The Pursuit of Happyness

To all the wonderful moms

2007-05-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

Some women are special for the things they do
Still.. others for all the joy that they give
There are those who stands out for the kindnesss they show
And for making our lives such a pleasure to live
But then there are women,
a wonderful few,
who have these talents
...and that would be you!
Happy Mother's Day

My home...

2007-04-25T00:22:00.000-05:00

Have yet to take pics of the outside of house.

TV room

Great room/living room
I did those curtains myself! :)

The master bedroom that needs a little help.

Master Suite

My new hobby..

2007-04-23T21:27:00.000-05:00

I've just recently bought 2 new machines (shown above)..hahaha

I bought them last week to sew some curtains. Originally, I was going to buy it, sew it and return it. I didn't return them. I found myself a new hobby.

I've been sewing myself a bunch of different sizes pillow. That's all I know how to make at this moment...hahaha..

My next project is curtains for the master bedroom. I need to jazz it up a little. I'll post some pics up for your review tomorrow. As a post for Lee, who wanted to see how my house look like.

Congratulations, Mary Ann and Kenneth Lee!

2007-04-22T23:32:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the newlyweds!

It was Herb's cousin wedding yesterday. It was a very small and intimate wedding by a lake. Luckily it was a bright and sunny day. It has been raining the whole week non stop prior to yesterday.

This is what we had for dinner. This is the biggest portion of prime rib I've ever had at a wedding!

Stress level increasing...

2007-04-12T21:02:00.000-05:00

Got a call from my dad yesterday. Thought he was bored as he always was, calling me to chat. Instead I've got a bad news. He went for a doctor's check up last week and the doctor told him that they found some enzyme in his blood. It has something to do with his thyroid. Went to get some scans and they saw a dark spot. Doctor called him and he has to go for more testing. Won't know anything till Monday. My weekend is gonna suck! It's hard being miles away and not being home as often as I wish I can.

Vacation dilemma

2007-04-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

My vacation is coming up in May. I have a little over a week. Herb and I couldn't decide or agree on a vacation. We have all this places we want to go but then we are so indecisive. We had plans to go to Japan.. then we decided to goto Paris.. and now Australia. We are a couple of losers! sigh.. We want to make this our long overdue honeymoon. He just want to go on a cruise. But I want to go somewhere FAR!

Any suggestions?

Thanks for dinner, Yau!

2007-03-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

This is one of our friend, David. He invited us last weekend for dinner. Actually he invited like 30 ppl over for dinner and he was making his famous Hibachi. Good thing Herb works on the weekend, we get to eat first. Or else we'll be waiting till midnite with him being the only cook and 2 grills.

The menu was:

Your choice of chicken, steak, shrimp or salmon
Mushrooms, asparagus, brocolli or carrots.
Rice (it was kinda burned)
Sauce - Soy Sauce

Are you smarter?

2007-03-01T23:04:00.000-05:00

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? The lastest game show on Fox. I've been trying to answer the questions. I can honestly say that I don't remember anything I learned like 15 yrs ago.. hahahaha... A 3rd grade question was something I learned in grade 10. Elementary is like high school these days..

2007-02-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Gong Hey Fatt Choy!

2007-02-14T11:19:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Looking throught the old files on my computer, I found some of this cute pictures. Can't believe they have grown so much.

2007-02-13T14:48:00.000-05:00

spoofee

Have you all heard about spoofee? One of the coolest website I've just recently discovered. They give all the spoof for a shopper like myself. Not to mention all those freebies you get to sign up.
Click and check it out!

Merry Christmas!

2007-02-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas 2007!

I have my christmas tree up still! Don't know when I'll be taking it down. Supposedly today is the day that I've decided to take the tree down. But guess what? Instead, we went to the mall and have pretzels. I'm such a procrastinator. I'll have to take it down by this weekend since chinese new year is coming.

2007-02-08T23:33:00.000-05:00

My plates have finally arrived! Got 2 different settings. Love it!

So pretty! Hubby still thinks it's too girly.. hahaha.. what does he think? I'm a girl! (not yet a woman) LOL

The Famous Bowl

2007-02-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

KFC Famous Bowl! Layered with mashed potatoes, sweet kernel corn, popcorn chicken and it's topped of with gravy and cheese.

2007-01-31T23:20:00.000-05:00

My new year's resolution was to stop shopping. I've not shopped for almost a month now. Today! I'm guilty! At work this afternoon, I was bored. So I did some "window" shopping. I clicked on macys.com and saw the big "Up to 70% off" ad on its front page. Browsed through clothes, shoes, jewelry, bedroom and I wasn't tempted at all. So I told myself, I'm doing good and decided to click out of the site and go back to work. Suddenly, there's one link I've not clicked on - KITCHEN! Didn't think I would need any kitchen gadgets, etc.. then came the flatwares. I spent $400 on 8 set of dinnerwares (fruit bowl, cereal bowl, salad plate & dinner plate). Herb is gonna kill me! He doesn't know yet. I showed him the design, but he doesn't know I bought it knowing he didn't like it because it's too girly. :/

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-01-29T23:06:00.000-05:00

Yup, it's my birthday! Another year older. Scary thinking I'm one year closer to the big three O. I don't feel my age. I feel like I'm still 25. :) I still get ID'd buying lottery, so that assures me that I still look very young! LOL..

Yesterday as I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep and thinking what I'm gonna do this year. The first thing that came across my mind was life and death. Have anyone ever think like I do? I'm scared of death. I'm sure everyone does. But do you think about it more often when you are getting older. I was calculating how much long till I get, and if I would live that long. I was telling myself what I want to do and accomplished as if I was turning 60 tomorrow. I was watching Oprah and there's this one woman who is in her 30s and has written her own obituary. How do you write all this good things about yourself? I couldn't think of one thing I've accomplished or something good that everyone sees in me if I was to write my own obituary. I feel like I'm having my mid-life crisis in search of my own identity.

Ok.. enough of that life thingy.. giving myself goosebumps. It's my birthday. Herb got me a strawberry grand marnier cake. The same one we got for our wedding. It's decorated with chocolate covered strawberries.. crazy delicious. We had hot pot at home with a couple of friends. On this day, I did something I've never done in my 29 years of life. I was corrupted today... as one of Herb's friend said.. do it while your still in your 20s. Guess what I did? hehe

Mohegan Sun

2007-01-28T02:18:00.000-05:00

This whole weekend I was at a casino resort. Didn't get to go for my spa this time. Anyways, the reason I was there this weekend was because Herb is a "VIP" at the casino. Every now and then he gets all this freebies. This time we got a $250 voucher for shopping and a free camcorder. Casinos have the best marketing strategies. For them to give up a few thousand of the cameras and vouchers, they will gain by millions. My husband needs to go to one of those rehabs for gambler.

2007-01-23T02:18:00.000-05:00

Everyone should get a Wii!!

Finally, I got the Wii. Thanks to my sis! She sent it to me along with some dearly missed ketchup chips. Yummo!

Before and after christmas when this console was release, I was trying to wait in line to get it. But they were other people who were crazier than me who would wait for a day outside when they knew which stores have it in stock. And everytime, each store would only have like 3 of them and a bunch of people would be out in the cold for nothing. I never was interested in any video games. But Wii, it'll be my new exercise regime. I played almost all nite. I think right now I like Tennis. I can understand why people are actually breaking their tv screens. You just get so into it. We definitely need another tv and maybe a couple more remotes. We had to fight to take turns. Herb is all checking my strap before I can start the game, he was worried I would break his plasma tv.

Go get one if you haven't!

Thanks, Tris!

What's for dinner?

2007-01-18T13:43:00.000-05:00

I've recently came to the conclusion that I've lost all my touch in cooking and baking. Not that I was a good cook but I've had compliments.. :) The cheesecake that I was once famous for has became a failure. I still like cooking and when I do cook I was told by my husband that I over cooked. I've been craving for all kinds of food that I used to have when I was back in Edmonton. I enjoyed cooking for my friends when I was home. Now my only audience is my husband and he is picky with his food. I've been deprived of good food!! I can't wait to go back to visit and get my dad to cook a storm. Curry balls?? my friends?.. hahahaha

I hate having to decide what's for dinner. But luckily for me, I usually don't have to cook on the weekdays cuz' his mom cooks. The usual fish and veggies. You can always predict what's for dinner from Monday thru Friday. I'm not complaining cuz' I don't have to think of what to cook after a long day at work. I just hope she can be more creative, more flavor, less greasy... Weekends are special request from Herb most of the time and that's when I show off my talent.. hahahaha

Tonite, Herb and I will be going for Shabu-Shabu(hotpot) at a little place in Quincy. Been bugging him to try it out since last summer. If it wasn't his friends that said it was pretty good, I doubt he would take me. I don't know what happened. At one point we were out trying out different restaurants once a week or month and then it all stop. I think its because we can never agree on 1 thing and we start to argue. I heard the soup base for tonite's shabu shabu is pretty good.. loaded with tons of MSG for sure.. yum!

UPDATE: Went shabu shabu, it was spicy! But it was delicious. We had 2 soup base - a mongolian spicy base and a chinese herbal base. The mongolian side was HOT but you can't stop cooking on that side. We order some beef balls, and it only came in 4 pcs.. cheapo! 2 bucks for 4 balls.. I could have bought a whole pack myself. It was good but a little on the pricey side.

Food for thoughts.. I revamped a wonton recipe and it turned out pretty good..
I don't have the exact measurements.. as Herb always say that I never measure and each time I cook the same food its always different. Good cook doesn't require measuring cups or spoons. Have you seen iron chef measure? LOL

Ingredients:

1 pkg Wonton Wrap
1 lb ground pork
10 pcs shelled, deveined and chopped shrimp
Scallions - chopped in to small pcs.
Cilantro - chopped into small pcs.
Corn starch
Oyster Sauce
Sesame oil
Light soy sauce
White pepper

Chili oil

2 tbsp of veggie oil

2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
chicken stock
1 sm thai chili pepper
2 gloves garlic
hoisin sauce

Steps:

Minced the ground pork and shrimp together. Mix in scallions, cilantro, white pepper, oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce and cornstarch.

Refigerate the pork fillings for abt 30 mins. While that's being marinated, heat up 2 tbsp of oil and saute the garlic and chili peppers until fragrant. Add in 2 spoonful of peanut butter, chicken stock and hoisin. Whisk until it's smooth and it comes to a simmer. Add sugar if you want it to taste sweeter. The consistent of the sauce should be a little on the watery side.

While the sauce is being cool, begin wrapping the wontons. Once it's done, cook them in a pot of salted boiling water. When it's floating, it's done. Drain the wontons and add some peanut sauce, scallions and hot chili oil if you desire spicy.

2007-01-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Originally, I was going to make this blog all about me and my daily boring life but I've decided instead to post pics of my dearest niece and nephews. Aren't they adorable? They just make you smile. They are spoiled! They can say the most heart warming things to melt you stress away. Love them to death!

He looks just like his uncle Rob.

I want to pinch his cheeks!

Doesn't he look cool on his Ducati

First car at age 4

Superman!

LOOK! Baby Christopher is 6 mths and Ethan is 2 years old. Baby is twice as big as Ethan. Please feed your son, my deareast sis!

My Sweethearts

2007-01-03T21:35:00.000-05:00

Newest member - Tristan Brandon Tran

My heroes!

I missed them .. xoxo

So cute!

2006-12-31T15:24:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a

healthy and prosperous

2007

2006-12-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

One of the first thing when you goto the Keys, is to take the trolley tour. It takes you around the whole town and from there you can plan where you wanna go and visit. KeyWest was a blast!
This is the type of car you cruise in - in the Keys

He has never drank out of a coconut before!

Southernmost Point - KeyWest, FL

Miami, FL - I was there for a week attending a friend's wedding. While we were there, we visited some cool places. We took a tour down the strip of the rich and famous. Took pics of their house. I was totally digging the whole paparazzi thingy for the day. I feel confident that I can work for the Enquirer!

Herb and I

Paulina Rubio's

Madonna's

Jennifer Lopez's (it was only a few doors down from P.Diddy)

P. Diddy's Antonio Banderas'

Don Johnson'sIf you look hard, you'll see his face.. ;)