Margarita - Iced & Stirred, Not Shaken

Weekends are when the chef(Me!) kicks back, relaxes and stays out of the kitchen! We would usually eat usually eat out on the weekends, either with friends or just the two of us. I've probably mentioned in previous posts that Saturday mornings are reserved for my hubby's tennis league, and today was no different....

After this league, both of us headed out for some Dim Sum, something we haven't had in weeks! It was a regular place that both of us liked to eat at without having to travel into Chinatown and fight for a parking spot! =) . The interior deco was very "Chinesey" and they even had classic CNY "dong dong chiang" songs in the background. For a second, it felt like having Dim Sum in, Asia! I will put up a seperate post to share this little treasure tucked outside Boston!

Anyway, husband and I actually planned to stay home most of the day- today, as we have a long day tomorrow; with 3 live games to catch live on TV! However, we only got home at 7pm, after running some errands, doing grocery shopping and shopping for more accesories for the Wii.......We will be up at 3.30am to catch the Aussie Open finals, then at 11am head to The Smith's place so that hubby and Mr. Smith can catch Liverpool & Man U........then at 1pm or so, head to RI for a Superbowl Party!!!!! I have to find some time to make some Smoked Salmon & Vege sandwich bites to bring over to the party! Bz...bz...bz!!

For dinner, we decided to pick up Pizza from my favorite neighbourhood Pizza Parlour; Brickhouse Pizza. We ordered a large pineapple and ham pizza and chicken wings...........Oh, So yummy!! We sat in front of our brand new TV enjoying a cheap pizza dinner.........and drank some Cherry Key Lime Margarita that I made...........................mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

CNY Is Not CNY Without........

Mandarine Oranges/Tangerines and BAK KWA!!! Yum....Yum!!!!

CNY in Malaysia means buying, eating, giving lots of "Kam" (Mandarine Oranges), mainly imported from China........I've got my share of "Kam", got some Florida tangerines from the local grocer - it was cheap; 4 for $1 and didn't taste too bad.....For 25 cents each, I shouldn't be complaining too much! Mandarin Orange is a symbol of wealth and good fortune, that's why you see abundance of them during CNY!
And also during CNY (in most Chinese Malaysian homes), you would see "Bak Kwa"/ "Rou Gan" being served, or given as gift. This is a yummy snack, made from smoked seasoned pork/chicken. It's almost like jerky, just not as dry; a little sweeter and saltier! Since we could hardly get any "Bak Kwa" in the US (even in Chinatowns), I made my own batch to satisfy my CNY "Bak Kwa" cravings! It's been 4-5 years since I last made them, as making Bak Kwa often leave me with a pain-in-the-ass-to-clean baking sheet! Here's a picture of home made "Bak Kwa", the flavor is somewhat there....=)....I'm a happy camper! Husband couldn't stop munching them down like a shredder! Hehe!!

Fatigue Friday..

I only crawled into bed at 3am on Friday and woke up to my husband's alarm ringing at 6.30am. Reached for my laptop as I was curious to know who would Federer's opponent be come this Sunday (Husband and I are gonna stay up or go to bed early at wake up at 3.30am), saw that the game between Nadal & Verdesco was still in progress....It's already 3 hours and they are still playing???? Since, I'm already awake (eventhough I'm no fan or Nadal's), I decided to tune in to the live match on TV. Spectacular perfomance by both players! Verdesco was giving Nadal a run for this tennis racquet, only to have Verdesco double faulted at the match point - giving Nadal the win. They played for more than 5 hours!!

I couldn't sleep, so I continued by playing the Wii and Wii Fit (actually did some Yoga!!=P) I was so tired after having only 3 hours of sleep the night before that my short nap turned into somewhat a "deep nap" as I didn't realize that husband was back with the TV, right in front of me . So, we finally got our TV from Sears today, after a few days of delay and empty promises from incompetent associates! Here's our spanking new 46" Samsung LCD, 120Hz, 1080p, with a tint of red; perfect for our living room theme! Husband and I were "oohing and aahing" with the picture quality and color......it was no doubt better than the old Plasma which is now my Wii TV!
For dinner, I fed the boys Home Made Spring Rolls and Tom Yam Linguini before sending them off to pick up their new TVs! =) ... I love the crunchiness of spring rolls with jicama, carrot, & mushroom filling, like the ones I made tonight! I also made Bak Kua and will post it on a new post later. My night did not just end with food and new tv; I went to play tennis again from 9pm-10pm .... That's why I'm super tired....Should be able to sleep like a baby after I get my hands on some Wii games!

Good Read : Winter Storm

I received this forwarded email recently and decided to share it. Some of you might have already seen/read this, but please let me share it as it reminded me of the many snow storms we have been getting and me spending 15-20 minutes trying to remove snow off my car - yesterday! Don't get me wrong though, I still LOVE LOVE LOVE the Northeast/Massachusetts!

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Aug. 12 - Moved into our new home in Massachusetts. It is so beautiful here. The hills and river valleys are so picturesque. I have a beautiful old oak tree in my front yard. Can hardly wait to see the change in the seasons. This is truly God's Country.

Oct. 14 - Massachusetts is such a gorgeous place to live, one of the real special places on Earth. The leaves are turning a multitude of different colors. I love all of the shades of reds, oranges and yellows, they are so bright. I want to walk through all of the beautiful hills and spot some white tail deer. They are so graceful, certainly they must be the most peaceful creatures on Earth. This must be paradise.

Nov. 11 - Deer season opens this week. I can't imagine why anyone would want to shoot these elegant animals. Theyare the very symbol of peace and tranquility here in Mass. I hope it snows soon. I love it here!

Dec. 2 - It snowed last night... I woke to the usual wonderful sight: everything covered in a beautiful blanket of white. The oak tree is magnificent. It looks like a post card. We went out and swept the snow from the stepsand driveway. The air is so crisp, clean and refreshing.We had a snowball fight. I won, and the snowplow camedown the street. He must have gotten too close to the driveway because we had to go out and shovel the end of the driveway again. What a beautiful place. Nature in harmony.I love it here!

Dec. 12 - More snow last night. I love it! The plow did his cute little trick again. What a rascal. A winter wonderland. I love it here!

Dec. 19 - More snow - couldn't get out of the driveway to get to work in time. I'm exhausted from all of theshoveling. And that snowplow!

Dec. 21 - More of that white shit coming down. I've got blisters on my hands and a kink in my back. I think that the snowplow driver waits around the corner until I'm done shoveling the driveway.

Dec. 25 - White Christmas? More freakin' snow. If I ever get my hands on the SOB who drives that snowplow, I swear I'll castrate him. And why don't they use more salt on these roads to melt this crap??

Dec. 28 - It hasn't stopped snowing since Christmas.I have been inside since then, except of course when that SOB "Snowplow Harry" comes by. Can't go anywhere, cars are buried up to the windows. Weather person says to expect another 10 inches. Do you have any idea how many shovelfuls 10 inches is??

Jan. 1 - Happy New Year? The way it's coming down it won't melt until the 4th of July! The snow plow got stuck down the road and the shithead actually had the balls to come and ask to borrow a shovel! I told him I'd broken six already this season.

Jan. 4 - Finally got out of the house. We went to thestore to get some food and a damn deer ran out in front ofmy car and I hit the bastard. It did $3,000 in damage tothe car. Those beasts ought to be killed. The hunters should have a longer season if you ask me.

Jan. 27 - Warmed up a little and rained today. The rain turned the snow into ice and the weight of it broke the main limb of the oak tree in the front yard and it went through the roof. I should have cut that old piece of shit into fireplace wood when I had the chance.

May 10 - Took my car to the local garage. Would you believe the whole underside of the car is rusted away from all of that damn salt they dump on the road? Car looks like a bashed up, heap of rusted cow shit.

May 23 - Sold the car, the house, and moved to Florida.I can't imagine why anyone in their freakin' mind would ever want to live in the God forsaken State of Massachusetts

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I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did enjoy sharing it!. Have a nice weekend! I'll probably be back for another posting! =)

PS: I had 3 hours of sleep last night..........Had too much fun with Wii, and woke up at 6.30am - Aussie Open match : Nadal VS Verdesco was still on, so decided to watch it live on TV. They played for over 5 hours with Nadal advancing into the Finals, meeting Federer on Sunday.

Customer Service......The Good, The Bad, The Ugly!

This like my 3rd posting for the day, must be a record! =).. I was out running some errands, doing some light shopping and some window shopping at the mall and at some retail stores. The mall was very empty since X'mas is over and with the bad economy, everyone is probably holding on to their money-tightly.

Today, I experienced customer service at its best and worst.......and therefore penning down my compliments and frustrations!!!!. The 2 stores that made my day were Lacoste & Tifffany in Natick Collection. The Lacoste store associate was very friendly and helpful even though I was just doing an exchange. As for Tiffany's (I love to shop at the Natick branch, as the associates are a little nicer and not as snobby as the ones in Copley Plaza!!), I went and got a silver chain from T & Co., and also had something cleaned, FREE!! Once again, excellent service from Tiffany's........That's why, I'll always Return To Tiffany ( Well, except for the KLCC branch where the guy will FIRST judge you by the way you dress up, and will only treat you nicely after they know you are a customer or have own something from Tiffany's!!!!!)...Tadaa.....matching silver chain for the Candy Cane charm!! I will wear it to Chris's Annual Rhode Island Super Bowl Party!!

Now, to about my not-so-pleasant shopping experience ..... Apparently, pre-paying stuff with Sears is almost as bad as shopping at Best Buy! We'll see how long we have to wait with Sears! Surprise, surprise....... our "promised" goods did not make it today, eventhough it was supposed to arrive 2 days ago!!!! With all their excuses, incompetent employees and lousy MANAGER who do not seem to know how to do their jobs - they really REALLY frustrate me!!! Thanks to all these overpromise and undeliver companies, I now shudder at the thought of pre-paying at the store and waiting for my goodies to arrive!!!! I shall share more on my disappointing experience with Sears, once my pre-paid for merchandise arrives!

After leaving Sears empty handed, we headed over to the now closing Circuit City and spotted some Wii accesories......... They are at 30% off........we did do a quick research on Amazon.com before buying them to make sure we're getting the best of deals!

That's a brief story of my shopping experience.........I leave you with tonite's dinner =). "Bak Kut Teh" served with Fried Dough and a plate of Stir-Fry Baby Bok Choy...... No more tough chewy "Tu Kah Teh" ...Mmmmmmm Yumminess!!! Time to turn on my Wii, and burn off some "Bak Kut Teh" dinner off my waistline!!

FeDex Cruises Into The FINALS!

WooHoo!! Roger Federer earned his spot in the Finals of the Aussie Open after beating Andy Roddick! I was happy that I sacrificed my beauty sleep to watch Federer win that match! OK, I ended up going to bed at 2.30am, coz my eyes were getting heavier and heavier; I doubt I can last the whole match if I don't catch some shut eye. I caught about 2 hours of sleep, crawled out of bed and groggily scrambled for the remote to turn on the TV! Roger won, the first set and has started playing the 2nd set. It was pretty entertaining watching Andy Roddick cracking up a joke or two and made the crowd laugh! Roger Federer on the other hand was very focused, very composed and delivered what he came to do! =) Both guys played very well, but I guess Roger wanted the win a little more =P. So, we'll see who advances into the other Final's spot; Verdesco VS Nadal - my money's on Nadal; he's been playing acceptionally well lately and it will be a huge upset if Verdesco kicks his ass!!!! If indeed it's Nadal in the Finals, that means Federer would need to step it up 200% to claim his 14th Gand Slam title, matching Pete Sampras! The match ended at about 6 am, husband and I took a quick 30 minutes "nap" before he has to get up for work, while I prepare him breakfast and hit the sack again!!!

Anyway, remember I blogged about my WON (Work Out Night)....?? This morning I woke up feeling achy... feeling sore....especially around my abs and waist!......Must be tha hula-hoops game that husband and I was doing on the Wii FIT!! I think my arms will be achy breaky tomorrow............. I spent like 15-20 minutes cleaning snow off my car! Yup, it snowed then rained last night and my car ended up with about 4-5 inches of snow on it. The worst part is the "top coat" was ice.... So, I had to break the top coating of ice first before removing the snow under it! It was a good exercise for me to build some biceps and triceps!!!

Beware: Australian Open Bug!!

I caught the Australian Open bug!!!! I'm still awake at this hour watching the women's Semi Finals; Safina VS Zvonareva ....... To be honest, I am actually trying to stay awake till 3.30 am to catch Federer VS Roddick for a place in the Men's Finals! =) ...And need I remind you again, who I am rooting for?? =)........FEDEX........No silly, not the global shipping company (not this time).....it's Roger Federer!!!!! =P.

Well, I caught the bug so bad that I needed to hit some tennis with husband or whoever willing to hit a couple balls with me! Husband had an appointment with his friend to play some singles. I ended up hitting with a TEN YEAR OLD GIRL who's GOOD...in fact very very good for her young age! She's been playing for 7 years while I've been playing for 14 - I shouldnt be disclosing this shameful information here!!! Man, do I feel old now......age is creeping up to me and before I know it, I'll hit the BIG 3-0!! =(

Anyway, playing with his little girl was kinda stressful as on one hand I do not want to appear as the relentless bully and on the other I can't be seen losing to her! We played for 40 minutes non-stop, she was remorseless and gave me a run for my money(in this case, tennis racquet)!! I was huffing and puffing but had to disguise it, pulling myself together and praying for the clock to show 10pm; when the court hour's up! In my defense, I'm very very unfit as I have not done any exercise in 3-4 months and I just did some Wii FIT earlier!!

So, Wednesday night was really a WON (Work Out Night). Besides the 40 minutes of tennis, we played the Wii FIT! I could feel my calories and fat burning off! Seriously! Wii FIT is really making the difference! Haha! Well, I'm hoping with the Wii FIT, I can continously eat, eat, eat and not fear the scale tipping over? I have to spend USD100 to find out that my Wii Age is 34 .......... and I have no balance .... Now, that explains my missteps every now and then..=P..So, Wii Wii, make me FIT!

I'm signing off this post with my Wednesday night dinner .... I don't know if there's a specific name for this, so I shall call it, "Sesame Chicken & Mushroom Stir-Fry". It was served with some Stir-Fry Chinese Vegetables, Steamy Radish Soup and Plain White Rice! Am I making you hungry or what????? =P

Snow Day.....Wii Day!

With husband's new job, he has the flexiblity to work from home during a Snow Day or whenever the weather is inclement! It'll be snowing all day today and expected to only get worst after lunch till about of course when regular office hours end! Apparently, everyone in his office will be doing the same since travelling to and from work will be a pain and dangerous!

While hubby is hard at work right now, I am staring at ..............To open or not to open.........To open or not to open..........Yup, we got it! Hubby got 2 sets of the Wii and Wii Fit; one for us and the other one for our friend, Chuck. We checked around a couple stores in RI and in NH on Monday but they were all out of stock. Since the Wii and Wii Fit are very hot items, they are often sold out - quickly! Husband was having lunch yesterday and decided to stop by a Game store and saw the sign "Wii In Stock". It's true; they just got their Wii & Wii Fit stock and they're already selling like hot cakes. In 5-10 minutes; between calling me and our friend Chuck, hubby claimed that 4-5 units of the Wii Fit was already taken - mostly by ladies in theirs 40s or so. I was still hesitating if we should get it.....but husband made up my mind for me and got it before it's too late. Well, if in fact I do not want it, we do have 30 days to return unopened product with the original receipt!

Well, I guess they are not going back to the store. I've decided to open it later, after hubby finishes up his work! I anticipate that I'll never ever hit the gym again!! Why hit the gym when I have the technology of the Wii to MAKE ME FIT in the comfort of my home?? My friend in the West Coast just bought a Wii Fit as well ............. Adeline, let's get FIT together-virtually!

Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice)

Yours truly is blogging from the foyer overlooking the tennis courts again. Darling husband is having is weekly tennis practise with his teammates. I think I will make it a weekly ritual to blog from the tennis courts/club. =). Since, we're talking tennis....a little update on Roger Federer's Australian Open journey.....He will now be facing Andy Roddick in the Semi Finals after beating Juan Martin Del Potro in straight sets giving the poor kid 2 bagels!! Yay, Roger!!
Anyway, I made Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice) served with hard boiled eggs, fresh sliced cucumber, anchovie sambal, toasted peanuts and rendang chicken for dinner tonite. We invited Chris over for a quick dinner and beer as we have to head out to the tennis courts later. =). Nasi Lemak is a very popular Malaysian Dish, has a little kick to it and is very flavorful.

A close up on the Nasi Lemak I made, served also on a piece of banana leaf! =). I have to admit, the Chicken Rendang was not from scratch. I cheated using this mix I got from an online store, and added some Chicken and Lemon Grass. The rendang mix really surprised me as it turned out way better than expected. I've used different kind of ready made rendang mix in the past, and most of them are rather disappointing!

Therefore, I am recommending this paste to those who does not have the patience or time to grind spices, toast coconut and the whole works to prepare rendang. Give this Claypot brand Chicken Rendang mix a try! You just need to add chicken and water! I added some lemon grass to mine, to give it a more homemade look and flavor .=) I give this a 2 thumbs up!

How would you spend your "Ang Pow"??

I woke up to find a little surprise, the "Ang Pow Fairy" left a nice little AngPow under my pillow the night before. The "Ang Pow Fairy" a.ka. husband dear said I could use the money to get whatever I want.... This is the first time I get to spend my "Ang Pow" (Red packet, filled with money). In previous years, Daddy will make sure my brother and I save up all the "Ang Pows" we collected and deposit the money into our savings account! We never get to spend a penny!

So, this time I get to spend my little Ang Pow and I have a list of things that I would like to get ........ but am not sure if I should go right ahead and buy it... I do not want to regret my decisions whatever it may be!

1) Nintendo Wii with Wii Fit Bundle.............................since I love to eat, eat eat, yet super lazy to exercise and hit the gym, this would be a motivation for me to get some exercise! I just hope it won't be collecting dust after 3 months!!

OR

2) Playstation 3 80GB........to go with our new HDTV and for its cool grahics, Blu-Ray and cool games...Now do I want to pay sky high price for the games and DVDs?

OR

3) Canon Rebel XSI DSLR Camera..................one of my long time favorite and for me to take better pictures............

OR

4) Puppy!!........A Westie, a Mini Schnauzer, or other small toy dogs! We've been wanting to get a companion, preferably to rescue one! Not sure if we're up for the commitment of having a puppy though....

OR

5) Save it in the Piggy Bank for rainy days.....................

So, what do you think? Any suggestions for me?? =)

Australian Open Tennis Championships 2009

Husband and I are catching bits and pieces of The Australian Open and admiring the players in awe between live matches and replays on ESPN network! Each of us rooting for our main idol, as well as other players to move on to the next level!

My husband's idol is Rafael Nadal, the current numero uno while my idol is no other than the former numero uno, Roger Federer (now ranked #2). All the men singles players are playing very very well, so I hope that Roger Federer will prevail thru the Finals and eventually win this championship!! I've yet to see Roger play live, so hopefully come this year's US Open, we'll get to see him play live in New York, if we're lucky!!

Mini Pork Floss Rolls

This is a very very very addictive savory CNY snack! We used to make this at my grandpa's house many years ago, but have stopped making them since. All the ladies in the family and cousins will gather at a dining table chit-chatting and catching up with each other (since we only meet during CNY) while the hands are busy making these mini spring rolls filled with meat floss (dried seasoned meat). It's very time consuming to make as these are very delicate snacks, therefore it's best to gather up a few buddies to make it together!

I made some prior to Chinese New Year to snack on and sent some to my brother! All you would need to make this yummy snack are spring roll skin, "edible glue" (I used flour mixture, you can use egg to seal the rolls), pork or chicken floss, oil to deep fry and lots of PATIENCE! I made this while watching tv and it took me about 2 hours to finish a small container of meat floss!

Gong Xi Fa Caii! Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Caii and Xin Nian Kuai Le to those of you who celebrates the Chinese New Year! May the year of the OX brings you lots of happiness, health and prosperity! And hopefully the year of the "Charging Ox" will chase away most of the bad luck from year 2008!

To those who are still eligible to receive angpows, may you receive lots of them filled with lots of CASH!! Haha! I doubt I will be receiving any more angpows from my relatives this year!!

Wouldn't it be nice if this is the real deal........Large solid pure gold nugget! Wishful thinking.....

Storm's Over, Clean Up Later...=)

CNY Party's Over...Our last guest left at about midnight, after rounds of food/drinks and fun time with Wii. Both husband and I are not going to clean anything today, just putting left over food away and will clean up later. Lots of leftover booze as we requested our guests to BYOB even though we did supply them, and wear a red clothing. Our guests were very cooperative to wear red clothing as requested by us! It was a whole lot of red!!

Right now, we're chilling in front of the TV watching Australian Open....I'm rooting for Roger Federer to stay in the game and move forward to the next round!And he WON!!!!!

Here are some pictures from our CNY Party. It's a CNY custom for married couples to give younger single people, AngPow (Red Packets, filled with money). We decided to give out some Angpows, filled with Scratch Tickets to all our guests! It's all about the fun and the experience!
Gaudy CNY decorations greet guests upon entering our pad....
More gaudy CNY decorations near our pantry........If only you could hear the loud CNY music in the background!!Chinese New Year cookies and snacks, mostly homemade by myself and by my mother-in-law. My husband hand carried 2 cookies his mom made across the world, Malaysia to US.=)
Some of the food we had at the party...
And my pineapple roll made an appearance too....
Homemade Yee Sang. It was indeed worth all the tedious work of ingredient hunting and cutting!!.....My guests had fun "tossing" the Yee Sang and also enjoyed eating it..
Adding the Smoked Salmon pieces before the grand group toss. Yee Sang is usually served with Raw Fish. "Food Fight" with the Yee Sang.... It was thrown everywhere!
"Pie Tee". This reminds me of a mini bite size Taco salad. The filling however is sauteed jicama, carrots and mushrooms. The shell is made from rice & plain flour. It's serve with chili sauce and fried scallions. My mom, made these shells in Malaysia and husband "delivered" them! I wanted to make spring rolls, using the same filling but the Iron Chef's timer was out!!

Pan Fried Seafood Dumpling and Shrimp Pancake
Fried (Longevity) Noodles? Haha... I also made Shrimp Fried Rice but forgot to take a picture of it =(

Steam Baby BokChoy with Mushroom Sauce

Belacan Chicken....................

Curry Leaf Shrimp. This came out a little wet than expected. It was crispy and dry when I stuck it in the warmer, though! Was disappointed with this!

And for dessert, there's a Honey Melon "Sai Mai Lo". Basically contains Tapioca (Sago), Honey Melon, Evaporated Milk and Syrup!

Another dessert, Lychee & Rose Jelly

And that's it!!