Tomatoes for 2009

Our tomato plants are giving us a lot of fruits. With all the rains for the past one week it’s growing and ripens at record rates. Here are some of the pictures of what I picked today and also last week. Aren’t they beautiful!!

Picked on 08/03/09



These funny looking tomatoes are sweet and meaty. Really good in salad.

Picked on 07/26/09

Household Tips

Take 2 minutes and read through this; you will be amazed at what you can learn!

Bed Sheets
After drying sheets, put both sheets and one pillowcase in the other pillow case. Fold neatly in a square. Next time you change sheets, you just take the one pillow case and all the sheets and pillow case are inside. No need to look for matches.

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken pieces of glass - the fibers catch ones you can't see!

Easier thank you's
When you throw a bridal/baby shower, buy a pack of thank you cards for the guest of honor. During the party, pass out the envelopes and have everyone put their address on one. When the bride/new mother sends the thank you's, they're all addressed!

Name tag
If you purchase a new bike for your child, place their picture inside the handle bar before placing the grips on. If the bike is stolen and later recovered, remove the grip and there is your proof who owns the bike.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- voila -- static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser!
Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...

Good-bye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2 with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' & can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Take baby powder to the beach
Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When you're ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.

Hope you learn something new today ;)

Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Carlos birthday at home this year. Since we went out for dinner on our anniversary and spent so much money eating at Outback (food was just so so) I thought maybe I should prepared his birthday meal at home. I plan a steak meal for him since he like steak at lot.

Ribeye steak with roasted potatoes and asparagus.

Birthday cake

Birthday boy blowing out the candle

Later in the evening we went for a movie. This is a very good movie.
The next day Diana and her Bf came home to prepared us a Japanese meal. We had DIY hand rolls. Robin trying to cool down the sushi rice outside the cool temperature :)


Our spread!

To My Special Man

I know I've told you many times how much I love you, Dear
And how it seems to me you grow still sweeter every year,
I love you for your thoughtfulness and your understanding way
For the countless little things you do for me each day
I love you for the hopes and dreams you've helped to make come true
But most of all I love you, Just for being you
Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

Pantry Cleaning

I am such an unorganized person when it comes to my pantry. I just throw everything in there when I come home from grocery shopping. I just pile it all in there. I know its time to clean up when I have to rummish through it to look for something. Oh, the many times I thought I had something in there when I really didn’t or when I might buy something I thought we needed but didn’t. I've also bought certain grocery items which I totally forgotten and only to find out later they were hiding somewhere at the corner of the pantry.

"Before"It look like a war zone in there!

So I decided that Sunday was the day I would organize it. First, I took everything out of the pantry and grouped the items together into a few categories like Asian, Western, Baking, Snack, and Misc. I also got rid a whole load of expired stuff that no longer good and throw away a lot of plastic containers.

"After" Look so much better now.

This is where I kept all the packet sauces, Asian ingredients, flour, sugar and all different kind of rice

Not to toot my own horn, but I think it looks pretty good now, plus the pantry is much more functional. I will have to make it a point to clean it up every six month. There is more space in there and I actually know what is in the pantry. My next project will be my refrigerator and my spice cupboard.

I Am Going Home!!!

I finally bought the ticket for my flight home early next year. I know it's kind of early but I've heard that the prices will be much higher after October. I've been looking around for the best deal but every airlines seem to be charging a lot of money for it. I wanted to fly Singapore but too bad they don't fly economy from Newark anymore. They only fly Business and 1st class. MAS is charging arms and legs their ticket and cost almost 2K. I am glad I found a pretty good deal through Zue's agent but I have to transit in so many places and by the time I reach Kuala Lumpur I will be like a zombie. I am praying hard that this airline don't give me any problem when the time comes as they don't have a very good track record with the consumers.

I can't wait to be home with my family to celebrate 2009 Chinese New Year. The last time I celebrate CNY back home was 9 years ago. I am so looking forward to the reunion dinner and meeting up with relatives and friends. Hopefully I am able to meet up with some of my blogging friends too. Those who are interested please let me know o.k. Kuala Lumpur here I came!!

10 Rules For A Happy Marriage

I saw this while blog hopping sometime ago but I can't remember from which blog. I hope the owner don't mind me posting it here. I am no expert in this so I let you be the judge. Let me know what do you think of it.

1. Never both be angry at the same time.

2. Never yell at each other unless the house is on fire.

3. If one of you has to win an argument, let it be your mate.

4. If you must criticize, do it lovingly.

5. Never bring up mistakes of the past .

6. Neglect the whole world rather than each other.

7. Never go to sleep with an argument unsettled.

8. At least once every day say a kind or complimentary word to your life partner.

9. When you have done something wrong, admit to it and ask for forgiveness.

10. Remember it takes two to make a quarrel.

Update On The Sofa

Set 1

We like this set a lot, very comfortable, with neck rest but too bad no arm rest on the side so It won't be comfortable for me laying there watching TV ha haa...

Set 2

Look very similar to our living room set.

Set 3

Very comfy, good price but we don't like the material

Set 4

Good size, very comfortable and I really like the color but its a bit expensive because the whole set is leather.

Set 5

Don't like the color and not comfortable.

Set 6

Too masculine for my taste but very comfortable and expensive

Set 7

My favorite, right color, comfortable and good price a bit too big for our TV room.



So which set we choose ...........................


....

We choose this set because it's really comfortable and just the right size for our TV room. Our TV room is much smaller then the living room so we have to get a smaller set. Most important it's my kind of color "RED" very auspicious color for Chinese ;)

The Hunt Is Over!!!

Phew!!! We finally found the sofa we wanted. It's the right size, right material, right color but not the right price. It's a bit more than what we wanted to pay. We've have looking for the sofa for the past few months. We went to Delaware, New Jersey and even in California but some of them are too expensive, not the right color, way too huge and chunky or not the right material. The ones that we like were like was $6,000.00 which I think it was crazy. We found a very nice set at Plummer's in CA but the company don't do out of state delivery. Carlos even thought of renting an UHaul and hauls it back to PA. I think he is crazy.

Let me tell you all something about my husband. He is really fussy when comes to buying furniture. It's has to be something that he likes, the right leather, the right size, the right price and most important it has to be comfortable. This time I was surprise and still am that he let me choose the color I like. But one thing for sure he has very good taste when come to choosing furniture. For me, as long as it's comfortable and not too expensive it will be good enough for me. I guess is typical of women. We always watch the money part ;)

Finally we found the right set at Macy's. We should have check there first to save all headache and trouble and not to mention the expensive gas money. Macy is just 10 minutes drive from our house.

Let me show you some of the pix I took at Macy's. Can you guess which set we bought? I just can't wait to sit on it but we have to wait till the 1st week of August for the delivery. Now, how are we going to get rid of the old sofa? Any takers??

Garage Sale

Weather is getting much warmer and you can see everyone is having garage sale or yard sale. I like going to this kind of sale once a while hoping to find some nice English cups and saucers to add to my collections.

Some of the clothing
Our homeowners association organized a neighborhood garage sale last week and we decided to participate to get rid some of our junks accumulated for the past two years. We don’t have many big ticket items as we had a huge garage sale in California just before moving here. We sold about 40% of our unwanted stuff and the rest was donated it to the Salvation Army.

So last week I was busy getting ready for the sale and managed to clear up most of Diana’s and my things. As for Carlos he was holding to dear life most of his stuff and tools. This man just can’t let go of his things :)

The gloomy weather
The sale started at 8.00am but it was a bad day for the garage sale. The sky was gloomy, cold and drizzling. A few elderly people came and these people are looking for specific things like antique, furniture, jewelry. No one is interested in my books, handbags, shoes, clothing etc. By 10.00am the drizzling was getting heavier so we just packed up everything and load it up in the car trunk and took everything to the Goodwill. We only managed to sell some of my bake goods, a handbags and a suitcase. Total sale was around $23.00. What a waste of time. No more garage sale for us here but it was a good experience for Diana since it was her first garage sale.

Package from Japan!!!

I saw this huge package sitting on my front porch when I went out to pick up my mail yesterday. I knew it was from Diana as I saw Japanese words written all over the box. I was so excited and open it up right away. This is what I found inside.


Tart moulds

Bowl for soup and rice

For sushi making

Bento box for Carlos

Content of the bento box

Bento box for me :)

Content of the bento box

Beautiful wooden chopstick and spoons
本当にありがとうございます my dear Diana. You knew just what to get for me. You really made my day. I really can't wait for you to come home.

Rambling II

I've been cooping up at home for so many days. I finally got out of hibernation as I needed to go to the supermarket to get my fresh fruits and vegetables. We are running really low of everything. What a nice change, to breathe of fresh air once again. This is how I live most of the days. I don't go out often unless it is absolutely necessary.

And I do this more in the winter. The thought of putting on layers of clothing, scarves, and jacket makes me want to stay in every single day. It's still so freaking cold outside and we will be expecting more snow again tomorrow. I just can't wait for spring to come.

While in hibernation I clean up my closet. Need to tidy up all my clothes and shoes and give some away to 'Goodwill' and I remember Cat asked me to show pictures of my shoes. So, here you are Cat ;)
I bought this new pair of shoes online last year and guess what. It was a bit too tight for my giant feet. Is a size 7 1/2 and I wanted to give it away. Just remember this shoe is much smaller then the usual 7 1/2 shoes. So any of you who wear this size send me an e.mail or leave me a comment with your address or email and I will mail it to you. Of course you have to be living here in US and is first comes first serve. No more buying shoes online for me ;)

The Door Is Done!!!

Carlos finally finish repairing the door and also painted the wall. It took him awhile to finish it because of the cold weather and now it look as good as new. He will be going away for a short business trip tomorrow and he told me not to get into any mishap again while he is away. No more calling the police or breaking the door down. I told him I will try my best ;)

mmmmm trying to figure out the best way to repair this

Carlos said : "See, now you know why I like to buy a lot of clamps!! "

It's as good as new.

Cake Decorating Classes

I've been really busy this month. I took up some cake decorating classes. I took Cake Decorating Course 1 where I learned all the basic techniques of frosting, piping and making flowers and figure piping with butter cream. The next course I took is the Fondant and Gum Paste Lesson. For this course I learned to make flowers, cover the cakes, making ribbons and borders. Here are some of the cakes we made on our last lesson yesterday.

Can anyone guess which cake is mine? My next 2 courses will start in March and as for time being I am laying off cakes for a while ;)

Gifts From Japan!!

See, what I got from Diana!!! She bought me some baking stuffs and then asked her friend to bring all the way back from Japan. She knew I like collecting different kind of muffins cups and baking pans. Thank you my dear. I will bake you something when you come home o.k.

My Little Adventure

I did something really stupid this morning. I locked myself out of the house. I was in the mid of cooking some stew. When the stew was simmer away I decided to go outside to get the newspaper and also to get rid of the dead bunny’s Remember the bunny's that ate all my flowers and my tomatoes. Well, found him dead last night right in front of my garden. So this morning I wanted to get rid of it.

We normally don’t lock the door from the garage to the house but since Carlos was away I locked it last night. As usual I had this habit of pulling the door close each time I went out through the garage. Once I pulled the door I remember I forgot to lift the lock up. Oh..noooooooooo what am I going to do. The stew was simmering away on the stove and I can’t get in. All kinds of scenarios ran through my head. What if I burn down the house or the smoke alarm went off or the sprinkle system turns on? So I ran to my good neighbor Nancy and see if she can help. The first thing she said was let’s just call the cops. I was like ‘What’ shouldn’t we call the locksmith? She said the cops will know what to do.

In a matter of 5 min 3 very handsome policemen came. Gosh, there were good looking. Just like those cops we saw in the movies. As usual they took down my name, address, phone number and even date of birth. Now, I had a record with the local police station :( they were trying to figure out how to open the door without damaging anything. First,one of them tried using the credit card method. Nothing happen. Then they asked if is ok to break down the door. I told them to go ahead. Fixing the door is better than burning the house down. After a few slam of his body into the door it OPENS. I was so Happy. First thing I did was run to the kitchen to turn off the stove. Lucky there were still a bit of water left in the kettle.

Look at that poor door :( Actually I was so tempted to ask the policemen to pose for a picture so I can blog about them but after thinking about it better not. They might think I am up to no good :) :)

I am really thankful to the Downintown policemen who came to my rescue. Actually this was not the first time I called on them. I once lock myself out of my car with the engine and A/C running. How clever of me, right. Well, that is another story to tell you one day :) I think I have to give my neighbor a set of my house keys and also my car key. Just in case I lock myself out again. I wonder why this always happen when Carlos is away so he can't come to my rescue. Wait till he comes home and I tell him the story. I am sure he will shake his head. Sorry sweetie, you have to fix the door now . It is better than burning the house down :) :)

Note : I just spoken to Carlos on the phone and he asked me to stay at home, stay put and don't do anything or go anywhere until he gets home tonight. I guess he is scare that his wife might get into troubles again ..ha ..haa By the way, I am going to Micheal's and JoAnn :) :)

My Handyman

My husband Carlos is rolling his eyes at me again when I said I wanted to write to HGTV so they can send me the handsome handyman Carter Oosterhouse to finish up his projects. This guy is hot and he has a new show called 'Carter Can'. Do check his show out.

Actually I should not complaint too much because Carlos can be really handy if he wants too :) He paint, he repairs, he built, he fixed leaks and he even came to my rescue when I see worms eating my tomato plants. As for me I am never handy with anything not even changing a light bulb. When I was living on my own I will just give a call to my brother office and he will send a guy over to fix everything.

Just look is these windows. These is the windows that attract me to this house when we first walk in. Then after moving in for a week I found out that the windows create a lot of heat and is not good at all during the day. We can't even sit at our living room to watch TV so finally we decided to cover it up with blinds. We have to rent a 20 foot ladder from Home Depot just to fix it. It served us well for over a year and just look at it now. It need fixing again :( :(

He made this little table for Diana's apartment.
Sweetie, we have to go to your "Toy Store' Home Depot this weekend to buy some new blinds and rent a ladder again. By the way, when can I have my new bed??