Lunch @ Mr Ho

My second time to Mr Ho Fine Dining. This round, me and hubby are more careful in choosing our menu. Lol!

We ordered its signature pasta dish and crispy roast pork knuckle. The portion is just nice for two of us to share.




Like this bacon and walnut salad. Great appetizer.

A beer for hubby, who is on leave today. Total tab is RM104.70!

It’s creamy! It’s dreamy! It’s delightful!

The best summer memories I recall as a kid were at the family farm. The endless activities included swimming in the cow tank, learning to drive the pickup in the field, and walking (rather running) barefoot a quarter of a mile down the road to the little grocery store on the corner.

The only worthy treat in the heat of summer comes in a frozen form. At least it starts frozen. For us kids the only reason to burn our little feet on the sizzling asphalt was to get to those wonderful popsicles at Sheets Grocery. They were all of ten cents, they were made with artificial flavoring, and they started melting the minute the wrappers were stripped off. They were the cheapest, low grade treat around, but in our minds they were the best dime ever spent in the heat of summer.

I was a loyalist, I stuck to banana popsicles every time. When others would coax me to try another flavor, I would not give in. Even with the intriguing mix of ice cream and orange juice, that great combination of sweet cream and sour citrus formed into a Dreamsicle, I held my ground.

Now, years later, I wish I had given the cream and citrus blend a try. To think of all those years I missed out on such a perfectly cool combination. Even the aroma of a Dreamsicle is dreamy. And the color, it’s a beautiful almost-there orange. Not bold and in your face, but creamy and soft. No wonder it’s called a Dreamsicle.

Well, I don’t eat a lot of Dreamsicles even now. However, I have been making up for lost time with my own little treat in a cup using that same basic mix of dairy (I should say nondairy) and citrus. Mine is not one of those amazing smoothy recipes with a fancy blender and ten minutes of clean up. Nope, my is quick, and easy, and all about the flavor. It’s not exactly healthy and it’s not at all gourmet, but it makes me happy and it’s delightful!

It is the Sheri Berry Dreamy Delight and it’s made with only two ingredients. One is orange juice, either premixed or from concentrate, either will do. The other is liquid nondairy creamer by Coffee-mate. We are talking the regular french vanilla flavor, not the fat-free, not the sugar-free, not even the new natural choice.

To make this Julia only wishes she’d come up with it recipe ;) just fill a juice glass nearly full with orange juice and add a couple of tablespoons (maybe more) of creamer, mix it together with only a spoon and enjoy. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s delightfully refreshing!

Though it takes me years to willingly try new experiences, I encourage you to do as I say and not as I do and give this creamy, little treat a chance. You too might get hooked. You too might find it a dreamy delight!

Quirky Love: Coca Cola

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Since my boyfriend and I are in the grand old state of Georgia it made sense for the third set of pages to be all about Coca Cola. I was able to get free tickets to the Coke Museum from MyCokeRewards. Even though I've lived here my whole life and I love Coke I've never been. My boyfriend went when he was younger but he hasn't been back since they remodeled. I'm excited to do some of the cool stuff they have there, especially the part where you get to try all the different kinds of drinks they have.

You can have your own romantic taste test with your special someone by making different Coke floats. Don't feel like you can only use Coke either. Try lots of different things. You can even give your creations cute names. For example...

Orange Soda+ Sherbet= Orange Crush

Vanilla Coke+ Chocolate Ice Cream= Coke Float Swirl

Strawberry Soda+ Strawberry Ice Cream= Strawberry Kisses

Get creative! It's fun :)

Blank templates and all the credits for the pages can be found here. There's no credit necessary but it's always appreciated. Feel free to leave me a comment with your projects if you use them because I'd love to see what you make. Enjoy :)

Wednesday morning

Every morning, I would wake up and try to remember what day it is today. It is nothing different this morning when I woke up. But at least it is mid-week and only 2 more days to go before I can sleep late on Saturday. *wink*

It is supposed to be the usual Wednesday. However when I went downstair, hubby shown me a "disconnection notice" from Sesco. Yeap! Our electricity overdue 3 months! My FIL supposed to pay the outstanding last week but he forgot. So being a good daughter-in-law (better than suddenly come back to a dark house in the night, right?), I have to drive all the way to Jln Satok to pay the bills in the Sesco office.

And I have to miss out on my daughter's BM Reading Competition this morning. After so many days of encouragement and practicing, I cannot see her perform this morning. What to do??

And I "tapau" some sio bee and eat while stopping at traffic lights. I have been having my breakfast in the car most of this week. Got to run here and there, paying this and that. If can, I would rather sit in front of the pc, and do the internet banking. Let it deduct RM2.00. Better than stuck in the morning jam. But not all bills can be done that way, still have to go the particular office and queue up. Lol!


What I saw when heading to Jln Satok to pay bill this morning........Few minutes after settling my bill, the fire truck was heading to the scene area.

My Quirky Life: Pokemon, Makeup, and Nail Art

I've been battling a killer migraine (from outterrr spaceee!) for over a week now. I had one day without pain but I was so tired I still barely got anything done. To distract myself from the pain I've been playing A LOT of Pokemon. My boyfriend and I actually went to McDonalds the other day and I ended up getting a Pokemon toy (a cute Tepig!). He goes right along with the game.

In other news I've started to put together a makeup kit. I got a whole bunch of brushes from e.l.f. because they were having a sale. So far I'm super pleased with all of them, especially the ones from the Studio Line (they're sooo soft). I'm hoping that once I get it all setup and ready to go I can stat doing some freelance makeup work. I really want to get into special effects and stage makeup so we'll see how that goes. Once I get the whole thing stocked I'll post pictures and an overviews of all the everything I have in it. It wont be a very big kit, I'm just trying to keep it to the basics for now.

One last thing that I've been meaning to post for FOREVER. Here's a little preview of the monster nails I did awhile back. They seem Summery to me for some reason, I think it's because they're so bright. They give me fun a Rob Zombie/ rockabilly vibe. I want to do them again so hopefully I'll have a tutorial for them soon.

Rambling

Almost end of the month. And it means half of 2011 is gone. Every day I feel like a sailing yacht, sailing in the big ocean without any sense of direction. Yeap, some days I wonder what have I done in life and whether it is worth it. People told me the important thing is that you are happy with what you have achieved. I believe it is true. Why hold on to something that is not worthy?

Enough crazy rambling from me. It must be the crazy weather that make my brain nerves go insane. *wink*

Happy Bunday! June 26th, 2011

(source)

Fun Bunny Fact #3: Male rabbits are called 'bucks' while female rabbits are called 'does' just like deer!

Sometimes deer and rabbits can become friends, like these two, that were aptly named Bambi and Thumper.

For more information about bunnies and how to support bunny charities please visit the House Rabbit Society!

Have a great week everyone!

Quirky Love: Sidewalk Chalk

The second set of pages in the adventure book are all about sidewalk chalk. On the first page I wrote the poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. I used to love checking out Shel Silverstein's books from the library at school so his poems always remind me of being a little kid. Drawing with chalk has similar nostalgia for me. I thought it would be fun to share the simple enjoyment of sidewalk chalk with my boyfriend so I bought a small pack to go along with these pages. Drawing with chalk can be a fun and inexpensive way to spend time together.

Blank templates and all the credits for the pages can be found here. There's no credit necessary but it's always appreciated. Feel free to leave me a comment with your projects if you use them because I'd love to see what you make. Enjoy :)

Afternoon break

When there are not many customers and I am a bit of craving for snack, this is what I have in store.



Yeap, Tiger brand crackers dipped in hazelnut chocolate spread.

Salty cracker + Sweet chocolate = Yum! Super delicious!

Switch places

Hubby asked me the other day, what happen if we were to switch body for a day? Er, I don't think that would likely happen. Anyway for the fun of it, I just answered him "NO". Reasons:

1) I would not want to be in his body. 10 years ago body-fit him, I would consider. Not in his current body size. He grows many waist inches and put on weight. So, a "no-no".

2) Working in office, in a cubicles. Oh no!! Definitely I would not want to go back to such state after I have not been working in a office hour for more than a year.

3) Drinking and entertaining. Nah! I am a homey-type of person. Perfect to be lazy around the house.

4) Nagging. Men usually do not nag. So I would miss nagging even if I were a man for a day!

5) If he were me, he will commit suicide! Because he prefers to work than look after my two "monkeys"! Lol!

So, a no for both of us. This question remind me of Beyonce's song "If I were a boy". Lol!

Oh daddy!

I wake up so early today. I know it is a Saturday (little girl has no schooling), but my biological clock disallow me to take more nap. So what to do??? Online, what else! While waiting for the kids to wake up and hubby to get ready before we are off to breakfast.

A short note here! To all the great daddy and daddy-to-be, Happy Daddy's Day tomorrow! You are the best!

Angry bird player

Never knew that my little girl was a fan of Angry Bird until she get her aunt to buy this cute but moody red bird last week. And I never knew of this famous bird till I heard about the Nokia's attempt to break the world record for the most people playing a mobile game relay on 12 June over the radio for the past month. What to do? I have not own a Nokia phone for many years now.

This little fella hang next to the printer in my shop now.

Little girl even told me she played in her aunt's Nokia handphone, where the bird has to hit the pigs otherwise the pigs will steal the eggs. Hmm, my game-savvy girl. And every time she comes to my shop, she asks me to log into Yahoo! games for her to play some puzzle games. And I could not believe she plays up to Level 7 in Bejeweled game all by herself!

Quirky Love: Strawberry Adventures

The first of pages in our adventure book feature strawberries (one of my boyfriend's favorites). If we get a chance I'd love for my boyfriend and I to go berry picking but if that doesn't work out we can always get some berries from a farmer's market or the grocery store. I wrote ideas in the clouds on the right page of what we could make with them. We both love to bake and cook so it's a great way to spend time together.

Here's are some ideas for a romantic strawberry filled Summer:

• As I mentioned before, berry picking can be a fun and romantic way to spend an afternoon. (This site has a big list of pick-your-own farms if you want to find one in your area.)
• Surprise your partner with a berry treat.
• Or better yet, make something together. (My suggestion above are: cupcakes, salad, pancakes, pies, smoothies, tarts, cake, jam, muffins, and ice cream.) There are tons of fun and unique things you can do with strawberries (try this site and this one for some inspiration.)
• Cut the strawberries into hearts or other pretty shapes. (Check out this tutorial to show you how.)
• Make some chocolate fondue and have chocolate dipped strawberries. (For more fondue ideas check out my 2010 Valentine's Day post)

Blank templates and all the credits for the pages can be found here. There's no credit necessary but it's always appreciated. Feel free to leave me a comment with your projects if you use them because I'd love to see what you make. Enjoy :)

Quirky Love: Our Third Anniversary Adventure Book

My boyfriend and I recently celebrated out third anniversary on May the 30th. Money is a little bit tight this year but I wanted to make something fun and personal for him. What I came up with is something I've been calling an adventure book. It's filled with stuff that I want to do with him over his Summer break so each set of pages inside has a little theme. I also included some little pull out things (tickets, notes, fliers, etc.) with the pages. The gift is more about the fun things we'll do together than the actual book itself, because one of the best gifts you can give is time to spend together.

The whole project itself wasn't too expensive because I used things I already had. The cover is made from a cereal box that I painted. I put some ribbon that I had left over from another craft project along the side and I held together the pages inside with book rings. The decorations are all various shades of blue because blue is my boyfriend's favorite color. I used a bunch of free graphics I found online (mostly from DeviantART's Resource section) and put them together in GIMP (which is a free photo editing program) to make the pages. The most expensive part of the project was having the pages printed at Staples because I had them printed on cardstock. I believe it was around $22. The gifts I included (tickets, and a gift certificate) I got for free from MyCokeRewards. I think overall the project ended up being under $30.

I'll be posting each set of pages individually along with inspiration and ideas related to their themes. I'll also be posting the blank templates for each so you can use them in your projects if you wish.

Here is an preview of all the pages so you can get a glimpse of what's coming up.

Happy Bunday! June 12th, 2011

 (source)

Fun Bunny Fact #2: Bunnies have a 360 degree field of vision.

For more information about bunnies and how to support bunny charities please visit the House Rabbit Society!

Have a great week everyone!

 

 

These are a few of my favorite finds

When I’m not creating in the studio I’m searching for trinkets and treasures to fill the studio. The husband says I can stuff the studio to the brim, as long as it doesn’t overflow into the house. There’s a reason he says this, the house is already full to its brim with treasures I have found. This is the “is your cup half empty or half full?” question. But in this case, is the studio half empty or half full? Well, it’s not too full to bring in another delightful bit of eye candy. And so I do!

The trinkets above are bits of ephemera I have picked up over the years. The fun is in displaying these little trinkets in just the right containers. Yes, I know everybody is doing this decorative candy dish style now, but how totally fitting because it is eye candy dished up in the perfect glass containers just begging to be opened and reached into for the treasures.

Well, in the bit of thrift-roaming I allow myself each month, I recently discovered these candy dishes at a neighborhood estate sale. My eyes zeroed in on the target, my hands quickly followed and before you know it, I was the delighted owner of these containers ready to be repurposed with Sheri’s stash-o-trinkets. Now I have the eye candy just a glance away from the otherwise constant stares of the monitor.

Let them learn

School starts tomorrow. I have ironed my girl's school uniforms and cleaned up her school bags. It is going to be busy Monday morning tomorrow. I have been lazy for the past 2 weeks, waking up around 7.30am since my Baby Jay sleeps late and sending him to baby sitter's around 8.30am. Now I have to set my alarm back to 7.00am otherwise I will not be able to get up early. *wink*

Met up with an old friend few days ago at the shop. We chatted mostly about kids. As her boy is a year older than my girl, her boy will be in Primary school next year.

Both of us are "bananas", we do not read Chinese although we can converse in simple Chinese. However we have same goal for the children, i.e. to be able to understand, speak, read and write Chinese. That simple!! However it does sound like a challenge for me being not able to read Chinese to encourage and educate my children in Chinese. I cannot depend on my hubby to teach the children; he is so busy with his work commitment. But I am glad that my girl has been picking up on Chinese since last year. She talks more in Chinese now. Less English accent too.

Back to my friend, she is operating a tuition school. She is familiar with the children' psychology, behaviour and attitudes after so many years. Parents now are very "kiasu" type. They want their children to be this and that, but they deprive the children one important thing. What the children really want and need???

So her advices to kiasu parents (including me! Lol!) are as follow:

1) Never discourage, scold or chide your children if they have bad marks or dislike particular subjects in school. Positive feedbacks work better.

2) Do not push your children to do things they do not like. The more you push them, the more rebellious they become. Marks and performances will be affected and they tend to dislike studies

3) Do not over-stress your children with packed schedule. I have a cousin that did not have free times and every day (including Saturdays and Sundays) have extra classes may it be music, drawing, Chinese classes, abacus and so on

4) Give your children some breathing time. They need rest too.

5)Understanding what they really need. Give them time to learn. IF your children is weak in certain subject, just enrol them in tuition for that particular subject.

6) Ask what the children want. Do they like to go to dancing class, swimming class or music class. Let them choose. Let them explore by themselves

Found Object Friday June 10th, 2011

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 Here's some stuff I'm digging this week:

• 20 Pictures of Dogs vs. Sprinkles

•  This amazing Lady Gaga themed club in Portugal.

• The new Keroppi stickers (which were a gift from my boyfriend) that I put on my phone.

  

What cool finds have you made this week?

Makes me smile

What makes me smile today?

* Weekend is here! Means busy time. To some, business makes them stressed out. But I like to be busy than idle! So a busy weekend always make me smile
* Today is my wedding anniversary. A present from hubby would make me smile!
* Things that my kids do. I love when my girl call me out in the morning, greet and hug me in the bed. She is coming back from her holiday tomorrow evening; longing for her hugs and kisses.
* A nice candle-light dinner tonight
* Beautiful weekend weather, so I can do my laundry


Happy weekend!

Weekend Menu #14: Homecooked

First of all, Happy Belated Dumpling Festival (Duanwu Jie)! Hope you ate your "bak chang" yesterday. *wink*

Bak Chang is nothing special as you can find and eat it every day. I seldom take chang because it will cause stomach discomfort and bloatedness. Bak chang costs the same like a bowl of kolo mee now! Phew! Talking about recession!


I like home-made bak chang especially the Hakka and Hokkien chang. This is Hakka styled bak chang. Full of lean meat, dried prawns and peanuts; made by the kids' babysitter.



I cooked last Saturday. It has been long since I stepped into the kitchen. I believe this was the first time this year I cooked for the family! *Pai sey*

Simple meal. My hubby's favourite dish. Stewed pork belly.



Marinated the pork belly with sugar, salt, light and dark soy sauces and oyster sauce. Fried garlic slices and once it turned fragrant, throw in the pork belly. Stirred for a while then add 2 cups of water. Simmer it for 30 minutes or so. I added in some mushrooms and boiled eggs.

On Sunday, I cooked chicken porridge for breakfast and lunch as it was hot day. Every day is hot day here. We sweated a lot and do not have much appetite. I thought porridge would be good for everyone. I used whole chicken wings; cooked in slow cooker overnight! So very sticky and meat is tender. If you want to enjoy the whole chicken wings; then cook in gas stove is the best. Mine the meats all tender and seperated from the bones! Good for Baby Jay as he can chewed well on them.



And hubby did not want to miss out in the action; he took over the kitchen at night, cooked pasta for dinner. Mix of Oriental and Western as you can see here. He used leftover stewed pork belly, add in some leek flower, minced meat, cherry tomatoes and a pack of Cabonara cream. Turn out not bad but I would prefer my cabonara to be creamer. At least cheaper than eating at an Italian restaurant. *wink*

Happy Bunday! June 5th, 2011

(source)

Fun Bunny Fact #1:  Rabbits are not rodents, they are lagomorphs. 

For more information about bunnies and how to support bunny charities please visit the House Rabbit Society!

Have a great week everyone!

Found Object Friday June 3rd, 2011

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Here's some stuff I'm digging this week:

• This awesome piece/ slideshow about Nirvana from GQ.

• This video/ song from the band The Dogbones. I hadn't heard of them until a few days ago when I found them through a Wikipedia reading chain. They're fun-grungey-female fronted goodness.

• I've been having a lot of fun playing with an app called Goby. It shows you stuff that's going on around where you live or are visiting. Oh, and it's free!

What cool finds have you made this week?

My Goals For June 2011

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First lets go over my goals from May:

• Finish some projects that I can't talk about on here yet because they involve presents for certain people. These were birthday and anniversary presents for my boyfriend. I'll posting about this very very soon.
• Take care of myself to the best of my ability while I deal with these weird health problems. I think I've done pretty well this month considering everything that's going on.
• Try to stay positive because things will get better. I've had ups and downs but I've tried my best to stay mostly on the up side of things.

Now on to June!

• I want to start updating this blog regularly again. I've been overwhelmed with other things lately but I miss blogging.
• Help my boyfriend list stuff on eBay. I'll try to post links to the things we're selling on my Twitter if you're interested. A lot of it is computer and video game stuff.
• Start walking regularly.

What do you want to accomplish this month?