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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