Winter Wonderland?

Unlike everyone else in Southern Ontario, we didn't get hit with that much snow. Jeff and I didn't see what the big deal was. We woke up and looked outside our backyard this morning and it was so pretty. :) This is our back neighbour. He had a fancy stone deck built over the summer. Can you see it in this picture? It's completely covered in snow!!

As mentioned in my previous post, Jeff and I laugh every time we look outside the front of our house and see the walls of snow separating us from our neighbours. No, we aren't anti-social but there is no where to put all of this white stuff. We shovelled our driveway again today and when we walked out, we were knee deep in snow. I hate to say this but I think it's time to get myself some real winter boots. Yeah, I don't have boots .. nor do I have proper winter gloves. Jeff keeps nagging me to get boots and gloves but I never look for them when I'm at the mall. Come to think of it, I haven't been to the mall in a while. I'm waiting for West Edmonton Mall .. the Mall of all Malls. :) Just a few more days and I'll be in shopping heaven.

BTW, we got 40 cms of snow .. shovelled twice .. and the walls of snow are minimum 7 feet high. Did I mention that we are running of places to put this stuff??

Toodles,
Pudgy and Puffy.

P.S. This is a view down the street from our house. It's a little dark but it hasn't been plowed yet.

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Christmas is coming .. the goose is getting fat.

Christmas is a few weeks away but we have been preparing for it since November. :) Finally I've had time to give everyone an update on what we've been up to. Let's see ..

Decorating our Home
We were at Costco when we found this wreath. Jeff really liked it and wanted to buy it. He was hesitant because we both had to agree on it before we made the purchase. I'm not a big Christmas person .. but even I have to admit, this wreath was cute. There were two to choose from and I kinda like the other one better because it was Santa and Mrs Claus sitting in the hoop. But Jeff picked the one with the reindeer instead .. ok, does this make *me* the reindeer?? :P I definitely don't want to be the guy with the beard. :) Nevertheless, it was only the beginning of our holiday decorations.
Next was the tree. Our hunt for a tree took a while. The one we originally wanted was sold out at Costco but we found a nicer one at Canadian Tire. This 7.5 ft tree almost didn't fit in my SUV but luckily, the Canadian Tire wasn't far from our home. Once we got it home, we couldn't wait to put it up. Jeff picked out the tree and I picked out the colours to decorate it. It took us less than 3 hours to get it all ready to go. It looks so cool .. very Christmas-y. In case you can't see it from the photo, the colours are silver and purple. Our house is very neutral and I wanted the tree to stand out .. so I picked purple as the punch of colour. It's too bad that we are unable to share our tree with family and friends .. who wants to drive out to Ottawa? Anybody?? <sound of crickets>

Snow, snow, and more snow
Okay you Toronto folks .. 10 cms is not a lot of snow. We got 40 cms once and we still shovelled it off our driveway and made the trek into work. In fact, we've been getting 5 to 10 cms every day. I'm gonna have take a picture of the walls of snow outside our home .. I'm sure you'd get a laugh out of it. We laugh every time we look outside.

Ka and Corrie's Wedding
Last weekend was the big day for Ka and Corrie. Congratulations guys!! The wedding was a blast. I was the "dai kum" for their tea ceremony. While I was getting ready at the hotel, the nervousness started to set in. I was soooooooo nervous. The last time I conducted a tea ceremony, it was last October for Jonas and Sharon's wedding. I was super nervous at the start .. I didn't want to mess up in front of the parents. But after handing out a few cups of tea, the nervousness subsided. I found that the key was to not look at the audience - just focus on getting the job done. In the end, I felt I could have done a better job. I don't know why .. but I think I could have done better.

Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun. I was happy to be a part of the big day. BTW, I love taking pics of FUI - friends under the influence. Hehehe ..

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Week in Review

What a week it has been. Let's recap the events of November 5th to today, shall we?

Tuesday, November 6th.
For Jeff's birthday this year, we started early and made it a near week long event. Since I knew we were headed to Toronto for my nephew's 1-month birthday dinner, I figure we should get Jeff a cake for his birthday and eat it over the next few days. We didn't get a big cake but we got Jeff's favorite - vanilla cake with thick, thick colourful frosting. It was very fresh and blue. He requests for this kind of cake every year. And it always has to be vanilla .. no chocolate. (Babe, can we please try the chocolate cake next year??)

Wednesday, November 7th.
Badminton night is the night that we don't make a regular meal. We play from 8-10pm with the Nortel Badminton Club. I must say, my net play is getting better every week. I get some good practice with some of the folks at the club. It's never good to eat a full meal before badminton. Jeff and I made the mistake of sneaking in a bit of cake before heading to badminton. We figure that we were going to burn off the calories anyway, right? Oh man .. the thick thick icing that I mentioned above? Sat in our stomaches like wax. We both looked at each other while warming up and said .. "are you feeling as nauseous as I am?" Lesson to everybody .. no cake before rigorous cardio! :)

Saturday, November 10th.
We met up with the Wongs and decided to celebrate Michael and Jeff's birthday. Michael picked a really good restaurant called Matignon. The food was really good - at least my dish was. The seafood pasta is the best I've had. I've tried the seafood pasta at the Filet of Sole and this one is waaay better. The night did not end so pleasantly though. I got a parking ticket .. sigh. :(

Sunday, November 11th.
Remembrance Day? Yes. I must have gone through 2 or 3 poppies this year. It is not easy keeping those things on! My dad is the environmentally conscious war veteran supporter - his poppy was kept from the last few years. It still has a green center! It's a collector's item. ;)

But also Anson's 1-month birthday. We got together for a big dinner at Golden Court. He was definitely the star of the night. He was cute as ever. He has gained some weight since we last saw him. I got to hold him a few times and he didn't cry. He started dozing off with a smile on his face. It was so cute. Too bad he kept demanding to be fed throughout the dinner. Joyce didn't get to eat with us for much of the night. Luckily, Jeff and I saved her a supersize piece of cherry cheesecake. After a month of being on a strict diet, she finally got to have a yummy piece of cheesecake.

Monday, November 12th.
This brings us to today. It was a rainy day .. but I will leave you with this cute image. I went to visit little Anson before I left. Rain or shine, can't keep me away from this little tot.

We will visit again in December when we are in town for Ka and Corrie's wedding. Sigh .. it means shopping for Christmas presents. Better start now.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Meeting Anson Chan

We were in Toronto over the weekend to visit our nephew - Anson Chan. Just 8 days old and he was just the cutest thing. He cried a bit because he soiled his diaper but after his dad cleaned him up, he was ready for a short nap. So far, he's been a dream child. Doesn't cry much and just looks around, wondering who we are and what the big deal is. :)

I wasn't brave enough to hold him. He was a lot smaller than I had imagined. Our visit was too short but Joyce and Samuel looked very tired. Ah, the look of new parents. The next time we're in town, he will be 1 month old.

We also got to see my brother Sam, his wife Steph, and their son Hong. I haven't seen them since Jeff and I got married. Too bad the stay was short .. I would have liked to stay a little longer but we just couldn't. Can't wait for the next reunion. Miss you all.


Pudgy

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Nephew #2

He finally arrived. My new nephew .. baby boy Chan - I don't know what his name is yet but I'll mention it in my next blog post. He is the cutie that belongs to my sister Joyce and her husband Samuel. Don't be fooled by the calm, sleeping image of this child. The boy has a set of powerful lungs. :) I haven't seen him in person yet. We should be heading out to Toronto next weekend to visit. I figure the new parents need a week or so to adjust to their new sleeping pattern. I'd rather they get some much needed rest before we drop by.

I'm a little anxious about holding baby boy Chan. I get always nervous holding a baby that is less than 6 months old. I haven't mastered the art of holding a newborn yet. With their sensitive neck and soft bones, I just don't know what's comfortable for them. I hope it will come naturally when I have children. (To Readers: no, the stork hasn't come by for a visit yet .. when it happens, you'll be the first to know. :))

Toodles,

Pudgy

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Home Away from Home

Puffy bought me a beautiful orchid a few weeks ago. I love it when it buys me presents out of the blue. :) It's fully bloomed and the flowers are huge! I think that's a good sign.

I took these pics this morning with the morning glow through our shades.

It's growing quite nicely and is a great accent to our home. Sometimes I find our house is too mono-toned. It needs some colour .. some je ne sais quoi. Flowers are a great addition to the house. I can't get enough of them. Next to diamonds, flowers are my favorite things.

We've also added a new kitchen table to our house. It also gives the house a more homey feel. We looked around for the longest time and finally found this set. Puff put it together himeself. (Very proud of you, baby!)

We also have a healthy group of herbs growing by our window sill. Our first attempt at growing herbs was a disaster. They all turned to dust after 2.5 weeks of care. We decided to take a second stab at it .. this time, only growing rosemary and basil. The chilli peppers were so cute .. so we decided to buy them. I don't think we'll eat them .. they are too cute to prune. My brother-in-law gave us some mint to grow .. and boy, did it grow! It has taken over the window! The stuff grows like weed. It's all over the place .. good thing it smells good. :)

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Home Alone?

This long weekend, I was home alone. Jeff was in Edmonton visiting my in-laws while I stayed behind. I couldn't go because I could not afford the time off work. I was a little nervous about staying in a city where I don't know anybody but it turned out okay. I spent a bit of time cleaning but most importantly, I spent time doing things I wanted to do and eating whatever I wanted to eat. No, it wasn't a weekend of Doritos and Pepsi. :) Ever since we moved, it's been non-stop go-go-go. Even short vacations were stressful because you knew you had to come back to a mound of laundry or yard work to do.

The most enjoyable thing I did this weekend? Listen to music for hours while doing chores and singing at the top of my lungs. I don't sing in public but I enjoy singing. Weird, eh? :) Time goes by and stuff still gets done. I don't get stressed out .. tomorrow is another day so if it doesn't get done today, no big deal. To be able to recapture the fun was satisfying. I hadn't done that since I moved out of my parents home. Next time you're at home, I highly recommend doing that. :)

Jeff returns tomorrow night .. and life will go back to the way it was before.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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A Week in Toronto

Last week, I was in Toronto for a week. Jeff was on course while I was on vacation. It was a great vacation for me because I got to spend time with friends whom I have not seen since my wedding day. I also got to see my family and spent lots of chat time with them. Even though I talk to them on the phone almost everyday, it is not the same as talking to them in person.

Everytime I am in Toronto, my desire to move back grows. Ottawa is nice but it is rather boring when there are no familiar faces here.

Finally got to see Corrie and Ka's cozy condo. The place was very nice. They were such good hosts! Kendrick can make a fine chicken and potato dish - it turned out great even though they substituted the tomato paste with tomato sauce. Luckily I drove my car. When any of Ka, Kendrick, or Jeff is involved in a dinner party, you know there will be some serious boozing. I've never had ice wine before but the stuff that Ka had was tasty. Thanks again for having us over. We had a fabulous time. (Oh and congratulations to V & S on their engagement!)

The surprise news of the week came during the Friday lunch group meal at Ala Kitchen. Finally .. yes, finally .. Ka and Corrie are engaged! You should have seen my jaw drop when they said the wedding date was December 2007. If you guys need any help, we are there for you. We owe you guys big time for being such great help at our wedding.

And lastly, my sister Joyce turned the big 3-0. She doesn't look a day over 20 though. Too bad she wasn't able to visit us during the Civic Holiday weekend. But we understand, she's carrying precious cargo .. :)

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Pink Cupcakes

After an afternoon of mowing the yard (front and back!), Puff and I decided to cap off our evening by doing something we've (ok .. I've) been meaning to do for a long time ... make cupcakes! My sister is coming to visit over the Civic Holiday weekend and I wanted to throw her a mini-baby shower - she's due in October. Instead of buying or making a cake, I decided to try my hand at making cupcakes. I dunno .. maybe by making cupcakes, if it goes wrong, it won't feel like one huge disaster .. just a bunch of small oopsies. :)

We made both the cupcake and the frosting from scratch. The cake was a vanilla cupcake. I love the smell of vanilla cake baking in the oven. The sweet smell just fills the kitchen. For the icing, we prepared a raspberry buttercream. The pink colour you see, is not food colouring. I have to admit, buttercream is easy to work with but difficult to maintain .. after all, it is butter and in the summer, it will melt or change (darkens) the colour of the buttercream. Puff and I are weird folks .. we don't stock candy at home. But I manage to dig up a box of Easter Smarties and topped each cupcake with a smarty. <rant>Okay, I know you're thinking "Ewwww!! Smarties from Easter? That was *how many* months ago??" We just don't go through candy that quickly. Besides, we all know chocolate doesn't rot that fast. :) And I promise when we do make the cupcakes for the shower, they won't have Easter smarties on them.

</rant>

This was the end result of our creation. I think vanilla worked best because they make the pink frosting stand out.

At the last minute, I remember we bought shredded coconut for the top .. they looked snow capped. Not bad for a first-time cupcake maker, eh?

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Bad Mosquito Bites

For the last few years, I've developed some kind of allergic reaction to mosquito bites. Small bites turn into big red, swollen areas. Just on Sunday, I was bitten three times - one on each calf, and one on the foot. Within 24 hrs, my foot got swollen so badly I could barely bend it - making driving quite difficult.

I didn't have anything in the house to put on it so I went with the chinese method of White Flower oil (aka - bak fa yeow). It helped prevent the itch and brought down the swelling a bit but it's still pretty bad. The two on the back of my legs are the size of a baseball and hot pink. I have a medicinal stench now but hey, it works. :)

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The Big Move

The big move happened just two weeks ago. Moving isn't fun. It started on a Saturday morning. The three movers loaded our stuff in their van and headed over to the new house. It was rainy and all we could think about was our brand new carpet ... will the move make a mess on our new carpet?

The move took the whole day and at the end of the day, I swore that I would never want AMJ Campbell to move our stuff again. We ended up with a few damaged items - cracked glass on some picture frames, broken mugs, a broken lamp, and a missing leg from our coffee table. Luckily our wine glasses all survived.

With almost all of our boxes emptied, it actually feels like a home now. Our favorite room is the kitchen - cooking with gas rocks! I highly recommend it to you foodies out there. I promised Joyce Ng that I'd post a picture of our kitchen with all of our appliances in place. So here it is ..

At the bottom is a pic of some wine bottles. We've been separated from our wine for around 6 months. All bottles have been saved .. even the Chateau Latour. :)

The place isn't completely ready for visitors but if you don't mind the clutter, drop by and say hi.

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Houston, we have equity.

The day has finally come. My new title is 'homeowner'. I got the keys while Pudgy was at work. We met up after work and headed over to our new 'crib' with a few items in hand. Pudgy said that the first time we enter the house, we need rice and a new broom - rice for something to eat and a broom to sweep out the evils and dust. ;-)

(Look my Ma - keys, broom, and rice!! :))

This is me - christening the powder room. Hey .. when you gotta go, you *gotta* go.
Our dream kitchen - sans appliances. Those will be coming later. I'll post a pic when everything is in place.
Our 'great' room. June's gonna have a tough time cleaning those windows. Hehe - just kidding. Is she going to read this?

Anyway, it's been a long 6 months but it was worth the wait.

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How do you make Kraft Dinner?

Odd title for a post, eh? Well, we are officially poor now. :) We will be feasting on Kraft Dinner every night now .. does anybody have a good tips on how to spice up KD? :) We handed over our savings, first born, and right leg for the house today. I don't know if I feel happy or anxious or overwhelmed. I've waited a very long time for this but to see my savings go in one short poof .. it definitely is bittersweet.

I've been stressed out to the max this month. I can't wait to just sit down and relax. Tomorrow we get the keys. I don't know if I can sleep tonight but I'll try.

Toodles,
Stressed Out Pudgy

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Friday the 13th

Tomorrow is our pre-delivery home inspection. Can we get any 'luckier'? Just a few days left and then we get a new set of keys.

I'm excited and nervous at the same time. No trips or eating out for a while - not a huge adjustment since we don't do that anyway. I promise to post some photos of our new 'crib'.

Anyway, I gotta go start dinner. Our fridge is stuffed after our weekend trip in Toronto. My ma thinks I don't eat enough and makes sure I go home with lots of veggies. I'm not complaining - I feel blessed.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Wedding Thank Yous

I'm so embarrassed. Our wedding thank-you cards were finally delivered this last weekend. It's embarrassing because they were written several months ago and only now, did we have time to actually hand them out.

A tip for those getting married: get everyone's home mailing address! I didn't have this information so it made delivering thank you cards very difficult.

Nevertheless, they did go out - and I thank everyone for the wonderful gifts. They are all in storage right now and I'm sure I'll have a chance to enjoy them soon.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Just 18 Days To Go

Just 18 days to go. Pudgy and I went to see the progress of our home. Here are the latest photos.


It was a great day to visit the house. It's finally sunny! Looks good, eh? Oh yeah, here's something a bit weird - Pudge didn't like the lamp post in our front lawn. Everybody on the block has one. You tell me - does this look odd to you?

Ciao for now,

Puff

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Slow Cooked Beef Brisket

Okay .. the classic way that my mom taught me how to make it.

Ingredients:
- piece of beef brisket (a reasonable piece is needed as it 'shrinks' as it cooks)
- oyster sauce
- light soy sauce
- dark soy sauce
- 1 star anise - this is very potent.
- chinese cooking wine
- a few black chinese mushrooms - washed
- bean curd sticks
- dicon radish (white radish)
- a few thick slices of ginger
- dried tangerine peel (optional - I don't like the taste of this so I don't use it but technically you should).
- vegetable oil
- water

Steps:
1. Cut beef into cubes.
2. On medium to high heat, add a little bit of oil in a medium size pot. When the pot is nice and hot, add the beef and sear it.
3. Once the beef is browned on all sides, add a tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/2 tbsp of light soy, 1/2 tbsp of dark soy, and a tbsp of cooking wine.
* Note: I generally eyeball the quantities - keeping in mine the salt content of each of the ingredients and the amount of beef you are cooking.
4. add enough water to cover the meat and stir to get the flavour bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. add the mushrooms, ginger slices, and star anise.
6. give it one last stir and then cover. Bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 4 hours.
8. Always check on the meat and make sure the liquid does not evaporate. If it does, just add water to cover the meat. No need to add any more soy, oyster, or wine.
9. After 3 hrs of cooking, start a separate pot of boiling water and cook the bean curd sticks until tender.
10. Drain the bean curd and put it into the brisket pot. Let the bean curd absorb the sauce for the next hour while it continues to cook.
11. When the cooking is done, take a piece of meat out and check for tenderness. The meat should practically fall apart.
12. Serve with rice noodles or rice.

This may seem like a lot of work but the end result is tasty.

Keep in mind that you can taste after 2 hrs of cooking. Making mistakes is all part of the cooking process. I've forgotten the ginger once, and the first time I tried making beef brisket, I cooked it for 2.5 hrs and the meat was still very tough. :(

I've also heard that you can use Chou Hou paste but I've never used it before. I prefer my mom's method. :)

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Home Building Progress

We bought our home in October 2006 and back then, it was just a piece of land. Within weeks, we had a hole!! :) The progress on our home was quick though. With a closing date of mid-April 2007, they had to be quick.

A few weeks after our 'hole', came this:

The progress was looking good. In a blink of an eye, we got a 2nd floor and a roof!

Okay, maybe not a fully covered roof. :) Look at all those windows .. and that's on the front of the house!
Another few weeks went by and we snuck in for a peek.

That's our "Juliet" balcony - just kidding. That's the 2nd floor overlooking the Great Room. The builders must've found out we were sneaking in so they decided to cover the house .. :(

The last time we were on site to see the house, the exterior was almost done.

We are counting down the days.
The appliances have been purchased, the mortgage has been secured, the move has been scheduled, and plans for Christmas is in the works.

Now .. if we had a house warming party, how many of our friends from Toronto would come to visit?

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Cooking is my new passion

Being away from home has allowed me to learn how to cook many dishes that my mom used to make. I love my Ma's cooking and whenever we are in Toronto, I always prefer family dinner at home.

Since I'm almost never able make it to family dinner on Thursday nights, my mom has made me feel less homesick by passing on her recipes for good soups - which I miss the most. I try to make a different kind of soup every weekend now. I hope my Ma is proud. :)

So far, I haven't made anything that's too nasty to eat. Oh wait, there was this one time that I made this funky herbal soup that turned out to be a black soup - it was so foul .. ugh. I swear, I think my mom was trying to play a joke on me. "It's supposed to be black .. it's good for you". Sure, mom. Jeff was a trooper - he toughed it out and actually drank it. Of course, the side-effects were just as foul.

Tomorrow night I'm going to try my beef brisket again. Corrie has been asking for the recipe and I'm hesitant to share it until I get it just right. It will be my third attempt and each time I forget something. (Don't worry Cor, when I get it just right I'll post it here.)

Toodles,
Pudgy

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New Home Update

Jeff and I went to see the progress on our new home this weekend. The exterior is almost complete.

I can't wait to move in. I must say .. the condo we live in right now is in a fabulous location. Close to downtown and the Byward Market (great in the summer). But there are also things I won't miss about this place.

1. the fridge needs some serious jigaloo or wd-40
2. dishwasher sounds like a freight train when turned on
3. just not enough closet space. Most of my clothes are still in boxes.

I'll post a pic of the new house when I get it off our camera.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Pudgy's First Post

It's been snowing for most of the day .. and finally, it has stopped. The folks at work left early due to the bad driving conditions - I stayed behind until about 4 pm. Digging my car out of the snow was a hoot. I forgot I wasn't in Toronto anymore - the snow actually accumulates here in Ottawa!

Anyway, now I have time to actually start blogging. Been meaning to do this for a while now as a means to stay in touch with family and friends.

So what has been going on?

Married life - I'm lovin' it. Sometimes taking care of Jeff is like a full-time job in itself but when he's the right one, it doesn't matter.

Job - going well. I'm happy.

New home - counting down the days. We just got a tour of the house before the drywall goes up. Just six more weeks. :)

Other than that, we have been busy since the wedding and life has been full speed ahead. Sometimes I wish we can just stop and relax a bit but you just can't.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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