Mimi's Day 2012 (Part 1)

Hope you had a lovely mother's day! Jellybean calls me 'mimi'. To be precise- it's always 'meeee-mi'. Hence, this post name.

At the end of last year, I started Partybaby. For those who don't know, I design invites, decor and other party stuff. Before Partybaby, I designed a few wedding invites, basic logos and made cards. Throughout all these years, I never got such a unique order as this one:-

This client showed up a day before mother's day and was very precise on what he wanted. He requested a unique mother's day card, specified the wordings and even chose his papers-colour scheme for me to work with. While I was designing his card, he was anxiously waiting just next to me- which made me VERY nervous.

I wondered whether he'd like the end product. Usually, customers with special details are more specific with their designs. Making handmade cards for such customers are...well....risky. Because of his urgent request, there wasn't much time to brain storm, nor really do a draft of the design. I knew it was a do-and-go project, one with no changing, no going back. I was just simply- screwed if it went wrong.

He was a nice man though, he asked for a quotation and agreed on the spot- despite the higher fee. He was quiet throughout the hour, just observing though not intruding- which made me more nervous.

So a while later, I came up with this...

...stay tuned....

Getting My Groove Back

After Jellybean's arrival, my hobbies and interests have been put aside. Cooking has been simplified to 30 minute dashes and anything else just revolves around my child.

After using 1 hour and 15 minutes to put Jellybean to sleep, I got the odd timeslot to finally make a card- in ...one year? Although it was something fast and simple, I do like the outcome. I have this new thing for 3D cards.

Congratulations cousin.

Dear Jellybean-January 2011

Dear Jellybean,

This is daddy and mummy, before you came along. We went on dates and did spontaneous things. 

Then you made mummy become a balloon before coming along and predominantly hiding your parents within four walls.

The End.

Just kidding!

Truth is, you've given daddy and mummy so much joy within one month- well, that and lots of diaper changes and colouring your parents clothes with yellow and white. Uh huh- poops, wees and milk vomits.

We've lurved every moment of seeing you grow from the tiny bundle into a slightly larger bundle. Within one month, you've learnt to smile and laugh at spontaneous things. You've also made a point to be carried throughout the day, though at night you've been sleeping in your bassinet. At one point, every second night you chose to keep your parents up with you, but then mummy discovered it might of been the coffee she drank- so we wont blame that on you. 

You've learnt to make funny sounds and coo back at us when we talk to you. You fall asleep while being bounced on a fitball and love hearing anyone sing songs to you. Mummy sings funny songs that she doesn't really know the lyrics to, but you find that entertaining anyway. You make daddy talk to you during night feeds as if you understand what he's saying. You make Gong Gong and Poh Poh carry you by making weird shrieks- and ofcourse they succumb to your funny whimpers.

Oh, you hate the pram! You've already made yourself noticeable when you loudly cried at the local shopping center and spur spontaneous strangers to make comments. And car seats? You only like them when the car moves. When the car stops during traffic lights, you make noises too.

You've got 1001 facial expressions. But your favourite one is where you perk your mouth as if you're whistling. That usually means you're wide awake and ready for play.

When dawn comes, you want to be placed on daddy and mummy's bed. Thats when you fall back to sleep again within the comfort of your parents. You also love being on daddy's chest. You find that relaxing though mummy freaks sometimes wondering if you can  breath.

But Jellybean, despite everything, we love you to bits. Grow up quick cos we wanna play with you.

xoxo.

Mummy & Daddy

Longan & Red Dates

It's been a long Chinese tradition to do one month of confinement after giving birth. If you ask me, it's like one month of house detention with limited food. No fun.

I wouldn't say I have a strict confinement, but it's definitely restricting.

Confinement procedures [yes, I say it with much formality!] vary in different ethnic groups- different foods and doings. I'd say my mum more or less followed the Hakka tradition for my confinement. These include:

-Drinking red date and longan tea for the whole duration. No plain water. Amazingly the body does survive without one month of plain water though I don't know whether its good or bad.

For the past few weeks I've only drank boiled water submerged with dried longans and red dates.

-Eating foods with cooked chinese wine and ginger. Bleh. Imagine a repetitive menu for one month and everything loaded with ginger. This is suppose to repel wind and help sweat out excess waters.

-No showering. Well, technically I bathe with boiled herbal water. But I'm not allowed to touch un-boiled tap water. Let me tell you now- this is virtually impossible. From washing baby bottles to washing my hands before feeding- how can I not touch tap water?

-No hair washing. Urgh! Maybe this is one of the worst rules ever! It is believed that pores on the head 'open' after giving birth. So exposing these 'open pores' to water will induce headaches and other problems in the future. True or not, I'm not sure.

I know it sounds grose- but I've survived 3 weeks of yucky hair. I think it's becoming a helmet now- stuck on me. And if you need a insect repellant, do visit me! Hmm..or maybe I'm the one attracting the bugs!

-Eating heaty foods. Once again, to expel wind, help return the uterus to its pre-preggers state.

-Lie down when possible to refrain from straining the back. This one I do believe in. I've felt my own spine being more vulnerable after birth. Having said that, a newborn being breast-fed and needy doesn't allow much resting time.

One month of fun huh? I told H if he ever expected me to have another kid, lets skip this confinement ritual.

Jellybean

Hi Peeps! I've been lacking in the blogging world as Jellybean arrived nearly two weeks ago. She's kept us busy with midnight cries, constant nappy changes and ofcourse sleepless nights. But she's all worth it!

Oh! Her favourite past time at the moment is showering her daddy with pee while he's changing her diapers.

I'm lacking in the photos department so when I'm up for it I'll post some up. 'Till then, hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Rat Rice Noodles

Before you come down on me with some Greenpeace treaty - let me explain!

Where I come from, there's a round type of rice noodle that is literally called 'Rat Poop Noodle'. No, it doesn't involve harming animals of any kind- it's just named so because the original versions were ... well, shaped like rat poop. The 'rat poop' noodle is simply known lau su fen/lou shi fun in Chinese dialects.

H has a enormous attachment to these noodles. Its what he grew up with for breakfast nearly every week. When I asked him what he missed from our home town, he only told me he missed lau su fen. In a desperate attempt to make him feel more at home [and I believe my nesting instincts came hard too], I made the rice noodles from scratch.

Here's my take.

Lau Su Fen/ Lou Shi Fun

2 Cups Rice Flour
2 Tablespoon Tapioca Flour
Pinch of Salt
550ml boiling water

1. Steam rice flour for 1 hour.
2. Add tapioca flour, salt and boiling water and stir until smooth.
3. Allow to cool and knead until smooth ball forms.
4. Spread additional tapioca flour on hands/surface.
5. Take pea sized amount of dough and roll between fingers until its elongated in shape. Repeat with all of dough.
6. Lightly oil steamer tray and steam noodles for approximately 8 minutes or until noodles are cooked. [I steamed mine in batches]
7. Cook noodles immediately with condiments to liking or wait for noodles to cool and store in fridge.

I was inspired by a particular hawker style of cooking rice noodles from my home town- it's what H hearts. So hence, mine was just boiled and tossed with some basic ingredients. Other methods of cooking include stir frying or having it with dark sauce.

What My Husband Does To Me

Oh don't you worry, it's nothing raunchy!


He chooses to torment me with the accessible hawker food he has around town while I'm stuck with tasteless bleh. And mind you it's cheap, accessible hawker food! He sends me menus on WhatsApp! That's double cheap if you ask me!


I am however thankful of today's technology- it enables H and I to share our lives without expensive phone calls or postage. -There goes my love letters! We basically communicate through all forms of tech savvy social networks. 


Steve Jobs you're currently rocking my world! (I know we didn't start on the right note, but let's put that all behind now shall we?)

Bleh!

Food isn't fun anymore. Maybe thats a understatement! Its pretty much boring right now.


I had this huuuuge mega craving for a nice warm chocolate cake, even maybe with a dollop of ice cream on top. As in:


I sat in front of my desk procrastinating about it, then I looked up a cake-in-a-mug recipe that looked decent, then I procrastinated again- thought about what my dietician advised, made some changes and made a 5 minute 'healthy' cake-in-a-mug. I used sugar substitutes, didn't put any chocolate and replaced it with cocoa powder, halved the oil..etc etc.


Then during the one minute of it's cooking life I dreamt of oozing chocolate goodness complete with soft sponginess..


Then after the one minute, I took the heavenly mug out, poked my fingers at it and still had ideals- had a spoonful and spat it out. Grose.


I think my dietician put a spell on me. It's sad.


'Cos you know what I ended up with? 

This.


Its a far cry from chocolate. Not even near what it states to be - Well, who really buys sticky date flavoured yoghurt except for me?! 


Sigh. Back to low GIs and not so funky food. This sucks.

I do try!

Given my current bump condition + a few preggers issues, I've been advised to go on a different diet. This meant my food types for every meal were pretty much set on a piece of paper, it had to be monitored frequently and my dietician makes me do homework- bleh.

Me being me, I try to get around it. I thought of all these ways of being creative with my food- but lets just say sometimes, just sometimes it doesn't really work out the way I want it to.

This is a sugar-free carrot cake- and if you can't tell by looking at it, I don't blame you. It looks more like a dense fruit loaf or something that I may possibly feed to some pets. To be frank, it didn't taste bad, just that when you have presets of what a carrot cake tastes like, it doesn't fit the bill. It tasted more like a orange-carrot moist pudding that was over-baked.

I had one piece and decided I'd rather donate it to the garden birds and critters than share it with any human being.

But don't despair- well I didn't. The same night, I came up with another concoction. It was a high fibre, low fat tuna pasta bake and I must say it turned out pretty well. Atleast good enough for other human beings to eat anyway.

Now... back to entering that food diary. Urgh.

Birthday Afternoon Tea

I'm still in love with the beautiful weather and outdoor activities though I'm sure when summer hits I'll be hiding in my own cave and wanting to hibernate. But for now, I'm content and totally hearting the breezes.

A few days ago my girlfriends brought me to Walter's River Cafe for afternoon tea. I'm telling you, good company, good weather, good food..what else could you expect?

This is their spring menu.  You can also have a browse on their website. I opted for the JD's club.

The serving was huge to say the least!-I cold of shared this with another person.


And look at this little cutie...

She's one of my bestie's girl and has the cheekiest expressions and heartwarming smile. Her vocabulary is constantly increasing and her phrase for the moment is 'odeah!'- a toddler's take on 'Oh dear!' We could of given her a bowl of fries and a bottle of water and she'd be content.


This particular afternoon tea made us girls realize we should send our hubbies off to man-the-kids while we have a day of girly chats and spas. Sounds like a plan to me!




Walter's River Cafe
off Burke Drive or Honour Avenue
Point Walter
Bicton, Western Australia

What have I been up to?

Besides being a total glutton, I have done some efficient things. I promise. Really.

This is what I'm currently working on- a cot set for the bun. It is taking me quite a while and I have no valid explanation really- but it will be done I promise! Well, it better be done soon anyway.

It's going to be a owl- I'm going for the whole forrest critters theme...and maybe do some matching decals too. But in the meantime, let's just dream small and make sure I finish my first nursery project!

Getting Sentimental

If your husband isn't around, you receive a bunch of these, they're sitting on your desk with fresh floral aromas infusing your room- then you look and then you see ...

...this gawky fellow staring at you- you'd get teary eyed and miss your husband even more. Well, I admit I did anyway. 


They were sent on my birthday- though I did ask whether the toy was meant for me or the bun. In H's defense he said the toy was meant to be a bear- but err, this definitely aint a bear!


And that's the problem with girls! We all know flowers are a waste of money yet they never fail to surprise and cheer us up. 

I simply can't resist them- but then I also don't know what to do with them later. It's a love hate relationship really.


And you know my other problem? H's birthday is exactly one week apart from mine, so what do I get to do? Help. 


Sorry this post is a bit out of sorts..I'm still being sentimental-hormonal- whatever.

The Colour Blue

This is what I love about Perth. Vast blues. When H was around, we spent alot of time sitting along foreshores, going to beaches and strolling outdoors. 


Weather is beautiful this time of the year- though I wish hayfever didn't have to come with it.

... And here's bump's debut- in the great outdoors.

I look (and feel) more like Humpty Dumpty but my dad insists I walk like a penguin. Go figure. 

Semi-Retired

I figured that's the word I'll use for now! 


Seriously, telling people I'm currently unemployed just doesn't strike my chord. It's like saying I'm a useless blob right now. Not fun. I also figured another term which sounds slighty better- Home Engineer, but then the bank asked for my company name and I went blank. Genius.


So after all the moving and technicalities, I've now got a.l.o.t. of spare time on my hands. I mean ..A.L.O.T. What do semi-retired people do? Ok, what do unemployed people do? I feel so lost and .. weird. It's like my life has gone haywire. 


Guess what I've filled my days with?

I started a puzzle. Went from nothing to this..

..then this in two days. It was my job. I felt so satisfied.

Oh... then I decided I missed my house and made my husband take random pictures of what it looks like now, checking if H was up to his manly duties. I think the lawn looks randomly green enough don't you? Oh H, you're the best!! On a separate note, H and I are currently planets apart. Boo. Unfortunately it will be like this for a while. 

And after all that, I do what really smart unemployed people go and do- spend more money and buy funny stuff. In my defense, it's for the bun. It's a necessity. 


Ahh... what next?

There's a bear in there..

I have a soft-spot for nicely packed lunch-boxes. They add a hop in my walk and and skip in my step. I go gaa-gaa over Japanese Bentos, so maybe that explains my fascination with cute lunch stuff.


As lovely of a wife I am, I packed H his snack box complete with a yellow bear.

..A yellow bear complete with a smile forked on a piece of sponge! I didn't care what his work mates said or whether it was too childish or girly for him. I just wanted to place the bear in the box. It's cute and that's that. So somebody stop me!


I'll continue to put unexpected objects into his lunch or snack boxes...atleast until one day I can go embarrass my kid. My kid will think he/she has the best mum in the world!!.. until they go into high-school and their mum still insists on doing so. 


Meanwhile, long live the bears!!

Drawings Updated

I have to admit, marriage hasn't changed my competitive streak. H and I make up bizarre games just to out-run one another - for the sake of it. Because we're bored, because we're childish, because we lack entertainment in our lives and in that sense, can still entertain ourselves.


Previously, we drew on napkins and any kind of paper we could get hold of. Now we've upgraded ourselves- that sounds kind of cool! We draw on our iPads on some blackboard application- we're very tech savvy like that.


I still say I'm better- just incase my clients read my blog. 


Round 1: Keys

I say his looks more like a key from the local locksmith and mine's from Tiffany- Hands down!


Round 2: Car

Mine's the Beetle version..and his is from the 1970's? See the cool app chalks? They're so good for freehand scribbling!


Round 3: Ragdoll

The one in pink is waaay cuter!?! Ps. that's drawn by me.


Round 4: Chair

Ok, so my pink chair looks like it needs some mending but its more designerish k?


Round 5: Pair of shoes

What? His isn't a pair?!?!...

Ok, so his shoes are nicer...but it it still isn't a pair..and writing x2 doesn't qualify. That's cheating.


I say I win. Shall we cast a vote?

Colour Me In

Remember how I wrote a letter to Steve Jobs? Well, he obviously didn't do anything about it. How rude. He made matters worse by introducing the world to iPads. I would of written another letter to him, except I've also now got a Mr iPhone AND Mr iPad too. So that kind of makes me a hypocrite.


But let me explain. a) I didn't buy the iPhone myself, and b) I also didnt buy the iPad. Infact, without sounding like a arrogant brat, my husband forced me to open both objects when I had every intention of delaying it (seriously, I've got better things to do)!


So what does the colouring on top have to do with this whole Apple-takes-over-the-world thing? My husband coloured it..on his iPad with some weird colouring program. Ok, not that weird 'cos i tried it too and then my fingers went sore and I got sick of it. But I do admit at one point I was totally obsessed with Plants vs Zombies.

Don't ask me why. The plants have to shoot the zombies before they eat your brains. Yes, it really makes sense. There's even corn throwers and seaweed monsters.


Anyhow...the point is...I think Steve Jobs is trying to take over the world. He's got all the ages covered! From colouring, to anti-techno-gamers like me to even my mother-in-law who Facebooks on it. We're doomed. They might just use these things to teach kids in school next time!


We're being dominated people! And I hate the idea that I've somehow succumbed to this tech-savy world. 


Ps. H now stares at his iPad and iPhone more than he stares at me. Just get married why dont you?!

The one in the sushi bar

I've got a bug. One that makes me lazy in all sorts of life related matters. One that's stopped me blogging on a regular basis but inspired me to write what I'm about to write-and I don't know why. It's compelling! Really. And since I haven't been taking any photos of food, this is somewhat food related. Somewhat.


Would you like to know about my first 'date'? My first ever 'date' in my entire life. It was disastrous. And I seriously forgot his name (impressions huh?!) I also don't know why I'm telling you this, today. But I am...because I think its quirky funny- maybe not for the poor guy though.


I must of been somewhat interesting enough for the guy to ask me out and I honestly don't know why I agreed when I had no intentions of developing anything. Blame it all on my innocent age then?! Anyways..I made sure I did everything I could to jeopardize it. 


I think I was in my first year of uni. All is vague now, but I believe I agreed to have lunch with him at my then favourite sushi bar- Jaws. I told him I'd meet him there- because I never go on first dates in a guy's car. 


Anyways, so I went...and I forced one of my girlfriends to go with me (Date sabotage numero uno!) Maybe I blackmailed her into coming..but sweet as she is, she agreed. We got there early just so that I could choose seats- making sure it was right at the sushi bar where everyone walked past- I was definitely not thinking of sharing any intimate moments! Eww! 


So he arrived and most probably got shocked I brought a girlfriend along. (Yes! Sabotage 1 is working!) A few awkward moments later, he began talking about his car accident, how he knocked into the lamp-post to dodge a dog and how he went clubbing every weekend. Eww again!! 


I soon turned my attention to the rotating tuna sushi on the conveyor belt-anything was more interesting than him at that point and thought about what I should eat next, sneaking in more conversations with my girlfriend instead of him. I escaped the date soon after and dreaded to ever see him again.


A bit later he called and asked in bad Singlish: 'Could you be my girlfriend lah?' to which I gave a pathetic excuse that I was going overseas and didn't know when I'd be coming back.


Lesson 1: Don't go on dates with guys you didn't have a good feeling about in the first place.
Lesson 2: Bring your girlfriends along to sabotage dates. The more the merrier!
Lesson 3: Choose a restaurant that would amaze you if you're bored.
Lesson 4: Never go out with a guy that asks for you to be his girlfriend with a 'lah' at the end of the question.


..points i'd bestow on my kids next time......

Specifics

Today I thought you'd like to know Quirky Fact No. 456. 


As if your life hung on to this fact, I want to tell you- I only like my bread one way! Now listen up.

One, I must spread the jam rrrrright to the corner or else I'd be a grumpy woman. If it oozes out a little, thats ok. But it must, and I warn it must be evenly spread to every single side and corner and no bread shall be left barren. None. It's a vice.

Secondly, the edges must match. Don't get me?

See that? Thats just wrong. It has to be completely matching with no corners sticking out or one side bigger than the other. 


Hence I relieve my husband of making my bread. Because when he does, he slops on the jam without doing the corners- which just ruins my whole bread experience. Totally! But when he's really nice and really wants to impress me, he'd tell me:


I promise to spread the jam on every corner!


Obviously my life is quite peaceful and mundane at the moment....either that or I'm a bread perfectionist.


Thank you for listening. You may go on with your interesting life and forget about my humdrum one now. Thank you.

Pho & Goi Cuon

Come again?!?..ok, I admit it's something I just googled 'cos I wanted a cool heading. But it isn't working is it?


Vietnamese Beef noodles & Summer spring rolls.


If you come around to my place for dinner, you'd know I don't stick to a particular type of cuisine. I vary from craving to craving- which means it could be Indian one night and Italian the next. I'm also lucky my husband isn't one of those Asian men that need to have rice for dinner [not that there's anything wrong with them, just that my wife duties will be so dull if I had to stick to Chinese food and rice everyday- my problem completely].

So after viewing a few recipes, I thought this one was my favourite beef noodle recipe. I made it easy by throwing everything into a slow cooker and enjoying the divine smell lingering in my house the whole day. Its a pity that the beef here isn't up to par, because that would of made a huge difference.

What I love about Vietnamese food is how casually vegetables are thrown together- and it works. The colours, texture and tastes light up my eyes and taste buds. Its light. Refreshing..and that's what I love about Vietnamese spring rolls.

Care for a bite?


I just might try the Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup next. Wanna come?