Bubye 2008.... Hullo, 2009.

Hello, kiddos!  I didn't forget about this place.  I guess my lack of blogging has been a result of (or combination of) 1) lack of time, 2) laziness, 3) lack of interesting things to say.  Maybe I'm the only one who still read this blog.  That's ok, I have no problem talking to and reflecting on myself.  The year of 2008 has whipped by quickly before my eyes and I still can't believe it's 2009 already.  2008 has been a fulfilling year with lots of blessings and excitement along the way.  Let's recap, shall we?

• Visited Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong with my hubby in March.  It was our first vacation together!  Originally, we didn't plan on vacationing after the wedding (we didn't even have a honeymoon).  But alot of my families (including my 93 year old grandma) from my mom's family were unable to attend our wedding back in 2007, so we decided to use the 1.5 weeks we had in spring break to visit my grandma and relatives in HK.  We found a great deal in the end so we stopped by Tokyo for 3 nights before our HK trip.  It was a fun trip.... too short, though.  We hope to return to Japan some day.
• Celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary.... actually, we didn't really celebrate.  I think we went to Kingspark for dinner (mmmm, honger mini-meals) and rented a movie afterwards.  We didn't even have gifts for each other or anything.... just cards.  But, we did go to a nicer place for dinner later on to celebrate our 10 years together as a couple.  The best part was, the meal was free because we had a gift card.  Double woooooo!
• My best friend gave birth to a healthy, handsome little boy!  He's probably the best looking baby I've met so far, and he melts my heart!
• Went to Vegas for 6 days.  It was an impromptu trip as hubs and I weren't planning on vacationing again after the Asia trip.  However, my coworker was able to score us a deal on a 1 bedroom apartment (with full size kitchen!) right on the strip for $40/night.  We also flew on Allegiant Air out of Bellingham to save money because, well, it was $80 per person for flight.  Score!
• Hubs and I both got into grad school and started our programs in September.  It was crazy going to work full time and doing school part time, but we survived our first term and did really well in our courses.   I was proud of the fact that I still managed to cook at home most of the days (besides eating with our parents).  And we didn't kill each other. Let's hope this keeps up.
• My brother got into VPD.  We are all so proud of and excited for him.  I think my dad even recorded a VHS clip of him being interviewed on the news... lmao.  Our families are looking forward to him graduating from the academy this summer.  (I want a ride in the cop car... with sirens on!  weeeee!)

The hubs and I were very lucky to both have 2 weeks off from work and school over the holiday break, so we took the opportunity to bum around and do nothing.  It was weird for the first day or two... not having any work or readings to do at home, and I was constantly on my Blackberry doing work emails.  It didn't take us long to start learning how to relax (I think hubs is better at this than me).  We mainly vegged at home, rented movies, braved the crowded malls, got caught up and finished Heroes' Season 2 (Yattaaaa!), spent time with our families, and hung out with a few good friends over the holidays.  I was happy to have time to cook and bake for families and friends.  Aside from getting small presents for our parents and brothers, we tried to stay away from overspending on things we don't really need because really, we're already blessed with far too many things we don't deserve.  But, I did get a coffee card for the hubs at his favorite coffee shop (not Starbucks!), and he got me a pair of iPod headphones so that I can use my iPod when I'm at the gym.  Have I mentioned how sucky the stock ones are?  They never want to stay in your ears and don't even try to work out with them on... they just slide right off your ears as soon as you move.

Anyways, there are many things I hope to accomplish in 2009.  Some of which include:

• Having more patience at work.  Oh dear, I couldn't count how many times at work I've lost my cool and was really close to killing anything that moves near me.  Not good.
• Keep up with my work out sessions at the gym (I completely stopped my exercise routine over the holidays, so I'm looking forward to getting back on it next week).
• Find time to do devotions.
  

Happy new year, everyone.  I hope this year brings you much love and happiness along the way!

Vacation rules!

Well, hello children! Are you ready for my triumphant return to the blog world? Today is my first day off from work (weekends don't count), and I shall celebrate by writing a blog entry! Afterall, it's been 2 months since I blogged. I guess I just don't have enough (interesting) things to say, and I'm really lazy. On most days after work, I am too tired to even turn on the computer at night to write.... meh.

I can't really say I've accomplished much on my vacation yet since it's only been day 1, but the husband and I did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen counters and stovetop. There are alot more things at home that need cleaning, that's for sure! The last few days, I was able to spend some time with my parents, play piano, read, and not think about work. I've only looked at my work emails on my crackberry twice today, so I'd like to think I'm doing well so far.

I hope I can really relax and take things easy during my 4 week vacation. I know the time will go by very fast, so I'm trying to make good use of my time and enjoy my vacation as much as I can before returning to work in a few weeks. Work had been crazy during the past 6 months, so I'm glad I got the chance to go away for a breather. Once September rolls in, I'm not sure if I have time to breathe as I decided to throw myself back to more schooling. I hope it wasn't a bad decision on my part - to work full time, go to school part time, and manage house chores....and let's hope I pass my first graduate course. Honestly, I'm a tad (maybe more than a tad) nervous about September. Afterall, it's been 8 long years since I graduated from UBC. I'm not really sure what to expect from there. I don't even know if I can still write an academic paper anymore?!? Yikes!!!!!

On an unrelated note, I really dislike oblivious drivers. I hate the fact that I'm driving straight on the right lane at a constant speed, and drivers peek out from the side street trying to get onto my lane. Sure, either you step on your gas and go for it, or wait after I go and you turn out. Noooooo, they have to wait until you are very close to them and then they turn out, making you slam on your brakes with steam coming out of your heads. What's worst is they drive at 40km/hr in front of you. Or, you try to back out of your parking spot and the driver (if you're in Ditchmond, they are usually female of Chinese descent in their 40's-50's) signal for your spot, but is totally blocking you. They refuse (or do not know how) to back it up abit to make room for you. Instead, they just sit there and think it's my responsibility to back out of my spot 50 times so she can run everyone else over just to get my spot. This is after I found out there were tons of spots near my spot... closer to the mall entrance.

And if you can't keep up with the flow of traffic or the indicated speed sign on the highway, DRIVE ON THE RIGHT SIDE and stay there. The left lane is for passing!!!!!!! Driving 60km/hr on the fast lane on a 90km/hr highway is very dangerous! And if you decide to pass someone, get onto the fast lane at a faster speed, not at a slower speed so that the 20 cars on the fast lane behind you can smash right into you.

Ok, I think I feel better now. I'm currently baking some blueberry muffins in the oven. I hope they turn out well since the recipe has so many high ratings. I love blueberries. I was so happy when my mom gave me a huge box of blueberries... apparently she bought them for cheap from a local blueberry farmer. My current healthy snack at the moment is fresh blueberries with fat free vanilla yogurt with granola! EEEEEE!

Ok bye! Maybe I'll post again soon (and hopefully not in 2 months time).

Oops.

I forgot to blog for over a month! O-M-G. If I remembered correctly, I was suppose to blog about our short trip to HK after our Tokyo 3-day stop. I guess I got lazy and afterall, who wants to listen to me blog about a trip from 2 months ago? Anyways, HK was fun but we wished we had more time for shopping, exploring, eating and hanging out with families and friends. Going back to HK always gives me a weird feeling. When I was young, going to HK feels like going "home". Even when I worked in HK for 4 months during my summer time off from UBC back in 1997, I thought I'd eventually return to HK to live my life there after graduation. Somehow, I managed to bump into Mr.C during my 2nd year and then my plan to live in HK got all messed up. However, in retrospect, I wouldn't have enjoyed living and working in HK. In fact, I didn't enjoy my summer job experience in HK. Politics, impersonal relationships, pollution, the general disconnect with anyone and everyone...ugh. I guess I became accustomed to the Canadian lifestyle because I left HK at a really young age.

Anyways, let's move on. Today was one of the warmer, nicer days we've had since.... last September (!!!), so Mr.C and his biking buddy went to Whistler early this morning to ride the A-line and the many trails on the slopes. I'm not sure what it is, but when Mr.C gets to ride his bike he gets giddy and really excited! You know this guy loves to ride when he gets home, has a super huge grin on his face, and tells you he just bought his Whistler Season's Pass.

It was nice to have the entire Saturday to myself. I got to do whatever I want, whenever I want, and it was so relaxing! I am also proud to say that I accomplished alot today! Here is a quick re-cap of what I did - yes, I'm sure you are all dying to know my oh-so-exciting day.

• woke up early to dim sum with my family
• hung out with my parents and watched some tv at their place.... this is what happens when you don't have cable at your own home.
• went home, bummed around on the internet for abit
• re-organized our binders - taxes, invoices, statements, yada yada.
• re-organized my recipe binder (how lame)
  
• prepped some food for tomorrow's dinner get-together with some RCAC friends whom we haven't hung out for awhile.
  
• made a quick noodle soup for myself, and a fruit salad for Mr.C because I felt like chopping up fruits out of nowhere (I'm weird, yes).
  
• speed-walked around my neighborhood for 30 mins (part of my new healthy-living regime... which I may blog about later because I don't want to run out of things to blog for my next entry, puhahah).
  
• vacuumed (I broke the rule - I was suppose to let Mr.C do that, but I couldn't stand a dusty home for another minute!)
• folded all the laundry in the dryer!

Surprisingly, I haven't been tired yet. I hope the weather continues to stay sunny and warm so I can get more exercise! I hated the dark, winter days and I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing! Blaaaarggh!

Freeze!

Have you ever seen a cop pulled out his/her gun? Have you ever seen a Chinese RCMP in Richmond pulled out his gun in the middle of busy traffic in broad daylight?

I have!

I was just leaving my street and was about to pull out into Garden City heading towards Alderbridge Way, when I saw an RCMP police car on Garden City with lights and sirens on, trying to stop the car in front of it (it was obvious). Traffic was heavy but everyone steered out of its way to make room so the RCMP and the car ahead of it can pull over to the right side. Being in Richmond, of course, the suspected car stop in the middle of the road. Nobody knew what was going on so we all stopped and wait. After what seems to be 30 seconds, the officer in the car used the speakers and asked the van in front to pull over to the right side. Van did not move, so officer quickly flashed his lights, and repeated his instructions on the speaker. Man, those speakers were loud.

So when the Garden City/Westminster light turned green, traffic quickly moved and made way for the RCMP and van so they could have room to pull aside. Van decided to keep moving on the fast lane (insert OMG emoticon). RCMP quickly flipped his siren and lights on again and repeated his instructions on the speakers to the van in front of him. At this point, I was thinking, omg this van must be loaded with armed drug dealers or something! Anyways, they managed to finally pulled aside after they passed Westminster and I just happened to stop at the red light, watching them. The officer sat in his car for about a minute, getting his stuff ready when suddenly the van in front of him started moving slowly again! (insert OMG emoticon again). The officer quickly jumped back into his car, turned on his sirens and lights again (!!) and screamed over the speakers "Red Caravan license plate XXX XXX stop and pull to the right immediately!!!!". Van stopped, officer hopped out of his car and pulled out his shiny silver gun, aiming it downwards, approaching slowly to the van ahead of him and at this point, the entire world stopped to watch because well, it is some crazy stuff eh! Stupidest move yet - the driver of the van rolled down the window, slowly opened his door (!!) and tried to step out of his car.

The officer yelled at him to stay back in the car and kept pointing him to do so. Guy finally went back into his van and the RCMP still had his gun out, calmly and slowly trying to tell the driver to stay in the car.

Turned out, the driver of the van was a Chinese man who looked like he's in his 70's, with an old lady beside him.

I wonder if this is as exciting as it'll ever get in Richmond.

Did I mention the cop is Chinese (well I can't confirm that, but he looks Chinese)? He's pretty hawt, too. Not as hot as Leehom, though.

Spacious... wha?

I remembered when the Mr.C and I were looking for our first home back in 2006, we came across an MLS listing that caught our attention. It definitely wasn’t the cheap price tag (is there such a thing in Vancouver these days?). It was the two words in the description - “spacious panty”. Spacious panty, oh my! It was actually listed in the description of a property we found on MLS! It didn’t take long for us to figure out what the seller/realtor was trying to say – spacious pantry. Can you imagine buying a property that came with a spacious panty? How big would it be? How many people can it hold? Is it self-cleaning? What color would it be? Anyways, fast forward to 2008… we now live in a place that’s not very spacious. Its pantry is far from it, too. You can just imagine our disappointment!

This got me to think that a well-stocked pantry is very important, especially in a busy household where there are no maids, chefs or servants. If you keep your pantry well stocked throughout the seasons, it will prevent you from running frantically to the grocery stores during the work weeks. Do you really want to brave the grocery stores after a long day of work and commuting? Seriously, you just want to go home, cook and eat! A well-stocked pantry also allows you to cook or bake most things you crave in the spur of the moment, or if you run into dinner planning emergencies (ex. you think you’re working late/going out but ended up having to eat dinner at home), or you have a last minute request to bring an item to a potluck. I find that the more recipes I try, the more I realize there are in fact a lot of common items that are essential to a well-stocked pantry.

• chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, raisins
• flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, you know, the basic essentials to baking anything edible.
• gelatin
• chips (gotta keep Mr.C happy, and you never know when friends decide to show up!)
• pasta (I almost always have 2-3 types laying around; penne, linguini, lasagna)
• jar(s) of pasta sauce
• canned coconut milk (for desserts, curries, etc.)
• Swanson's chicken stock
• Beef broth
• Campbell's cream of mushroom soup
• Nissin instant noodles, good japanese udon
• Instant coffee powder (I actually use this mostly for baking/cooking)
• tomato paste, canned diced tomato
• peanut butter (very necessary when making peanut chicken/thai noodle salad... but of course, you can use it to make PB & jam/honey sammiches!)
• honey (for sauces, marinades, sometimes for honey-lemon drinks)
• chili/soy/oyster/black bean sauces. These are essential when you don't have time to marinate anything and you just want to throw together a quick dinner
• cream of corn
• vermecelli
• spices (ground pepper, italian, cayenne, chili powder, all the good stuff...)

I'm sure I've missed a few items in this list. But, how I wish I have a spacious pantry.

This week, I made some cheese scones. Thanks to Jr., I finally found a recipe that delivers decent quality scones. I've tried two recipes before in the past (with similar ingredients) but they always ended up too dry and crumbly. Interestingly enough, this recipe calls for margarine and I decided to give it a try (I always bake with butter). Surprisingly it turned out awesome! Weird. Maybe it's the margarine. Anyways, I tweaked the recipe a little by adding dry mustard to give it a kick or two.

Cheese Scones (makes 2 dozen)

• 3 cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• few teaspoons of dry mustard
  
• 1 teaspoon salt (I never measure salt in baking recipes. Just a couple dashes and you're good to go!)
• 1 to 2 cups grated cheese
• ½ c margarine
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk (I use 1%)

1. Lined a baking sheet with greased parchement paper. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Combine dry ingredients into large mixing bowl.
3. Cut in margarine using pastry blender or two forks till mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add grated cheese.
4. Mix egg and milk together and stir into dry mixture.
5. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet (will spread a little) and bake in a 350 degrees oven for 10-15 minutes (I had a gas oven, and I had to bake mine for about 18 mins)

Tips:

• I use butter spray when greasing parchment paper. Forget melting butter and brushing it all over... waste of time, too much work! I like to bake, but I don't have 5 hours to waste!
  
• Forget the forks. Use your hands to work the fat into the dry ingredients. I find it works better than using a pastry cutter anyways... not that I'd know because I'm too cheap to invest in one. But, why buy one when your hands are your best tools?
• I press each dough gently (so the surface is abit flat) before baking so I can sprinkle more cheeses on top. Mmmmmm cheese.
• Do yourself a favor and buy a bag of pre-shredded cheese. It's not that much more expensive than a block of cheese (unless you're looking for good quality cheeses in this recipe) and it saves you so much time from shredding all day long. Mr.C doesn't like strong cheeses so I just buy a bag of shredded mild cheeses!
  

They're not too big, so they makes great snacks and on-the-go breakfasts. They're not crumbly and dry either, so yay. Perhaps next time, I will use this recipe and make jam-filled scones (basically split the dough in half, roll them out to 1/6" to 1/8" thick rounds, spread jam between layers, cut into wedges and bake!).

Before:


Final Product. Cheesy goodness!

Quick Chinese fix.

I had been craving Cha Siu (叉燒) for the last while. Coincidentally, I bought some 叉燒肉 on sale at Langley Farm (my favorite place to shop) over the weekend so guess what I made for dinner?

Home-made BBQ pork, stir-fry veggies in black bean sauce, and I felt like eggs again, so it's 午餐肉 (Chinese spam) in scrambled eggs. (poe - I did in fact have chinese spam in my pantry, buried behind my stash of assorted canned goods. omg, now I want it in my ramen.)

I made the Cha Siu a la lazy style (with Lay Gum Gay BBQ marinade). Depending on how my work day went, sometimes I just want to fix a quick meal after work and don't want to do anything crazy in the kitchen. The hubs usually get home around 1 to 1.5 hours later than I do (what a hard working dude), so I at least have time to wash/chop stuffs, or clear out the stuff on the dish rack from the night before, and cook. Otherwise, I might want to just cook instant noodles or sandwiches everyday. I love instant noodles. Anyways, I usually need a few minutes to clear my dish rack before I wash/chop/prep for dinner. Yeah, the dish rack has nothing to do with the actual cooking, but I think I have some sort of kitchen-OCD. You see, if I don't clear out everything in my dish rack, I can't prepare food. And I have to make sure the sinks have no dirty dishes before I begin cooking. So you can probably now guess that we hardly ever leave dirty dishes (from dinner) overnight. I'm a very strange person! Although I think Col is trying to brainwash me, as he often tells me life still goes on even if there are a few dirty dishes in the sink. And oh, I'm gradually trying not to wash dirty dishes as I prep for dinner (a knife here, a cutting board there....). I do that with baking too. poe would understand. Hey, what's up with that?

Woah, that was some non-sense ramblings.

So onto the topic of coffee. The other day during worship team practice, we had a discussion about Starbucks. I don't even like it as much as Blenz (mmm belgian dark hot chocolate hello thar!!). My usual drink is a decaf americano misto. Sometimes it's with soy (that's the hub's usual order, but non-decaf). Sure, they charge you extra for the steamed milk. Yes, soy is more expensive so we get charged more for that. But almost $1.00 just for soy (it's like, $0.50 misto with milk + $0.45 for soy)?! And why is it only that snobby location in Terra Nova ding you twice, whereas every other location we've been to only ding you once for a milk OR soy misto?

Discuss.

omgs first pots.

Welcome to my blog! I think this is like, the 4th blog I've set up. I still remember my very first blog back in 2000 when I had my very own website up and running - robotrix.net!! Ahhh, good times. I abandoned my 2nd blog because it had one "test" entry on it. The 3rd one got eaten alive by blogspot years ago, I'm not sure why.

Now you must be dying to know more about me! I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and has a pretty awesome family. My hubby, my parents and my brother are the bestestest. I also love God very much, too! I moved to Canada with my family at the tender age of 9 in June of 1988. Did you know that I went to an elementary school in Richmond where the majority of the population was not Chinese, and less than half of my Grade 6 ESL class was Chinese. Woah. And I didn't have Chinese friends. :) Fast forward a little bit, I graduated from UBC in 2000 (after many hardcore studying with in-between nap times at the Koerner Library basement. Yea right!). Upon graduation, I began my career at a local not-to-be-named post-secondary institution (no stalkers, please). Fast forward a little more, I married Mr.C in August of 2007 after dating for 9 years, and he's the bestest husband I can ever ask for. Hmm, 9 years, what were we thinking anyways?

I don't know what I should do with this blog. Perhaps I'll use it to release my daily verbal diarrhea, or vent about idiotic drivers in Richmond. Or, I might just use it to journal all the food I've eaten/made/attempted to cook. I love food. I love to cook alot! Cooking de-stresses me!

Now I shall go scoop me some chocolate soy ice cream and conquer the world!