What the mommy is up to

Posted on February 6, 2009 by The Giddy Tigress

 

At 35 weeks preggers, I am:

  • Glad my doc is approving of my steadily-creeping weight gain.  I have definitely gained more weight than my first pregnancy; a total of 12.5kilos gained for the first, and for the second, I am now already registering a 14kilo increase.
  • Finishing up on packing my labor and baby bag essentials.  Only a few more items to go before I will be all set.
  • Looking at all the adorable newborn cloth diapers I have, some were purchased recently because I could not resist the cutesy prints.  I have more or less folded and arranged all the diapers in one of the drawers, ready for use.
  • Hobbling my way around…well, not quite so, but it is getting increasingly difficult to move around as fast as I would want to.
  • Battling round ligament pains and even more frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions, which surprise me at almost every moment of the day.  Yes, even when I sleep.
  • Stocking up on my essentials, toiletries and skincare-wise, like face creams, eye creams and hair conditioners, just so I don’t have to scour around getting them after baby has arrived, just in case I run out of them.  Online shopping is my best buddy now.
  • Getting my more-than-one-year-dormant breast pumps ready for the thick of action.  
  • Almost done with washing newborn clothes, rompers, mittens, booties, washcloths, and whatnot. They are all folded nicely either in drawers or placed in an Ikea Samla box in my walk-in closet for easy access.
  • Starting to clean up the nooks and crannies in the house, to make sure they are spotless.  Could be the start of my nesting instinct.
  • Worried if we will be able to efficiently embrace another challenge in parenthood, i.e. welcoming a newborn into our midst when our firstborn is beginning to display his everchanging personality.
  • Anxious if we will be able to deal with sibling rivalry and make things all right.
  • Excited to meet this life inside of me that I have nurtured for so many months now.
  • Stressing out ever-so-slightly because we are still scratching our heads over a Chinese name for the baby.
  • Wondering if I should opt for an epidural.

 

Credits
Elegant word art (love child) from Bethany
Beautiful Rage Floral paper from Scarlet Heels
Passion for Purple paper from Lenas Scrap Design

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 18 Comments

Yummies across the seas!

Posted on February 2, 2009 by The Giddy Tigress

Woohoo! Thanks to my thoughtful bro and sis-in-law, we get to enjoy a tiny little piece of Chinese New Year from back home, still within the 15 days of celebrations!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Posted in Close to Heart & Home, Drooling & Cooking | 10 Comments

The Chinatown festivities

Posted on January 27, 2009 by The Giddy Tigress

On New Year’s Eve, my family and I decided to take a drive up to Chinatown in San Francisco to see the sights and decorations that were bound to be up for Chinese New Year.  We first had a Malaysian kinda lunch at a Malaysian restaurant called Layang-Layang.

 

Check out that satay – man, it was good!

Well, it was rather chilly in San Jose that afternoon, and it was drizzling too, and we did question ourselves if it would be a good idea to drive up north.  But we did it anyhow…

 

It took us forever to move around and find a parking spot.  In the end, we managed to locate the underground parking garage near a children’s play area and we parked there. 

 

The crowd was humungous!  It felt as though everyone had come to Chinatown that day.  There were people shopping for food and clothes, there were tourists busy snapping pictures, and there were even some people whiling their time away gambling in full view of everyone!

 

There were plenty of shops with Chinese New Year decorations, although we kinda expected Chinatown to be much, much redder than it was.

 

Many people were busy choosing flowers and plants to decorate their homes with.  We even spotted the prosperity plants on sale!

 

Of course, it being Chinese New Year and all, there are bound to be stalls selling new clothes, all in the theme of the au-OX-picious year ahead.

 

And there were a few stalls catering to those who wanted a new bag for the new year too!

 

I also caught sight of this mobile hairdresser…imagine having your hair done in full view of everyone!

 

And oh, here’s something that reminded me of our tanahair…

 

Traditional Chinese medical shops could be seen at almost every street too, and of course, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this shop selling roasted chicken/duck.

 

I saw this huge line of people patiently queueing up at the roadside, and when I asked my hubby what they were doing, he pointed out that they were trying their luck at buying numbers, all in the spirit of Chinese New Year! LOL

 

Posted in Relax & Celebrate, Thoughts & Scribblings | 10 Comments

Dinner feast far, far away

Posted on January 25, 2009 by The Giddy Tigress

I’m just gonna fill this post with pictures of food, because after all, that is what most people talk about during Chinese New Year, right?

We had a dinner gathering this evening at a nearby restaurant called Chili Palace with some of my hubby’s colleagues.  And if you think about it matter-of-factly, taking into account the time difference between Malaysia and the US, we actually had a reunion LUNCH, according to Malaysian time!

 

Not the typical Chinese New Year reunion dinner with dishes like jiu-hoo-char, too-thor-th’ng and the like though …  Oh, how I miss those!

The dishes we were served tonight were mostly chili-inspired, but what would you expect from a restaurant with the name “Chili” in it, eh? 

 

The primary objective was to get our tummies filled, and we definitely accomplished that!

 

Although…I’m still very much craving the pineapple tarts I always pig out on during Chinese New Year!  SIGH…

So there you go…I’ve posted my Chinese New Year feast pictures…now I can’t wait to drool over what everyone else had…. here’s wishing a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year to everyone, all the way from the US! 🙂

Posted in Drooling & Cooking, Relax & Celebrate | 10 Comments

Aluminium foil & chicken

Posted on January 15, 2009 by The Giddy Tigress

I find myself running out of ideas to cook these days, and so I decided to try out some new and simple recipes a couple of days ago.

I remember it was late that evening when I got back from work and I had to whip up something nice and warm in a really short time.  I remembered I had bought a packet of Chinese Herbal Mix for stewing chicken recently, and decided to use it with the easy-to-make fail-proof recipe for Steamed Herbal Chicken I saw at HaveYouEaten.net

There were more herbs in my herbal packet than was required in the recipe, but I just tossed everything in.  It was also my first time using aluminium foil for steaming chicken, and the aroma that exuded during the steaming process was simply heavenly.

 

Needless to say, the piping hot aromatic dish was the perfect complement for our dinner that night.  In fact, I wished I had put in all 6 pieces of chicken drumsticks instead of just 4!

But I did use the 2 leftover drumsticks for lunch the next day.  Again, using the rarely touched supply of aluminium foil and wok steamer, I experimented with another simple recipe:  Steamed Chicken with Rice Wine Sauce.  I didn’t have ginger on hand, so that was omitted, and I had to substitute red chillies with jalapeno chillies, so the resulting dish did not look as aestehetically pleasing, but don’t judge a book by its cover cuz it still tasted really good.  Loved the sauce especially!

 

Posted in Drooling & Cooking | 11 Comments