Birthday

It's hubby's birthday next Friday and I've been thinking of doing something really fun because it's 8-8-8. Last Year 7-7-7 we had out wedding reception up North and therefore I thought 8-8-8 would be an auspicious date to do something fun too. I asked hubby yesterday if we should have a small party to celebrate his Birthday and obviously being him he said no. He's not someone that cares to celebrate his birthday.
Anyway ever since I've been with him I've always baked him a birthday cake every year without fail even when we went on a vacation one year. This year is no exception but I want to make something more "special" with the baking tools that he bought for me last year like with cute decorations etc but since I've not been practicing or used any of these tools I'm not sure if I'm even able to do it. Last year I made a carrot cake for his birthday and I'm thinking of doing the same thing or maybe chocolate cake because that's what every body likes but I feel like branching out and trying another kind but in doubt because I'm not sure what other kind to make. I plan to make something yummy yet healthy which healthy food is not always yummy.
I've also not thought about any presents for him yet. He wants so many thing some more than I can afford now but some I think that it's of no use to him because I'm practical I like to get practical gift. I know at one point he was looking at some messenger bags from LV and Coach maybe I'll get him one. When I bought my coach bag weeks ago we saw a nice briefcase and messenger bags too but I think the messenger bag would be more of use to him than the briefcase if he uses it.
It's so difficult to shop for me. They can be picky yet they said that they are simple. I know he won't be asking for any tools because he mentioned to me the other day that he has way too many tools and needs to get ride of some so tools can be out of the questions temporary. Maybe...I'll just take him with to the mall and let him choose himself just like what he normally does to me..;)

Seafood Cook Off

Everyone knows that I love to cook and bake but I love to eat more! I love to go to different restaurant and try different kinds of food. In America I might come across someone that’s really gutsy to try different kind of food that may seem foreign to them for example chicken feet or even fish (with skin)..Americans normally only eat fish fillet and when I bought and made the whole fish everyone was grossed out. They were surprise I eat almost every part of the fish including the head which is the yummiest part of the body.
I love fresh sea food. When I was living up North I rarely had the opportunity to eat seafood because their seafood are all frozen and I don’t care for frozen seafood now that I’m living down South I’ve had the opportunity again to eat fresh seafood!
Y was telling me about the Great American Seafood Cook Off which would be held in New Orleans, Louisiana. I’m thinking of suggesting to hubby to go there for the cook off because I think it’ll an eye opener for us. There would be different chefs competing and cooking all sorts of seafood. The cook off will begin Aug 2-3 at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center within the Louisiana Foodservice EXPO and the Gulf Coast Seafood Pavilion. The admission fee is only $10 so it’s not like its super expensive. Does anyone care to join us?
Since I’m not joining the cook off let me share with you one of my seafood recipe. One of my favorite and simplest seafood recipes is seafood tom yam. It’s so easy to make and it taste so yummy especially on a cold cold winter night (hopefully I don’t have to worry about that anymore). I just pour some chicken stock in a pot and put some tom yam paste together with it to boil. When it comes to a boil I’ll put in any seafood I have available, some tofu, tomatoes and onions and bring it a boil again. And there is my seafood tom yam. Pour over cooked noodles or rice. Quick, easy, simple and yummy!

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Time to Ponder....

I was talking to hubby on our way back from the Asian grocery store and I realize something that never occurred to me although its really obvious! When I was in Malaysia, we would purposely go to the more expensive hypermarket so that we can buy imported food ie cereal, chips etc. Now that I'm in the States I still do buy them because they are sold every where but I have to purposely look for Asian grocery store so that I can buy food from back home. I was just wondering whether was I too ignorant to care about our local items or it is more important to me to eat local food more because I'm far away from home that I feel the need to indulge in them so that I feel closer to home. I remember going to get bubble tea with pearl almost every time I visit the mall with my friends and at that time it cost RM3.00 or a little more/less don't remember but I'm sure the price has gone up since the price of everything else has gone up anyway. When I was still living up North I had to pay almost 5USD for a glass of bubble tea with pearl. Am I crazy yes but I still do it because I love the taste and it's like a treat for me once in a while. I found some places here in Houston that actually sell them and taste pretty good and it's only 4USD depending on how much is it back home I think it's a deal compared to up North!
I'm just thinking how ungrateful I can be when I was living back home to not appreciate all this things or this is just because I'm a human and everyone is the same. Do we not know what's precious until we don't have it? Do we not know how good we have it until we don't have it? How can we learn to appreciate the things/surroundings we have before we lose them one day?

Houston Farmers Market

The Farmer's Market up North only opens in the Summer for several months. I would go to the market ever two weeks to try and stock up on some fresh vegetables grown by the local farmers. Over here in Houston I was told that the farmer's market open year round seven days a week selling seasonal items. I find that most items sold here are mainly from Mexico. This is my second time at the Houston Farmer's Market. It reminds me of going to Pasar Tani, or the wet market in Malaysia. The only thing is they don't sell meat or sea food at the farmer's market.

Some of the stuff apart from Fruits and vegetables that was sold there. I think it's Mexican stuff.

The vegetables

More vegetables

Watermelon galore..Mangoes is in season too.

This is a very popular farmer's market. Apparently it has been here for many years now. SIL's husband use to go there with his mom when he was a little boy so when he went there with us the first time he said that it brought a lot of memories to him. When I go back to Malaysia and my parents took me to the local pasar tani/wet market it also did bring back a ton of memories to me..sob sob..I do miss the stinky icky market there..weird huh?

Oudoor Tactical Gear

Everyone has been talking about the Iraq war since it began. There are a lot of people that is in the army that’s drafted to join the war. These people are going to have to prepare themselves for the journey. LA Police gear is a website that features outdoor clothing for a great deal and if you are in the military you get an even greater discount. Going into the war zone is going to be dangerous they should prepare themselves with under amour, boots and many more different kind of clothing to keep them safe.
I think even if you are not going to the war zone you can buy some of the nice looking and cool stuff there have there. Maybe hubby would like something from LA Police gear.

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Obsession

I think I’m pretty ridiculous at time. When I was in Malaysia we normally don’t wear shoes in the house because the bottoms of the shoes are normally dirty and we don’t want to track dirt into the house. Over here now people always wear their shoes in the house. I have this thing for dirty floors. I hate dirty floors so I cannot have people wearing shoes in my house but then it’s so difficult to tell guest to take of their shoes when they come into your house. When I was living up north, almost ever floor is carpeted so if people do wear shoes in to our house I’ll have to frantically vacuum the carpet after they leave. Towards the end I just didn’t really care because when ever people come and look at the house I know they don’t take of their shoes so I actually quit vacuuming the carpets after every showing. Over here in Texas I actually have the luxury of having tiles in some of the area of the house. Some guests do still wear their shoes in to the house and it’s really awkward for me or hubby to ask people to take of their shoes so I just let it go but then once they leave the house I’ll start vacuuming and even mopping the floors again. Some say that I’m really obsessed with the cleanliness of the floor but I just cannot help myself! I just don’t like to step on to a dirty floor and track the dirt ever where around the house and thus I cannot really help myself. I can sometimes vacuum the floor up to 2-4 times a day depending on how many times we have guest in the house.
I think if I ever start working here I need to get a part time maid or something. Does everyone else have the same problem with this or is it just me? I feel so mean because I know that guest don’t mean to dirty the floor or what ever they are just use to wearing shoes in the house and some might not feel comfortable taking of their shoes in other people’s house. I mentioned to hubby that our next house we are going to have to change the flooring of the house because I want to be able to easily clean the house and not just vacuum the house. I find that vacuuming the carpet is not the cleanest method and we’ll have to get a carpet cleaner if we have fully carpeted house. Hubby and I both love non carpeted floor because it’s much easier to clean anyway. So is it just me being too obsessed with the floor or there are people out there like me??

Chocolate Cake

Ever since I came down to Houston I've been trying to bake/make goodies(or sweets) once a week because I know there are more people here that will actually appreciate or try my baking. Last week I made Apple Cake this week I had cravings for something chocolaty so I decided to make chocolate cake. My rule actually was that I don't usually use the oven during summer because it's already so hot therefore I don't want my house to actually heat up more because of the heat from the over but since Uncle Richie Rich requested baking goods one time I decided to make some and give it to him because he's been helping us with a lot of stuff ever since we moved down here. So being the lazy me I decided to make...

One Pan Fudge Cake
Ingredients

• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cups of vegetable oil
• 2/3 cups of apple sauce
  
• 1 1/2 cups water/coffee
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In an ungreased 9 x 13 pan- yes UNgreased, sift all dry ingredients.
3. Add the liquids and stir just until blended.
4. Bake for 25 minutes.
5. Frost with your favorite frosting, cake is extremely moist so care must be taken that you don't tear up the top of the cake.

* I was too lazy to make the frosting I just sprinkled some chocolate chip on it so it melts as my icing for the cake
** The reason why I didn't give any credit to the person /the site that I found this recipe was because I changed the recipe to make it low fat/low sugar.
*** This recipe is so easy to make and the ingredients is always readily available at home hence I used this recipe and tweaked it.

Uncle Richie Rich and Aunt L watches what they eat and they tend to work out a lot so I don't want to spoil their fitness plan moreover hubby has been trying to watch his weight too so that's why I decided to change it to make it healthier for them.

Stanley was pretty quiet and good when I was preparing the cake and I was wondering what he was doing so I decided to quietly sneak in to the room and found:

He is sleeping in between my bolster and laptop and is laying on my pillow...

The fun part of relocating

After having to spent about an hour getting the car inspected, hubby spending half a day at the court house to change the title of the car to Texas title or something like that, spending a couple of hours at the DMV(Department of Motor Vehicle) and spending a few hundred dollars our car is finally registered in Texas and we sort of have our Texas drivers license. They don't issue you the drivers license straightaway here; they give you are temporary one and they will send you the card in about 6 weeks! SIX WEEKS!In Wisconsin we get our drivers license there and then and we don't even need a car inspection! I'm not going to star comparing the good and bad of the two states but from what I know it doesn't take all that long to actually process the card itself! I'm not sure why are they telling us SIX WEEKS! They even took our Wisconsin drivers license because we are not allow to have two drivers license in the state of Texas.
Hubby weren't too happy about it because we are starting to look at houses and if we find one that we like we might need to go through with the loan process etc and without the drivers license it can be a little difficult. However I'm hoping that they don't actually take exactly SIX weeks but it is the government though god knows how long it'll take!*roll eyes* we all know how efficient can government workers be.

Stanley!Stanley!Stanley!

I'm now all wet. It's been raining ever since we got up and it'll be raining almost the whole day today because of Hurricane Dolly. Thank god we didn't get hit by the hurricane but just the effects of getting the hurricane near us. Anyway Stanley doesn't like to go outside when it's raining. He's like then even when we lived up North. He don't have any problems with the snow but rain NO THANK YOU! I know he needs to go to the bathroom but he refused to go in the yard because it's raining so I had to pull him out there and stand there with him resulting in me getting all wet until he went!
He's been a pretty good boy. Hubby's family all loves him. Even his aunt that don't care for smaller dogs loves him. His aunt loves big dogs and they actually had a dog that is almost as big as a human. Apparently his uncle would play with George and he would actually have his uncle's whole head in his mouth!That's how big George was! Like I mentioned in the previous posts before that Stanley is very attached to me. He'll go where I go but as soon as hubby gets back from work he'll be sticking to hubby and if hubby ignores him he'll come right back to me. Normally he'll only stick back to me when it's bed time where he'll lay on me.
We need to start looking for a vet for him too just in case. I know there is a animal hospital near where we live but I'm not sure if we want to go there. His aunt and uncle goes to another one which is not as close to us as to them. I want to find someone that I feel comfortable with like Stanley's other doctor that we had up North.
We need to find time to take Stanley to hubby's aunt and uncle's house too..They how two dogs and I want Stanley to have a chance to play with other dogs so he has a chance to interact with other dogs.

This picture was taken when we were still living up North. For some reason Stanley loves to lay/sit where the sun is shining.

This was taken when Stanley is playing with his new toy that hubby insisted to get for him from IKEA which mind you he already destroyed the toy but luckily the damage is not that great so I managed to sew it back..let's see how long will this ball last. It's Stanley's favorite toy now and he'll only play with that and nothing else.

I like this picture because when hubby and I are getting ready for to go to bed and Stanley already made himself comfortable on the bed on hubby's side AND on hubby's pillow!hahaha..hubby would be like "why is he always on my side?" I am wondering whether is it because when hubby is not around I'll be doing stuff on my side and Stanley would be sleeping on his side I guess maybe he's just used to sleeping on hubby's side.

Massage Therapy

We all know that after a long day at work and having to go home to our second job ie. Cleaning and cooking it gets to be a very tiring routine. How we always wish that we can get a massage once in a while to wind down our day. It is also proven that it is beneficial to get relaxing and therapeutic massage once in a while. Luckily I was recommended to Takemi Select Wholesale Outlet that is one or the nation’s newest leading importers and distributors of massage chairs, beds, foot spas, air purifiers and other health wellness products. Since hubby and I can benefit with a massage once in a while I was thinking of investing in a Takemi massage chair. When any of our parents comes and visits us they can also use it. If we get a massage chair it’ll save us so much money by not having to visit the spas and our family members will get to massage all the time when they visit at no costs.

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Another weekend

The weekend came and is almost over. This weekend was a pretty good weekend with LOTS of shopping and lazying around.
We started our Saturday by going to watch the Dark Night. A must watch movie! It was pretty scary in some parts but hubby and I thought that it was awesome.

Then we went to Willowbrooke mall to walk around. We didn't have much time because it was almost 2 pm after the show was done and we barely ate anything the whole day so we just went to some stores that we/I thought that it was worth going at that time.
I think I spend enough money this weekend. I got a Coach purse, a pair of jeans and a couple of dresses from Forever 21. I was about to buy a pair of jeans from Abercrombie & Fitch when the sale girl told me that Forever 21 jeans fits better and it's way much cheaper and being the cheap person I am I headed to Forever 21 because I thought if I don't like it I can go back to Abercrombie to buy theirs..Luckily I liked it and it saved me a bunch of money..hahah..We had to start heading back at about 4 pm because both hubby and I were getting really hungry. All we ate the whole day was popcorn and had some soda while watching Dark Night. Hubby quickly wiped up some salad for dinner with some grilled chicken that we made on Thurday night. Later that night we finally watched JUNO (I've been wanting to watch it since the release of the movie). I thought that was a good movie too. I was surprised that the show was actually filmed in Minnesota.


Sunday we got up and hubby made breakfast. Then we went to the Asian grocery to buy some groceries because I haven't been to any Asian grocery store here. I bought a slab of pork and I'm actually going to attempt to make Roast Pork/Siew yoke (will tell you how it turn out). I quickly marinated some chicken too so that we can grill them for dinner tonight. SIL called to see if we wanted to go shopping today and hubby told her that I would never not want to go shopping. So we went to Katy mall with her. I didn't really get anything today..hahha..I bought a pair of Hello Kitty pyjamas(I love Hello Kitty; childish YES but I still like it) and a pair of Banana Republic shoes. SIL was looking for work clothes but I don't think she bought many. I had to hold my self from buying any because I want to wait and see what kind of job I'll be doing before buying any more clothing moreover I already bought some at Forever 21 which should be enough for keep me from wanting to buy clothes at the moment :). Hubby got a book, a pair of Oakley sunglasses and a cast Iron pan..hahah..he insisted on buying the pan so that's his and I think will only be use by him because I don't care for cast iron pans/pots. Hunger always cut my shopping trip short. We were hungry and decided that it was time to go home. Hubby started the grill while I quickly wiped up some potato in the oven and made some frozen corn in the microwave.
We didn't even have time to groom Stanley today. He missed his bath today so it'll have to be tomorrow. I doubt that he's going to miss taking a bath..hahah..
Plenty of malls to visit, plenty of shopping to do now I need is a job so that I can continue my shopping plans..*fingers cross* will seriously need to start sending resume out.
How was your weekend?

WEIRD/SHOCKED!

I had an ex boyfriend that I no longer keep in touch after we broke up because he hates me however I was close to his younger sister and his mom some what. His sister and I have always kept in touch even though his brother no longer talks to me and because they lived close to one of my relative there was once I visited them while I was visiting my relative.
A couple of months ago I was browsing through my friendster and facebook account profile and I saw some new pictures so being the kepoh (busy body) that I am I looked through the album to find out that my ex got married.
I was talking to his sister (because of the time difference etc I rarely talk to her anymore) yesterday and I congratulated her for having a sister in law and I even told her to congratulate her mom for me. Wrong choice of words I think! She started pouring out to me that she absolutely hates her SIL and she's never liked her even when her brother was just dating her. I was shocked to hear that but I didn't say anything because I didn't want her to think I was jealous or anything like that. Apparently the SIL have been using and taking her stuff eg. clothing, make up, magazines etc.. without asking her permission and honestly I know how this feels and it if it was me I would be absolutely pissed and angry about it too. I asked if her mom and dad knew about this and they all did. I feel sorry for her and her parents. Her parents because they are caught between a rock and a hard place. I mean what can the parents say? For her is because it sucks to be living in your own house and have to worry that your stuff is being used/stolen by other people and she has to lock her room now. I could not offer anything comment or advice to her because I didn't want to cause any more problems in the house. All I could do was to be there to listen to her and ask her to keep her stuff away properly but personally I just want to tell her that this has to stop and it sucks to have to worry about your stuff IN YOUR OWN HOME and TO LOCK YOUR ROOM DOOR FROM SOMEONE THAT'S STAYING WITH YOU!
My parents has always told my sister and I NOT to touch or use other people stuff whether is with or without permission that's why I don't like to borrow other people's things. When we are living with other people we should follow other people's rules. Apparently her SIL not only uses her stuff but is lazy. Their mom runs a little food stall and works really hard all day. She has to come home and clean the house plus their house (because their house is adjoining with her house). She also has to go home and cook dinner for every one and the SIL DOES NOT do any of the housework to help with ANYTHING! I feel kind off bed for the mom.
Although it's none of my business but I could not help feeling really bad for this girl. She is not my sister or my close friend; she's an ex's sister but she's still a friend. We have kept in touch these years and she's like a little sister to me. I wish I can give her fruitful advice but I'm afraid I'm not in a position to give her any advice because I don't want to cause any conflict in their family. All I can do is to listen to her and support her in anyway I can. I hope that she can eventually get along with her SIL or else it'll be bad for her, her family and her SIL. Good luck my dear girl and I want you to know I'll be here to listen to you no matter what.

TGIF

When I was working I used to be really excited that it's FRIDAY! It means that I can have the weekend doing what I love to do most. Now that I'm not working I'm also excited that it's Friday because it means that hubby can spend the weekend with me..hahaha..There is so many thing to see and places to go down here. We have only been here about 3 weeks but it's already feel like home and I'm getting used to this place. Now I'm just waiting to get my resume approved/changed by hubby's aunt+uncle's friend and then I can start applying for jobs. Their friend used to work at the recruiting office and she can offer suggestions to make my resume better.*finger cross*
I'm also hoping that this weekend we can hit some malls because so far I've not yet visited any malls.
Last weekend we went for some dim sum with hubby's aunt+uncle and then we went to Louisiana with SIL and her hubby plus his side of the family. It was SIL's MIL's birthday and they invited us to the casino and since we haven't been there before we decided to join them (sob sob no we didn't win but it was an experience though). I felt so bad because Stanley was in his crate for such a long time and I forgot to give him a snack in the afternoon before we left so by the we got back which was about midnight because there was an accident on the highway Stanley was so hungry and I bet he had to go to the bathroom really bad too. I wished I would have asked aunt/uncle to watch him for us then that would not happened! I'm such a bad mummy! I need to find where the dog park is too so that we can try and bring Stanley there this weekend. Since we have a fenced yard this two days I've been trying to take Stanley out without putting on his leash. He is not used to not having a leash and the first few times he just stood in front of the door like his feet was glued to the ground. I've let him run loose up north before but he'll run really far away but this time I noticed that he hasn't really done that yet I'm not sure whether is it due to the fact that he's not used to it or he hasn't seen any rabbits/squirrels to chase around.

Our journey....

Finally I am able to find time, sit down, relax and update my rusty old blog. I would like to thank everyone for being with us through our journey of moving and giving me the support that I need. It's been a quick but long journey and I'm glad that we have arrived at our destination in one piece!
Our journey to our new place have been a mixture of stress, excitement and fun. We have had to deal with a lot of thing at our old house before we can officially leave. When we got here we had to deal with getting hooked up with stuff. We were actually without electricity for THREE whole days due to the fact that there was a day of public holiday and they actually screwed up something in their system. Hubby was pretty pissed about it but there was nothing much we could really do. Can you imagine 3 days without AIR! Apart from that we had to wait 5 days to get our Internet hooked up which was not a big deal but we were just not used to not having Internet at home. We have been visiting and going places ever since we got here. Thing here are a little more expensive than what we were paying before but there is nothing we can do about it. I'm loving this place and all I need to do now is start looking for jobs!(That's the hard part!)
We've managed to almost furnished the essentials that we need for the house. We got our bed, TV and the refrigerator the first couple of days we were here and a week after that we managed to buy a washer and dryer. We still need to look for a couch and a study table for hubby but that can be done later.
Stanley has been a really good boy through the entire journey. He's just been really attached to us especially me. We are wondering whether is it because of the change of environment. He's been sleeping a lot too but we think that's because of the heat in Houston. I was unpacking the stuff for the kitchen the first few days we were here and the funny thing about him was he just wanted to be there with me and since his crate is near the kitchen area he went in and took his naps which he would never go in to his crate without being told but ever since we moved here he's been going in his crate more. I just thought that it's funny but I was told that maybe because we are in a new environment and his crate is the place where he's "used" to that's why he's going in there willingly more.
Moving can be fun but it cost a lot of money actually. We had to spend a bunch of money before we left, for the journey and now here. We have to refurnished our new place because we didn't have any room to take any of our furniture with us. With me not being working and trying to save money for the wedding in Malaysia and getting another house here we'll just have to make do with what we can for the mean time. I'm luckily at this point we only have Stanley and not a baby to think about too..Hubby and I talked about it maybe in the next couple of years but we'll see because I'm happy at where we are currently actually..
p/s: maybe in the next couple of years I'll have a little girl friend for baby shern..*wink wink* that's also if he's not taken or have a ton of girl friends at that time..lol

Zenni Optical was on FOX news!

Hubby and I both wear glasses and it's been about 2 years since we changed our glasses. Hubby is due for another eye exam and I came across Zennioptical.com that sells stylist prescription glass online from only $8.00! Zenni optical has a huge selection of frames, with single vision lens, sunsensor (potochromic)lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens. The reason why they are so cheap is because they only sell their own manufactured frames direct to the customers with no middleman involved. I'm so excited with the price; maybe I can get more than one pair of frame and have different colors to match my clothing..LOL..

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