Good Day to be Out and About

The weather in Edmonton today was absolutely warming... literally. The sun was up and instead of being -19 but feeling like -27 with windchill, the thermometer was showing a warm -3. Yes, warm at -3 cos anything is better than -27 with windchill! If only the rest of winter would be like this till Spring blossoms back. *grin*

I had wanted to head down to Michaels because they had a '20% off' coupons which includes sale items as well. However, i decided i didn't need anymore new toys to play with. So, Hubbie took me down Chinatown where we (ok, I) went on a hunt for Chinese New Year decorations to put up around the house. Chinese New Year falls on Feb 14th this year... yep.. you heard me right Feb 14th... Valentine's Day. Oh well... all i wish for is that Hubbie will be here for Chinese New Year as oppose to Valentine's Day.  Ok, i digress... back to Chinatown. Unfortunately, i didn't see what i wanted but i did see what it had to offer. Always nice to know where some things are and to keep them in mind even if i didn't need them now.

So, to perk myself up a lil bit, we had seen this Italian bakery on the other side of the street. They had a signage that said that they specialise in expresso coffee. Now, that is a store after my heart. *grin* Coffee. Good expresso. Mmmm...... So, we popped into Italian Bakery (Edmonton) Co Ltd (10646 97 Street) so i have a cuppa and maybe a pastry to go along with it. When we walked in, this bustling lil bakery was packed with customers, not to mention the mouth watering display of a variety of pastry and breads that greeted us. Hubbie ordered a hot chocolate along with their lemon meringue tart & chocolate chip canolli. I had my latte together with a chocolate dipped cream puff.

Tea time spread at the Italian Bakery.

I didn't try the hot chocolate but i had a taste of the tart and choc chip canolli. The smoothness of the lemon filling was really nice however, it was a lil too sweet for my liking. However, nothing taste quite like the ones Hubbie makes as i like the lil lemon zest bits that you get to chew on in his lemon meringue pies. The choc chip canolli ... well .. i didn't think there was anything spectacular so i only took one small bite out of it. As for choc dipped cream puff, it was tasty but after eaten 3/4 of the cream puff... i was all creamed out... so this might be something that i would buy and share it with someone. The latte however.... perfect! I only needed 1 teaspoon of sugar and the latte was really delicious. I don't like my coffee sweet (unless it is those ice blended drinks which isn't really coffee coffee). I like my coffee sweet with the taste expresso fully intact and not masked. So you could taste the sweetness followed by that distinct bitter taste of roasted coffee beans.

My 'slurpilicious' latte!

In the midst of having our tea/coffee break, i decided i wanted to go to the Deep Freeze Festival out at Alberta Avenue (118th Ave, 92 – 94 Street). So we caught the 140 just a few steps away from the Italian Bakery, dropped off at Canada Place and walked to Churchill Station to take the LRT to Coliseum Station and the caught the 5 down to Alberta Avenue. When we got to the event area, we walked around the skating and curling rink. I kept a look out for anyone i knew and shortly after, we bumped into Sandra (@Sajeder) and her two little boys.

 

It also turned out to be a very full day for me because this was also the night that i had the #yeggno meetup. Have been really excited with meeting some of the ladies i tweet with on twitter. Hubbie may not be one for social media, but he also understand that i rely quite heavily on twitter to widen my social network. I have met many new friends through twitter. Many of them are really nice people who, have one way or another, help me settle into this new city. So yes, tonight i met up with the following fun, crazy, but fun and very interesting ladies. I do wish restaurant would have more round tables than rectangular ones cos it's kinda hard to talk to everyone when they are sitting 7 people down from you.

 
Left : Lizzie (@stygldpnyby) with her Tamagotchi - super old skool!
Right : MM (@akomuzikera), Jodie (@JodieGiese) and Lizzie (@stygldpnyby)

The manager thought we were having a birthday party when we weren't. But apparently, they had already poured two shots for the 'bday girl' so Hilary (@hilarydarrah) happily accepted the free shots. Nom nom nom nom nom. Also, because of that MM (@akomusikera) started to lead everyone in the birthday song which was first sung to Hilary.... which in turn led to it being sung to any one who left early. *heehee*

#yeggno Ladies!

Matahari

As a treat before he went back to camp, Hubbie made reservations to go to Matahari. I've been wanting to go there for a while now ever since i found out about the restaurant during the Edmonton Heritage Festival. Been told they serve South East Asian (esp Malaysian and Singaporean) cuisines and i am not going to say no to a place that might serve a slice of home for me.

I've been craving for Nasi Lemak for the longest time. Nasi Lemak is typically steamed coconut rice with a side of meat (normally fried chicken), cucumber slices, ikan bilis (small dried anchovies deep fried till crispy), roasted peanuts, hard boiled egg, and sambal (which is a blended paste of red chilli, tamarind slices and juice, sugar, shallots, and garlic that has been fried till it turns dark). So no question as to what i was going to order since i went through their menu list on their website and made sure they had it listed on the menu. Hubbie went with the 'Singaporean Toss Noodle' which i think is just another way of saying Wanton Noodle. *grin* Because listed on the menu this was the description they gave - vermicelli or egg noodles, bbq pork, wontons, Chinese greens, fried onions, and green onions tossed in a soy-sesame and minced pork sauce. Indeed, when our food was served and i had a taste of Hubbie's noodles it did tasted like Wanton Noodle.

We also ordered an appetiser for Hubbie and a salad for myself. Hubbie's choice - Murtabak, which essentially is an Indian dish of thin, flat dough that has cooked minced chicken, beef or lamb as a filling and pan fried till the dough is nice and crispy. Usually served with curry or (as Hubbie calls it) red sauce ... which to me is just a blend sweet chilli sauce and ketchup. At Matahari, they had a slightly different take on this dish as it had egg as a filling instead of meat. My choice - Gado-gado, which is a Indonesian dish of fried tofu with bean sprouts, cucumbers, shredded lettuce and green beans all smothered in a peanut sauce. Matahari's version had potatoes in them which was a first for me since the ones i have had never had potatoes and i still prefer my Gado-gado without the potatoes.

Hubbie with his Muturbak.

  
On the left is Gado-Gado and on the right is Nasi Lemak.

I was stuffed by the end of the meal, but Hubbie had room for desserts and went for banana fritters with vanilla ice cream. I was eyeing the Wild sticky rice with fresh mango and vanilla ice cream but knowing i was too stuffed to polish it off the plate i decided against ordering it. However, Hubbie asked if we could order it to go, knowing very well i would be kicking myself an hour or two later for not ordering it and i would be whining about it and he would have to hear me whining. Which was very sweet of him and also a very wise move cos the moment we got home i polished off the dessert while sitting in front of the computer tweeting. *lol*
 
Sorry, no photos of the dessert. Guess i was preoccupied with a very satisfied appetite and tummy from all the yummy food i had and making plans on when i should next go back for more yummy food at Matahari! *grin* *heehee*

Update : A friend on twitter has suggested i do a meetup at Matahari. I have concerns about whether or not the food is going to be to everyone's liking. But, it is something to think about.

2nd Day into the New Year

Welcoming the New Year was a rather quiet affair. I say quiet because we did not head out to any big parties in the pubs/clubs or even head out to any big New Year countdown event. Initially, i had planned on making my way down to Churchill Square to catch the countdown and fireworks. However, with the cold temperature setting in and all, we decided to have a dinner party at our place instead. It was just like any other dinner parties we would have - dinner followed by hours or boards and/or Wii games (since i got it for Xmas).

When Alexander and Veronica arrived, their attention went straight to our babies, Dawn and Dusk. *grin* Veronica, especially, was going all goo goo and ga ga over them. She has two cats herself, Ushi and TT. However, after seeing our babies she says she wants kittens to play with. *grin*

Usually, Hubbie is good with serving dinner on time. This time round, however, he managed to make us all wait about an hour for our dinner. Which was so unlike him. Though since he normally cooks up a Y.U.M.M.Y feast whenever we have a dinner party, he is forgiven.... this time. *heehee*

      

As you can see from the photos above, this was on the menu for the night.

Appetizer
Simple Spinach Salad (Mushroom, Egg, Bacon Bits and Shredded Mozza)  topped with homemade Raspberry Vinigrette

Main Course
Honey Garlic Ribs with home cut fries and honey carrots

Dessert
Creme Brulee, Banana Split Cake with homemade Strawberry Sorbet

Are you drooling yet? *grin* I told you when Hubbie cooks for dinner parties he cooks up a feast. After dinner and dessert, we played a round of Sticks before the guys decided to adjourn to the living room to play a round or two on the Star Wars - The Force Unleashed game on the Wii. Personally, it's just them wanting to wave their Wii controllers around like a Jedi would wave around his light sabre. While the guys were on the Wii, we girls were looking at the new Close to my Heart catalogue that was just released and ordering new craft toys for ourselves. Not many things in the catalogue caught my eyes so i decided to take a clip of the boys playing on the Wii. And here is what i managed to capture.

 
As it the New Year drew closer, Hubbie broke out the bottles of Moscato that we had and everyone got a glass each to count in the New Year.

Veronica and Alexander seem happy that it is now 2010, but Pam and Hubbie seem to think otherwise. *grin*

 

The first food item (or in the case dessert item) that we had for 2010 was Hubbie's Lemon Meringue Pie. Look at the height of that meringue! It was at least 3 inches tall. Hubbie used 11 eggs whites for it. *heehee* It was really good pie but i couldn't finished my slice and my babies had a few nibbles out of in the end.

 

So Long 2009. Hello 2010.

I will start by saying that 2009 has proven to be a year of adventures filled with many Ups and many Downs. It was also a year of my big move to Edmonton leaving all my family and friends behind. I've travelled overseas before but i've never moved away from home in my life. I'm pretty sure it was hard on my family but they knew i had to do it. I've always known that i have friends that i can truly count on and will be there for me no matter where i am. Being this far away from them and home has proven that to be true, to which i am forever grateful and blessed.  

Being in a new country, environment and culture was certainly an eye opening experience with many, many new personal lessons learnt. I've made new friends, survived living alone for most of the year, laughed and cried (sometimes at the same time), ooh-ed and ahh-ed over many things, experienced walking around in -30 degree Celsius weather and getting used to the way of life here. I believe i have said all i have had to say (privately) about my experiences with the legal and immigration aspect of my move. Lets just say that after all that has happened, all the stories that Hubbie has heard about how it shouldn't be too much of a trouble moving me over here and settling down has been less than true.

The other life challenge that faced me and Hubbie was finally being able to start a life as husband and wife without having to spend our relationship juggling between two countries and 14 - 15 hours time difference. However, after spending (at that point) the last 18 mths of our 27 mths marriage apart, we were still adjusting and settling into the roles of being married to each other. As we crossed the 3 year mark 16 days ago, there are still many things to work on, to learn and compromise and, of course, many more memories to create, cherish and love.

Though, i will have to say this, snow and cold weather are so overrated. *lol* Sure you get to wear coats and jackets, scarves, toques (beanies), gloves and mittens. Something you will never get to wear in sweltering +30-33 degree Celcius tropical weather over in sunny island Singapore. That novelty wears off pretty quick when you're all bundled up, you feel like a dumpling (because it beyond me to want to look stylish rather than stay nice, cosy and warm), your nose frost up with every breath in and defrost with every breath out (and hurting bad at the same time) and walking in snow is not as glamourous as it has been portrayed in shows and movies! Not to mention the hassle of having to un-bundle yourself everytime you visit a washroom! Ugh! Oh wait, not to mention my skin is suffering from the low humidity level weather - my hands are starting to look old and wrinkled and i am getting splotches of dry skin around my body! It's no fun to have to moisturise everyday (sometimes twice or more), not to mention it adds on to your daily routine.

Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Weekend Recap

As i am writing this Christmas Eve and Day, Boxing Day and Weekend are over. It was relatively quiet Christmas. Which had its own merits, that ... and there were only 5 of us. 1 is in her 80s, 2 are in their 60s and 2 are in their 30s. Not going to get any rowdy that is for sure. My inlaws arrived on the 21st evening after much adventure of having arrived at the airport and spending the next 1.5hours trying to figure out how to get to their rented car. The eventually arrived at the condo safe and sound.

The couple of days before Christmas were spent running around doing last minute shopping.

Tuesday - 22nd Dec 2009
Before i say anything else, this day happens to be my sister's 17th birthday too! She definitely got a nice haul of birthday pressies this year. A new Samsung mobile phone from my dad (lucky brat!), a pair of SGD$150 headphones (lucky brat!), a SGD$120 shopping spree at MNG with my mom, and a shipment of Threadless tees from me. Sure is good being the youngest in the family.

Hubbie's nana had mentioned on the phone a few nites before that she would like to try our Snuggie as Hubbie had mentioned that Dusk likes to gnaw on the Snuggie while he kneads on it with his front paws. So the morning after they arrived, she was sitting on the sofa and saw the Snuggie at its usual resting spot at the end of the sofa. She tried it and liked it very much! Yes! Present idea! Woohoo!!! I called dibs! *grin* I didn't know what to get Hubbie's nana for Christmas so heh i was just so happy to have found something she would like to have. So we spent the 22nd of Dec wondering around Kingsway Mall. Made a couple of stops and even got myself a simple Christmas pressie of the netipot! I have heard and seen much about it from watching Dr. Oz on tv and thought if it helps my stuffed up nose to be cleared up in the mornings i am going to try. Afterall, the netipot only cost CDN$10 and the ingredients needed after that was 1/2 tsp of salt with 1 cup of clear warm water. I used it a couple of days ago and it works fine and well for me. Yippeee!! No more stuffed up nose. Though going to bed at a decent time helps too.

Wednesday - 23rd Dec 2009
The day before Christmas Eve was spent running around Costco for a good 1 hour because Alexander had introduced us to this 1.13 kg container of premium mixed nuts and it only cost CDN$13. Which really is a BIG STEAL! We didn't know if we would be able to get to go to Costco in time before Christmas so the day before we had spent CDN$10 each on a small container of 300gms of rather stale mixed nuts at Sears @ Kingsway Mall.

Now this trip to Costco for the 2 containers of 1.13 kg container of premium mixed nuts @ CDN$13 turned up to be a trip that cost us CDN$330! Our haul included a pack of ribs, a pack of chicken breast, a pack of chicken thighs, 2 packs of fresh salmon, 3 containers of premium mixed nuts, 1 container each of roasted almonds, cashews, and chocolate covered raisins, 1 bag of pistachios, a Billy Blanks workout DVD, Disney's 'UP' DVD, a box set of all the Aliens, Predators and Alien vs Predator movies, and 2 boxes of assorted chocolate bars...... P.H.E.W!!!!!! Though Hubbie was really happy with his HUGE stash of nuts. *heehee*

Later in the evening, Kathleen had invited us over to her place for a pre-Christmas dinner and a nite of board games. Hanging out with Kathleen and Mike for a nite of board games can never be dull or boring. We got to play with the newest addition to her extensive collection of board games - Canada-opoly! *grin* Think i won with a rather big margin on that one. *giggles* It was definitely nice of her to have invited us over for dinner so close to Christmas. Think we got home at about 1.30am.

Thursday - 24th Dec 2009
Hubbie spent most of Christmas Eve 'deboning' the 3.8kg turkey we had bought at Save-on-food near Kingsway Mall. (Apparently, it was a really good deal too cos we only paid CDN$13 for it.) Traditionally, Christmas dinner is prepared by his mom and nana. However, he decided he wanted to try cooking Christmas dinner this year. He did have to spend quite some time explaining and justifying his want to debone the turkey to his nana which to me was quite an amusing sight. There he was standing in the kitchen trying to justify his actions to his nana with such a cute look on his face.

    

Now you didn't think i would see this scene and not snap a photo of it did you?

Later in the evening, we all bundled up into the rental Nissan Altima and headed out for Christmas Mass. This was the 2nd time i have attended Christmas Mass and even though it wasn't a religion i practice it was a tradition that should be observed as a family. The church we went to was really packed. By the time we got there for the 5pm mass, we had to sit in the courtyard where they had set up a big screen tv for us to observe the service. After mass, it was KFC dinner for Christmas Eve. Hubbie and myself had to rush through dinner as we had made plans to meet with one of Hubbie's ex-coworkers from camp who was in town for a couple of days before flying back into camp for work. Ron was definitely a friendly guy and it was nice to have met him in person after all the stories i had heard from Hubbie. He had suffered from stroke back in March and it was good to hear that he is well on the road to recovery and is fit enough to go back to work.

Friday - 25th Dec 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Two days before Christmas, i had looked at the Christmas pressie that i was going to be getting from Hubbie and the family... there was one that was for me from the whole family. For some reason, i had a hunch i was getting a Wii for Christmas this year. After all the hinting to Hubbie about wanting a Wii i finally got one when i unwrapped that pressie on Christmas morning! *grin* YIPPEE!!!!!! *grin* The Wii console with 2 controllers and nunchuks, a charger for the controllers, with Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Play for games was the big pressie from Hubbie, my parents-in-law and Hubbie's nana. My MIL also gave me a gift card from Starbucks with a 3pack VIA. (Funnily enough, i got her the same exact pressie as well. *lol*) While Hubbie's nana gave me a small crystal Christmas Tree from Swarovski (my favourite store!), she said it was to start me on my Christmas Decor collection after seeing how i had really made an effort to decorate the condo for Christmas. My DIL gave me a nice knitted matching toque and scarf set. Hubbie had also bought me a hot water bottle bag from Le Senza which is so nice and fluffy! Heehee.

Our Christmas tree almost buried in a sea of pressies.

After we had unwrapped all our pressies, it was almost time for brunch so i mixed up a batch of vanilla crepes served with mixed berries sprinkled with icing sugar for everyone. You know, come to think of it, i didn't take any photos of the crepes i made. Everyone seemed to enjoy their crepes.... at least i think they did. For the rest of the afternoon, everyone was kicked out of the kitchen because Hubbie was in there preparing the turkey, the stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas and a lemon meringue pie for dessert. How does that sound to you for a Christmas feast? While Hubbie slogged away in the kitchen what did i do? Played for 2.5 hours straight on my pressie.... Wii!!! After that, i think i gathered my pressies to the bedroom and napped till dinner was ready to be served. *lol*

Christmas Morning

When dinner was served, it was definitely a feast... omg i have never been so stuffed in my life after a meal. *heehee* Again.... no photos were taken of the spread on the table. UGH! Sillie me. This has definitely got to be the very few occasions where i hardly picked up my camera to snap a shot or two or more. I have no explanation(s) for that.

Saturday - 26th Dec 2009
Well, boxing day sales weekend has arrived.

I had spent the first 2 hours of Boxing Day on google video chat with my Knotty Bicsie Crafting Club friends in Singapore. They were having a Boxing Day party and wanted me to be part of it so they webcammed me into the party. Which i thought was a neat idea! Which also meant that i didn't get into bed till about 2am.

Even then i managed to drag myself out of bed at 8am. I had just finished brushing my teeth and was still trying to wake myself up when Hubbie informed me that my MIL and DIL were all ready to head out in 15mins. We had planned to take the car out for a quick shopping trip at Micheals cos i wanted to grab some storage boxes for my craft materials at a cheap price. Hubbie managed to negotiate with the parentals and i got dressed with makeup and all within 20-25mins so that we could hitch a ride out to the Micheals in the West end. Don't think i have ever moved that fast in my life! *grin* DIL treated us to a nice breakfast at Denny's... can never say no to breakfast at Denny's. Nope. Always good to have breakfast at Denny's.

When we got to Micheals it was surprisingly quiet and almost empty. There were no line ups and the parking lot was almost empty! That was a surprise. I guessed everyone was at WEM cashing in on Boxing Day sales, eh? 95% of the items i bought at Michaels were either on 40% or 50% off. Yeah for deals during Boxing Day! *heehee* I was quiet happy with what i walked away with that morning. That was the only shopping i did on Boxing Day too. *lol*

And with that, i conclude my Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day weekend recap. *heehee* Haven't typed up such a long entry in a while now. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and that it was filled with new memories shared with family and friends.

Pigeons, your days are Numbered