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giddy giddy chef at home June 25, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Drooling & Cooking , 14comments

My good gal pal Audrey recommends the show Chef at Home on the Asian Food Channel. She mentioned that the show features a guy with a five o’clock shadow who is also a father. I found out his name is Michael Smith and he cooks really spectacular meals with just basic ingredients in his kitchen. I watched the show last night and boy, was my tummy rumbling and screaming for the Cornmeal Crusted Salmon With Basil Mussel Broth he dished up. Of course, it helped that he had a larder full of spices and a fridge full of fresh ingredients, but I tell you, I got myself addicted to this show now. Yeah, and ain’t it great that the recipe is available online? No need to frantically jot down the ingredients and method while watching the show.

In fact, last night I was my very own version of Chef at Home when I decided to throw together a quickie dinner of fried rice. It had been ages since I made fried rice, but I was eager because one can hardly go wrong with fried rice, and since I had some leftover rice from the weekend, it is definitely a frugal step to not waste it. I added whatever I could find from the fridge into the fried rice: chopped pumpkin, baby corn, some spinach and I flicked some of the frozen carrot strips in the freezer and chopped them up too. Eggs are a must, and for the protein element, I found some lapcheong, and sliced them up real nice too. Good thing there were a couple of cili padi left in the fridge which my hubby chopped up and drizzled with some soy sauce and voila…a simple dinner for two in the comfort of our humble abode:

It’s actually quite a healthy meal because most of my ingredients are organic ones. Not bad, considering it’s a leftover meal, eh? :razz:

Get dressed … for success May 27, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Parenting & Motherhood, Thoughts & Scribblings , 22comments

Over the weekend, I had not one, not two, but THREE opportunities to doll myself up and look pretty. Now, this would not seem like a daunting task for some people, but for me, this task now requires some thinking and planning, since embracing motherhood means I need to factor in the inevitable need to run after Ethan, and yet look demurely sexy and charming at the same time.

How now, brown cow?

Dress-Up session #1
Friday evening, we drove to Sungai Petani for my BIL’s wedding reception - actually it was a wedding dinner that was hosted primarily by the bride’s side. I chose to wear a black figure-hugging tube dress with embroidered flower details on the top and bottom of the dress. I’ve had this dress for close to ten years, I think…so I was mighty glad I could still pull the look off. Of course, the risk that came with wearing a tube dress and caring for a mighty active toddler was that there is a high chance some things that are not to be revealed will be revealed. So to prevent that from happening, I took Susan’s advice and brought along a shawl. I made sure it was an opaque shawl, so that whenever I needed to, I just draped it over my shoulders and it certainly did its job well. I chose to wear my maroon pashmina shawl (a gift from hubbs all the way from India); the maroon shawl was to offset the black and plus, it went well with the little red flowers on my dress. The night was pretty chilly too, so the shawl was a saviour.

This is a picture taken before the dinner started, while we were hanging out at my hubby’s distant uncle’s house near the dinner venue.

Dress-Up session #2
The church wedding ceremony was on Saturday afternoon. After donning a black outfit the night before, I decided to glam it up a little for church. After all, my hubby was gonna be wearing a suit! So I wore a knee-length orange spaghetti-strap batik dress, sewn with intricate beads and sequins. I hardly wear this dress because I’m afraid that Ethan might pull out the beads or sequins, but I decided to take the risk this time round, assuming that I would not need to carry him around much anyway (hubby can do the honors :grin: ). Now the v-neckline for this dress was a tricky one with a toddler around, so I had to add a tube top and a matching orange shawl for drama. After all, there was bound to be video and photo footage of me in this attire, what with me being one of the cantors and also there was the tea ceremony after the church wedding and all…..might as well stand out :grin:

Here’s me tickling Ethan silly before the church ceremony started. Don’t really like the angle of my face in that picture, but it does show a good view of the dress.

Dress-Up session #3
For the dinner reception at g Hotel, I decided to go grecian goddess-like, but not wearing white though. I opted for a halter straight-cut long black dress, and accessorized with a chunky purple-jaded bangle and round silver decorative dangling earrings. And since the guests had seen me in the same hairstyle over the last two sessions, I did my hair up a tad differently by putting half of it up in a simple twist-n-pin bun, decorating it simply with three floral two-legged pins, all the while praying hard it would stay up for the entire night (and it did!).

And of course, *Cinderella* must have a *Prince Charming*, yes?

Of the three outfits, I actually found the halter dress the most versatile to wear whilst caring for a toddler. I could even dance around without the need to pull here or tug there. And I even could do a nappy change in it.

Highly recommended. Think I’ll go get myself some more halter dresses. And halter tops. And halter whatevers. Plus, I love the bare-backed sexiness halters exude. Donchafinkso?

Baby, it’s good to be back May 21, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Thoughts & Scribblings , 24comments

I woke up really happy last Saturday morning, because my hubby was scheduled to arrive back in Penang the next day (Sunday), after a 2-week work assignment in the States. However, my joy was shortlived when I received a text message from him informing me that his United Airlines flight from Portland to LA had been delayed indefinitely, possibly causing him to miss the LAX-SIN leg of his journey and thus potentially delaying his return by a day. A WHOLE DAY, aitelyu!!! Sigh…

I quickly logged into the UA site to check the status of his flight, which was marked as “Delayed” and “Not departed”, with the reason given as “Aircraft servicing”. Well, it looked like nothing could be done, except for him to keep checking with the airlines as to what flights were available. I was glad that a few smses and a few hours later, my hubby said that he managed to get a flight out from Portland on Alaska Airways to LA, and then in LA, thankfully he also managed to obtain confirmed seats on Singapore Airlines all the way back to Penang. He would arrive a whole day later on Monday though, much to my disappointment because I was really looking forward to his return. What he experienced was really akin to what the Amazing Race contestants go through, what with the securing of seats on any available flight and all.

Anyway, Monday morning came at last and I happily drove to the airport to pick my hubby up. Both Ethan and I were delighted to see him, and Ethan immediately reached out his arms for his Daddy! :D

And besides the ton of clothes that he got for Ethan, here are the goodies hubbs brought back for moi:

Nice, or nice? :grin: Even more awesome is that hubby bought these from the state of Oregon, where he did not have to pay any sales tax!

The patchwork tote was a special request by me, because I totally fell in love with it when I saw it on the Coach site. The actual bag looks even better. I especially love the suede patches, and although it is printed with the recognizable Coach C’s all over, it’s not done in a tacky manner. I would have loved for the strap to be a tad wider though, but I suppose then it wouldn’t go with the whole tote design. Nevertheless, a very versatile, goes-with-anything-I-wear tote!

While the patchwork tote was a belated Mother’s Day present from my hubby, the other Carly Optic bag was a “gift from Ethan”. This one was a totally unexpected, because I really did not expect my hubby to get me TWO bags! He told me Ethan got me vitamins for Mommy’s Day :roll: But anyhoo, don’t you just LURVE the optic design on the bag? It’s so different from the usual Coach signature stripe bags, ain’t it? This one has the C’s all interlocked all over the place. In any case, I am not too fussy about having my bags display the C’s for all to see, but I am okay if it is done in a tasteful manner, like the two Coaches I have now :)

And now…I need to garb myself in some gorgeous attire to flaunt the bags!

Thank you, darling…. it’s great to have you back again. MMMMMwwwwwwaaaacccksss!!!

A fantasy I’m dreaming of May 11, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Memes & Tags, Thoughts & Scribblings , 14comments

 

It is 8:00a.m.  I stir myself awake, still in a daze but very much aware of the clattering of cutlery in the dining area outside.  I stifle a yawn, stretch and turn over and it was then that I realize hubbs and Ethan were not in bed already.  I quickly got up, brush my teeth and wash up, and as I wipe my face dry, the aroma of freshly made pancakes and waffles greeted me.  With a smile, I waltz into my dining room, where I saw that my darling hubby had made me a breakfast fit for a queen princess!

Both the boys gave me a hug, wished me a Happy Mother’s Day and we had a terrific breakfast together.  We then got ready for church and had a really enjoyable service there.  All the mommies present were given a rose each, as a token of the celebration for Mother’s Day.

We then headed for the beach where we were gonna have a family picnic.  Hubbs had packed a basketful of goodies which included most of my favorite food items like chicken pie, cheese cake, Twisties and oh yeah, some pink guava juice too.  The weather was slightly cloudy with just the right amount of sun.  Perfect to acquire a tan. Which I took full advantage of :) After a couple of hours playing with the waves, building sandcastles and having nothing but fun, we headed for home for our afternoon siesta.

We woke up just in time for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants.  Ethan was on his bestest behavior that night, obediently sitting in his baby chair and eating all by himself.  Not a single crumb of food was dropped.  Of course, for me, margarita was part of what I ordered for dinner too! :)

And then we came back home, and got ready for bed.  I read Ethan his bedtime story, Jack and the Beanstalk, gave him a kiss and tucked him into bed.  He looked up at me, reciprocated the kiss and said, “I love you Mommy!  You’re the best Mommy ever!  Happy Mother’s Day!”

Oh yeah, and before I called it a night, hubbs gave me a massage, complete with soothing essential oils and calming music.

Bliss.

Was that good enough a fantasy, SlaveMom?

Ah well, I did go to church today though.  And although I didn’t get that rose, I got a pink carnation and a mini brocade case from Mama’s Nyonya restaurant when we dined there for lunch.  Better than nothing la.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you awesome mommies out there!  May all your wishes come true!

And a very Happy Mother’s Day to my Mama, the queen of my heart and soul!  You’re da best!  I’m so glad I get to spend Mother’s Day with you this year! *grin*  Thank you for the freshly harvested sweet sweet persimmons you brought back from Perth too!  Y-U-M!

Oh, and also a special shoutout to Adino’s wife, Poey Chin, who just qualified to celebrate her very first Mother’s Day!  Congratulations Adino and Poey Chin, on the arrival of little Rachel!

Now, since it’s already Mother’s Day today, I’m gonna twist this tag a wee bit and give a chance to the daddies instead to fantasize about Father’s Day coming up in June.  Fair, no?

Hereby tagging:

Don’t hold back. Let it rip! Will you share your Mother’s Day/Father’s Day Fantasies on your blog? Then pass it on to other Mothers/Fathers to share. Let’s be silly and let our hair down. Then add your name and blog post url to the list and let it go around. I’ll start with mine. Anyone can participate in this. Just write your blog post and add your name to the list. It’s that simple.

1. Mumsgather shares - What I REALLY want to do on Mother’s Day
2. Kiddos Realm shares
3. Ruth shares
4. Jazzmint shares
5. Chanel shares
6. Karen shares - My Mother’s Day Fantasies
7. Lemonjude shares - My Mother’s Day Fantasies
8. Sting shares
9. JO-N shares - Mothers
10. Montessorimum shares - What I REALLY want to do on Mother’s Day
11. Mummy In Vain shares - What I REALLY Want To Do On Mother’s Day
12. Slavemom shares - Mother’s Day Plan… In Dreamland
13. Giddy Tigress shares - A fantasy I’m dreaming of

Yummy tummy mummy! April 4, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Drooling & Cooking , 24comments

My parents are here in Penang for a short holiday and of course, also to spend some cool quality time with their grandson.  Yesterday, while I was working from home, my parents were out running some errands downtown.  They came back in the afternoon with some surprises for me.  Cool!  You know how I love surprises!

Look! Mini darling ang-koos & chneh-koos!  The red ones contain grounded green pea paste whereas the green ones have coconut filling.  Who’s to say good things don’t come in small packages?

My parents also tar-powed one packet of char koay teow for me which I finished in a jiffy, hence no photos lo…

Tonight, Mama prepared a splendid concoction of Ba Zhen chicken soup, with kampung chicken and all the herbs and stuff.  Sorry, I don’t know the correct terms for these herbs, but they are supposed to be good for health and vitality la. I ain’t complaining cos it tastes great and I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep tonight…

Easter with the Giddy T’s March 24, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Christianity, Close to Heart & Home, Drooling & Cooking, Thoughts & Scribblings , 11comments

This year, Easter is celebrated much earlier (March 23rd) than other years. In fact, the next time this would happen would be in the year 2228 (220 years from now) . Good Friday saw me fasting and praying for the first time in at least three years. Since I am neither pregnant nor breastfeeding this year, it was the perfect time for me to fast, pray and dedicate my thoughts solely to the day Jesus gave His life on the cross for me. Hubbs and I had planned on going to church for the service at noon, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we didn’t…and we are kicking ourselves for that because had we gone, I might have been able to post a picture of the Giddy Tigress with the newly appointed Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng. Not that we are stalking him or anything like that, though…but if I do bump into him, I would love to extend a warm hello and welcome as a friendly *neighbour*.

On Saturday, we made a day trip to Ipoh to celebrate my nephew Collin’s full moon. It was again another excuse to stuff our tummies with food. Hehe… no regrets there. In fact, we were so full after the lunch that all plans of tar-powing the famous Canning Garden chee cheong fun vanished into thin air (although the stall was only a stone’s throw away). Ah well. There’s always next time.

Then came Easter Sunday. As usual, the church was packed full to the brim with parishioners (methinks some of them were hoping that the CM would make another appearance). We had to make do with sitting on plastic chairs placed by the pews, because we were ummm….a few minutes late. Actually, it was rather a blessing in disguise because we had a full view of the altar and was able to concentrate 100% on the sermon being delivered. Well…maybe 90% because of intermittent distractions from Ethan.

It was also Race Day (Sepang Formula 1 Grand Prix) and Super Sunday (Barclays Premiers League) that day, and hubbs hinted VERY loudly that he would prefer homecooked food for dinner that night. So I bought a few items from Jusco for cooking dinner. I was only able to start cooking at 5:55p.m. though, that’s when Ethan finally fell asleep. One hour later, I managed to whip up a piping hot dinner, one which hubby gave the thumbs up to, much to my delight. *grin*

Although Race Day ended with Kimi getting what he deserved (yay!!!), I shall choose not to say anything about the Super Sunday score, which I don’t think was super at all. Bleagghhh….

C’mon baby let’s get away February 26, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Relax & Celebrate , 19comments

I’m back from my very short two-night escapade to KL..no..more like Damansara because that’s where we were most of the time anyway.  In short, it was a very fruitful and eventful trip, the excitement of which started even before we left Penang on that Saturday morning.  My hubby noticed the air pressure in one of the rear tyres of our car was diminishing more so than the rest, and it was a good thing that he noticed a nail stuck to the tyre right before we left.  Not wanting to tempt fate, and taking this as a sign from God, we drove to the tyre shop and had it patched.  We decided to have dim sum brunch after that since we were already hungry.

Off we headed for KL after that.  Surprisingly though, Bidor still called out to us, and we simply had to stop for a quick bite there.  The lure of the Pun Chun wan ton mee was too strong, even though it is now priced at a hefty RM5.25 per plate! The quaint little town of Bidor was already decked in election posters and banners, much more so than in Penang, I would say.

This time round, hubbs and I decided to take Monday off from work, so we had more time to spend in the Klang Valley.  It was a good thing we did, because we managed to achieve a lot of things:

 

 

Alrighty now…it’s high time for me to lose weight.  Hopefully before the polling date…

Googoo gaaga gurgle coo February 19, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home , 26comments

I have a new title to my name now. Someone will soon be calling me “Kor kor” - Hokkien for Aunt. This morning, at 9:51a.m., a beautiful baby boy was born to my brother and his wife. All of 3.26 kilos, and every bit a bundle of immense joy, my nephew Collin said hi to the world and of course to his proud parents. See how comfy the little one looks in his crib, all warm and bundled up?

Scrap Credits
Cupid Said freebie Kit & Alphas from retrodiva {designs}™
Christmas Bling paper from Lindsay Jane Designs
Stacked frame from Kim B’s Designs
Ilétait une foi stars from Petit Moineaux

Collin decided to greet everyone a Happy Chinese New Year, and made it in time to be eligible for an angpow too. Hi Collin… Kor kor will be coming to see you soon, with an angpow, okay? :D *hugsss*

Snap, crop, arrange..voila! February 12, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Ethan , 25comments

Three days before the Chinese New Year, I received the finished product of the personal project which I had been working on for months on end. Forty pages of photos of Ethan all captured in a 30cm x 30cm black hardcover-bound photobook, worth every second of the time I had spent laboring over it.

Never mind that I had to redo some of the pages over and over again because I was not completely satisfied with them initially.
Never mind that it took me weeks to finally get in touch with someone from Photobook to iron out the details of the order.
Never mind that I had to upload the photobook file at least four times because they got corrupted every time I did the upload.
Never mind that I had to follow up with Photobook to find out if my order would be able to arrive before Chinese New Year, only to find out that they had already shipped it out two days before my inquiry was made.
Never mind that I had to personally call the courier company to follow up on the status of the shipment, only to be told that they had gone to my house and claimed that no one was around. And never mind that no notice was left to inform me that they had tried to deliver the parcel.
Never mind that my hubby and I had to drive all the way to the courier company to pick up the parcel, because we were only too anxious to see the finished product.
Never mind that we had to wait a further 10-15 minutes before we finally held the parcel in our hands.

Because all this trouble was so worth it. I decided to create a photobook with Ethan’s photos after Jazzmint recommended Photobook over Pixart. At that time, my Pixart project was almost done, but I still took her word for it, and am happy to say that I have never looked back since. Compared to Pixart, I must say that the lamination quality of Photobook’s albums are way better. Just seeing the digital scrapbooking I created come to live on the pages of the photobook is really inspiring. In fact, I am seriously thinking of starting on another one for the next two years culminating with Ethan’s fourth birthday, and hubbs even suggested creating one for our wedding photos too.

Usher in the mousey year! February 6, 2008

Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Relax & Celebrate , 17comments

Have you gotten everything ready for Chinese New Year yet? Got all the pongkams (mandarin oranges), cookies, pussy willows and cherry blossoms? Got all the spring cleaning done? Got all the new new red red “ong ong” clothes and underwear washed and ironed out? Heh.

Me? I’m almost there…

The rush to get all the necessary new ringgit notes has finally paid off. All the running around from bank to bank, taking numbers and waiting in line, … an annual routine task for me, I’d say… well, since I earned the right the give angpows away, that is. And finally, on Monday, I reap my harvest…Love the crisp feeling and smell of the new notes. Love how smooth they feel in my hands. Love it love it love it! Next up. Packing them into angpow packets for distribution.

Yes, Chinese New Year is definitely a time of giving and of eating. This year, we will spend our Chinese New Year reunion in Ipoh, my hometown. This is the first time I will be back in Ipoh for the reunion since I got married about three years ago. So definitely a lot of eating involved there. Looking forward to the yee sang, jiu hoo char and too thor th’ng. Very the festive indeed.

Like all previous Chinese New Years, we have also prepared New Year hampers for our parents. We also gave a similar one to Ethan’s baby sitter. Preferring instead to have our hampers consist of nutritious food items instead of sweets and candies, we got these hampers from Eu Yan Sang, nicely wrapped and delivered to our doors. Love the sparkle and joy on the faces of our parents when we present it to them. Actually I am secretly wishing someone would give one to me too… hehehe…

So, to everyone celebrating Chinese New Year, a very Keong Hee Huat Chye, Kong Hei Fatt Choy and Xing Nian Kuai Le to you. To everyone traveling home on the roads, drive safely and remember to rest if you are tired. And to everyone enjoying the holidays, have a good well-deserved rest.  Now, bring on the food!