Sunday, November 30, 2008

Black Friday Shopping

After the turkey meal, cleaning up, keeps away all the leftovers and putting all the dirty dishes in the dish washer I was poof. We went to bed early as we wanted to get up early for our Black Friday shopping. The 3 of us (Diana, Robin and I) start the day at 5.00am and Carlos went on his own shopping much later. He thinks we are crazy. Oh well, not as crazy as last year as we went at midnight. We finally finished with our shopping at 3.00pm. We went to the outlet first and later we hit the mall. Reach there very early in the morning and there were not many shoppers as most of them already done with their shopping at midnight. Here are some of the things we bought.

Relaxing in front of the TV after the heavy meal. All gear up for shopping later.
We went to Lancaster Tanger's Outlet.
After all the hours of shopping, just look at the trunk of the car.
Look at Carlos reactions when he opens the front door for us. He was shock to see all the bags we had on our hands.
Some of the things we bought. Let me recap the bargain we got. All clothing from Banana Republic 50% off, Gap 40%, Shoes buy one and get the other one for 50% off, Tommy 50% off, Polo less 25% for purchase above $150.00, Coach handbags at 50%, 40% and 30% and on top of that another 10% off for shopping before 10 am, Kenneth Cole briefcase 30% off. Waffle Maker less 50% and Carlos bought some electronics which I am not sure how much he paid for.


Coach addiction.



We stop by at this little diners for our Breakfast/ lunch
The little jukebox on the table.
All happy and contented with the shopping.

We mostly shop for clothing when there is good bargain especially on Black Friday so we went a bit overboard :)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving

Our thanksgiving is a small family affair. I prepared a 10 pound turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, agar agar , and baked some dinner rolls and a pumpkin pie. Started cooking and baking from 8.00am and we had our meal around 4.00pm. Man, I was tired but am glad that everyone enjoyed the delicious meal.

This year the turkey turn out pefect. Nicely brown still moist and juicy on the inside.
Bread stuffing
Roasted potatoes

Green bean caserole

Freshly baked dinner rolls

Homemade pumpkin pie

Agar-agar

After the heavy meal we are all geared up for Black Friday shopping. Stay tune to see what we bought.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

This is what we woke up to this morning. The snow is still coming down fast and furious now. Carlos is taking some vacation time all the way up to next week and we thought of going down to the Philadelphia Museum of Art this morning. So, there goes our plan as we don't want to drive around in this weather. I remember the last winter we had our first snow on the 7th of January and for this winter we had it as early as November.




Touching Story of A Little Boy

I received this touching story from one of my friend and thought I should share it with you. This story really touched me and I hope it will touch your heart too!

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw a Cashier hand this little boy some money back. The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, ' I ' m sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll'

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him. "Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?" The old lady replied "You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear". Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look a round. She left quickly.

The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to "It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her"

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly. " No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there."

His eyes were so sad while saying this. "My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister."

My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: "I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall."
Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me " I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me. I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister."

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. "Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?"

"OK" he said, "I hope I do have enough" I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: "Thank you God for giving me enough money!"

Then he looked at me and added," I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!. I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses"

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket.I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started.I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE !!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr..Winter Is Here!

We have been having some cold snap of winter here in PA and its not even winter yet. It’s dark by 4 pm and rains all the time and this morning the temperature hovered just below 25 degree and its so freaking cold. We have frost and some snow on top of the car and it’s snowing now. I can’t imagine what this coming winter will be like. I hope we won’t have too much snow to shovel. On the lighter note I will be going back to a warmer weather back home which I am not looking forward to either. I guess I can’t have it both ways!




Sunday, November 16, 2008

Baking Lesson I

I went for some baking lesson over the weekend with a famous French Pastry Chef here. His bakery served cookies, cakes, pastries, handmade chocolate and their croissant is the best. It’s so light and buttery. We will stop by his bakery each time we drove by this area and so happen I saw a sign saying that there will be lesson over the weekend and without hesitation I signed up for it. This French guy is funny and excellent teacher and I enjoyed his class a lot so much so that I sign up for his class again next month. He taught us Crème Brulee, Lady Fingers and two types of Mousse cake. Here are some pictures I took during the lesson.

Piping the lady fingers
The base of the Mousse Cake
He is such a happy guy that he even posed for me with the baked lady fingers :)
Lining the lady fingers to the baking pan
Mixing the Strawberry Mousse
The cakes all ready for the Chocolate Mousse topping. We took one of this cake home.
All ready to be eaten. We ran out of time so we didn't decorate the top with chocolate shaving or fresh fruits. This cake was cut and share among us in the class.
Pouring the Crème Brulee mix into the baking dish. All ready to be bake in the oven.
All ready to be eaten.
We were so busy taking our share of cakes and Crème Brulee home that I forgot to take a picture of the final cake.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A Day To Remember

Today, on the 5th of November I am happy to be in America to be witness of this American history. Yeah....something unbelievable has happened. It has brought about renewed feelings of hope in the hearts of everyone in the world. During his victory speech I shed some tears, along with millions of spectators who either watched him live on stage in Chicago or on TV like me. I have such an overwhelming pride for this black-American man who has made it this far. His arrival at the helm of the US Presidency has brought change to a country which really needs lots of doses of that.

I wish him and his VP all the best in the next four years - hoping that the changes he promised especially ones that affect the world in general, shall come.

Congratulations Barack Obama, Mr. President-Elect!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Trick Or Treat!!

We have more kids knocking at our door this year for trick or treating. Last year I had half of the candies left but this year I've given out everything within an hour. They were all so cute and everyone dress up for the occasion. Here are some pictures I took of them.