as if i was fighting a war! when my baby finally came home, i shouted for help! He was pissed. I could tell, but he was really nice n tried to be patient. Perhaps coz I gave him that pathetic look. However, he had to spend the whole night (well till 2am at least) killing viruses and trying to set things straight. things dont seem good though when i woke up this morning. The spybot detected more trojans. i think it's time to reformat. So I've spent the whole morning trying to do a backup. It's been months since I've done that, u can imagine how much shit i have. I'm still backup-ing my desktop as I type (separately on a laptop that is).

The first half of the day left me really out of breath. Preparing for lessons, clearing out all my creative writing books so that I can do up my teaching materials this wkend (hopefully). Now, sitting in my dining room, sipping a cup of my favourite Sobe Soya Bean (less sugar), I can hear the birds chirping and the rain pelting. I finally feel a little peaceful. (YA RITE! The day just started lor! who am I to deceive? I'm just sitting down, stoning, waiting for the battle to begin once again)