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An award with 10 things! February 27, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Memes & Tags, Thoughts & Scribblings , comments closed

 
Credits
Elegant word art (tag) from Bethany
Flutter Friday Freebie Paper 1 from Karen Lewis Designs of Digital Freebies

I received Cute’s Blogger Award from Wen recently, and well, it didn’t exactly require me to dress up to the nines and give an acceptance speech like what those Academy Award Winners had to do last weekend, but this award is actually a TAG in disguise.

Rules:

1. Copy Badge “2008 Cute’s Blogger Award” and put it on your blog.

2. Link or tell a bit about the person who gave you the award.

3. Each one of you who receive this award must list down 10 facts / hobbies about yourself.

4. Pass this award to 10 bloggers and link them in your blog.

 

About Wen

I have not personally met her before, but I can tell from her blog that she is a fun-loving stay-at-home-momma to two adorable kids.  Also, she knows very well how to enjoy life to the fullest! :)

Would love to meet her someday…

10 facts/hobbies about the Giddy Tigress

  1. I am obsessed with cleaning up the dirty plates and bowls as I cook.  I cannot stand seeing the sink full to the brim with dirty dishes.
  2. I am easily tempted by shopping bargains, especially online shopping with special promos and discounts.  Just gimme an PC and watch while I get those cool and awesome bargains!
  3. I hardly wear any lipstick.  Lip balm, yes … but I don’t so lipsticks that often because I don’t like the lipstains they leave on glasses and mugs. 
  4. My current favorite shows on TV are (in random order) American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, old reruns of Friends and (due to hubby’s influence) Jon & Kate Plus 8.
  5. I am a contest freak.  I will take part in contests and giveaways as long as I see the need for the prize they are offering.  In addition to entering contests, I have also recently started organizing my own giveaways on my shopping blog.  Check out the current one I have running.
  6. I like to eat Korean instant noodles.
  7. I wash my hair every day.  I need to.
  8. I have discovered, much to my amusement, that I can and HAVE survived for almost 5 months now without the need to use a cellphone!
  9. I love (sinful but ohsogood) whipped cream with anything at all!
  10. I think I can sometimes be overly-emotional.

I won’t be passing this tag to anyone in particular, but do feel free to use it, yeah?

Sixth one..or so you think! February 27, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Drooling & Cooking, Memes & Tags , comments closed

It has been awhile since I had been tagged, or so it seems…I can’t even remember the last tag or meme I did.  Anyway, this is an easy-peasy one, and comes courtesy of Angeline, so I’m just gonna do it because I can… haha.

***Rules***
1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious people to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ them ’bout it.

Okay, I have a confession…I sorted my folders in descending chronological order before I selected the picture, because I figured it would make more sense if I had a recent photo to describe.  Also, the actual SIXTH photo in that folder does not tell the story as well as the SECOND and FOURTH photo in that folder, and so I chose to show the 2nd and 4th photos because 2+4=6. :P

 

So there… that’s the rather authentic Japanese bento lunch my hubby and I had the glorious opportunity of partaking about a week or so ago.  We found this Japanese restaurant by chance when we were looking for a place to have lunch.  And we have no regrets.  I ordered the salmon teriyaki bento set (which also included tempura; one of them was broccoli tempura: a first for me!)  while hubbs ordered the mackerel bento with sashimi.  An odd observation I have had in Japanese restaurants in the US is that they do not have chawan mushi on the menu!

And knowing me, I just HAD to ask for additional wasabi to go with my meal!

I’m not tagging anyone for this, but y’all are welcome to flick this meme anytime you want! :)

Dreamily dreaming away February 27, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Rainmakers , comments closed

I read somewhere that pregnant women have the strangest of dreams.  I am not sure if it is the pregnancy that is causing these dreams or if it is just that pregnancy gives the pregnant woman the uncanny ability to remember dreams more vividly.  I believe it is more of the latter.

In my case, I have certainly had my fair share of dreams, strange or vivid or not.

Last night, I dreamt that my hubby and I were checking out some houses, talking to and interviewing the occupants in a housing estate, and making notes as to which houses were up for sale and whatnot.  I also remember stepping into some of the houses for a brief inspection.  I have no idea why we were allowed to enter houses of strangers but we did anyhow, in my dream.

It was not clear where the location of the houses were, but I do remember clearly that I was making mental notes about the furniture in the house, the finishing, the porch area, the kitchen, where some of them had stainless sinks, and the number of occupants in the house.

Do dreams mean something subconsciously?  I wonder what I will dream of tonight…

The pinks and the oranges February 26, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , comments closed

Without a warning of any kind, I suddenly realized that beautiful cherry blossoms were in full bloom everywhere! With the weather still kinda erratic, sometimes warm and sometimes chilly, watching these beautiful pink blooms proudly displaying their colors was indeed a sight to behold.  Sorta brings a warmth sensation to the heart…

It has been some weeks now that I have watched these flowers in awe, and yesterday, I managed to get some pictures for my own satisfaction.  Not a simple feat, mind you…for surprise surprise, there were no cherry blossom trees in my apartment compound.

So I took a drive someplace nearby to get a good view…

How nice it would have been to have been able to use these beautiful flowers to adorn the home for Chinese New Year!  These are such a far cry from the fakish twiggish-like decorations we often see in the shopping malls.  These is the real thing! … and is an indication that spring is not too far off…or…has it sprung already?

Oh, and did I mention that there is an orange orchard just beside my apartment?  I kid you not.  For the life of me, I have NEVER seen an orange tree in real life before, and this was a full-blown orchard!  The oranges remained on the trees the whole of winter and now in spring too…

 

Couldn’t get a closer picture because the orchard is fenced up as private property.  Besides, it would look *really* strange if someone were to spot an extremely pregnant woman attempting to climb the fence, right?

But man…. the fragrance of the oranges is just intoxicating!  I tell ya, I can even smell it just driving past the orchard.

 

And nooo…just in case you thought I plucked these from the orchard…I didn’t… they sell it in the supermarkets you know? :P

Tick tock I hear the clock February 23, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Parenting & Motherhood , comments closed

 
Credits
Word Art (A Moment Like This) from Dirty Feet Designs aka Heather Benson

Today, the people from our relocation services finally arranged for the baby-related items we had requested to be delivered to our apartment.  We requested for essentials like a crib (which came with linens), a changing table (which came with a changing pad and sheets) and a chest of drawers (because there was no more space for baby’s clothes… hehe). 

I had also wanted a nursing chair initially, but we figured it would take up some space in our apartment, and besides, I felt I could make do with just using my nursing pillow.

Again, I felt a bolt of reality pass through me as it dawned on me that the moment we would be welcoming a new baby would be very soon.  Most of the items are in place and (I think) we are prepared, but at the back of my mind, there is always a “What if?”

Excitement… check!

Anxiety…check!

Looking forward to deprived sleep?…Ummmm……. *rain check*?? :)

The Bo’ Kho experiment! February 18, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Drooling & Cooking , comments closed

For those who did not catch my response to the comments I received on my Vietnamese food post a while back, let me reiterate that I DID NOT cook the beef stew shown in that picture :P

Instead I had tarpowed the stew for dinner that day.

However, today I decided to try making my own Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo’ Kho). Hehehe…itchy hands make for a busy kitchen, eh?  I googled for the recipe, and not surprisingly, I found so many different variations of the stew. So instead of just following one recipe to the tee, I mixed and matched several and came up with my own.

 

Here’s my recipe for Vietnamese Beef Stew:

Ingredients
For the marinade:

N.B. I did not measure everything using measuring tools, most of the time I just did the agak-agak trick.

For the stew:

For the garnishing:

How I experimented:

I can’t wait to see what my hubby and my boy thinks of my lil experiment! :)

Lights, lights and … lights February 18, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Rainmakers , comments closed

I love looking at lights, imagining what they would look like on the walls and ceilings of my dream home, in the bedroom of my dreams, and slowly building upon that image till I obtain a gorgeous picture, perfect in every sense.  For me, lights bring the soul into each home, and a different character is portrayed depending on what kind of lamps you choose.

You can imagine how many lighting shops my hubby and I visited a few years back when we were hunting for lighting solutions for our home…not that the quantity of the visits help anyway, because as soon as we stepped into the shop, the different arrangements of lamps all over the place truly serve to confuse people even more!

Well, to cut the long story short, most of our lighting solutions were obtained from good ol’ IKEA, although it would have been great to have had these wall lighting solutions as a comparison then.

I’d been bitten by a Croc! February 17, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Relax & Celebrate, The Fairer Sex , comments closed


Scrap Credits
Pink Fusion QP from Lindsay Jane Designs
Hearts as One alphas from Snowsmoon’s Designs
Winter Spell3 -Partie 2 elements from Scrapmalin

I’m waltzing my way on cloud nine right now.  Not ONLY because I got myself a brand new pair of shoes yesterday, but because I got myself a brand new pair of CROCS™!  My first ever pair, mind you, and boy, are they comfy!

That’s not all…I got these on SALE at USD4.99 ONLY!  Can you beat that?  Including sales tax, this pair of Ruby Red CROCS™ Prima ballerina-inspired flats set me back a mere USD5.40.  (Of course I was kiasu enough to check the retail price on the website: USD19.99 in the US and RM119 in Malaysia)

So I don’t care if you say I succumbed to the CROCS™ phenomenon (which I just very well might have)…I’m just happily dancing away in my brand new shoes!  Tra-la-la-la-LAAA!!!! :)

Our Monterey Bay V-Day February 17, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Relax & Celebrate , comments closed

 

Credits
Elegant word art (love is in the air 2) from Bethany
Mag-papier5 from Freebie Janvier  – Partie 5 kit from Scrapmalin

On Valentine’s Day last Saturday
We took a drive not too far away
To a picturesque place called Monterey Bay
Like a picture brought to life, it took my breath away!

A leisurely stroll along the streets
Sampling some hot clam chowder: so good to eat!
Despite the chilly windy winter air
Pretty flowers could be seen everywhere!

We walked on the streets of Cannery Row
No canning in sight, but even so
Cars and people were everywhere
And LOVE was definitely in the air!

The view by the sea was a sight to behold
Even though it was incredibly cold
The splashing of waves was music to my ears
That really made all my stress disappear

We left Monterey Bay with joy in our hearts
With special memories that has set it apart
A spectacular place we were blessed to have been to
A day we will cherish, we know that’s true!

The subs that we so love! February 12, 2009

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Drooling & Cooking , comments closed

The very mention of fast food brings to mind a cheeseburger with all the yummy fixins, topped with a generous helping of fries and maybe a soda, or a milkshake.  In the US, yes, my family and I DO indulge in meals of this sort while enjoying it too, but the kind of fast food that we love and yet, does not fill us with guilt afterward is the Vietnamese kind of fast food. :)

This fastfood joint was introduced to me by my dear hubby, and I have been a loyal patron since.  Just like yesterday evening, when I found that I did not have time to come back home to cook dinner after work…I drove straight to this Vietnamese to-go place, and bought TWO Vietnamese subs, one for hubby and one for me.

 

The bread is like a French baguette, and there is a variety of fillings you could choose from.  Our favorite is the barbecued pork with pate filling.  The sub includes coriander, shredded carrots, onions and a few slices of jalapeno peppers.

 

Most importantly though, it tastes superbly delicious!  PLUS it is healthy and is a balanced meal too!

We also like to get the Vietnamese spring rolls, served with a special peanut sauce.  Frankly, the Vietnamese spring roll is an acquired taste, and while I did not like it when I first tasted it, I need to have it at every Vietnamese meal I have now.

 

Having this for dinner is yummy AND cost-effective too.  The subs cost just USD3 each and the plate of 3 spring rolls is USD3.50.  No tax and no tip required :)

Oh, by the way, Ethan has not developed a liking for the subs (YET).  So last night, while hubbs and I were chomping down our subs, Ethan had beef stew with steamed rice instead.