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!!