Category: Friends

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Easy Banana Nut Bread

It had been raining heavily for the past few days. sometimes, the rain will suddenly turn to snow~~ The weather had been quite weird.. I was supposed to go to the gym BUT since it’s raining.. I decided to blog first

A few weeks back, I made this yummy bread 🙂

Easy Banana Nut Bread Recipe
(from BudgetSavingDiva)

Ingredients

1 pack yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pecans (chopped)
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/4 Cup of Packed Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1)Combine pack of yellow cake mix, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar and eggs in mixing bowl.
2)Add banana to mixture make sure the banana are well mashed.
3)Mix in 3/4th of Pecans.
4)Pour into greased pans – I use loaf pans and cupcake pans.
5)Place the rest of the pecans on top as garnish
6)Bake at 350F till the toothpick, placed in the middle, comes out clean.

It’s nice to have friends here.. baked goods nv goes to waste.. hahaha… and when we see something delicious, we know we can buy it and share it with everyone

A lovely picture of the 2 ladies I’ve been hanging out with 😀

Blog more soon~~~

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Pre-CNY party

BH and I organised a gathering at our apartment’s function room yesterday.

It was nice to have everyone over 🙂 Everybody bought delicious food like Chicken rice, ngioh hiang, salted mustard duck soup, braised meat & egg… who can forget the Yu Sheng! 😀

I made pineapple tarts which didn’t turn out as well as i thought 🙁 I mean.. it was my X time baking these tarts.. The bad part about the tarts were the pineapple paste (used the prepacked ones) As I was feeling depressed, discouraged and upset… I was glad that my friends think it tasted good – even packed the leftovers ( not many) home..

Just some pictures of the day…

We had a great time.. and hope everyone felt the same too 🙂

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It’s more blessed to give than to receive

and yet, I am the receiver. I’m blessed. Thank you!

I believe I have been kinda out of touch with some of my friends in SG – I tried to keep in touch but since we don’t meet up often.. we drift apart. ah… it’s sad.. and inevitable.

I’m glad that I still have a couple of friends.. who always rem… it’s not the gift, it’s the thoughts and the intentions that touched me deeply. It may not mean anything to you but at that instant, I knew that I was in your thoughts 🙂 What an honor!

Evelyn sent me a Bra Bag – which I had been looking to buy for a long time! I felt that it is super useful for traveling. I LOVE IT TO BITS! She also got it in my fave colour 🙂 I’m so glad…. Just when I thought she was so sweet… she made her gift even sweeter by giving me a pair of really retro cool earrings!! Double happiness.. I literally flew up to the sky!




Caryn, knowing that I had been sick sent me VitC.. OMG!!! I was so touched that I could cry… She is so sweet.. she always rems… thank you!!! You shld have seen BH when he saw the Bak Kwa.. haha… he was like “I could eat all in 1 go!”


Thank you…. and Thank you again 🙂 I may be poor… BUT for 1 thing I know.. I am rich when I have friends like you! 🙂

Found this online and I just wanna remind myself and put it here..

Do It Anyway By Mother Theresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical,
And self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you
Of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
False friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank;
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis
it is between you and God
It was never between you and them anyway.

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Flightless bird

I think I just had the BEST Thanksgiving week ever 🙂

We watched Breaking Dawn, which I had been waiting for A THOUSAND YEARS. hahaha… nah… just to get this clear. I like Twilight series not because of the actors/actresses BUT I like the story, esp Edward’s personality. Well, I enjoyed the movie BUT BH obviously didn’t. hahaha… I love the soundtrack too… found so many good songs for wedding… OMG!! So romantic! I wanna get married again!! I rem how BH and I can’t think of any good songs during 6eptember .. now my whole head is filled with ideas… sigh…. I only blame myself for NOT putting my wedding as priority then. Then again, it’s not the wedding day that counts.. it’s what’s after 🙂

BH also had his 1 week break so we made plans for a small road trip. This time, we have Justin and Alina to join us. It was fun to travel together. haha… like double dating.. heh… The last time we travelled with another couple was like at least 8 years ago ( with Ben and Adeline) well.. glad we had ‘fresh meat’ to join us! The bad part of he trip was it was raining heavily the whole time – The good AWESOME and AMAZING company made up for it! 😀 Thank you!

We went to Kennedy School for dinner on 1st night. It’s something like Old School in Singapore ( which I haven’t gone) It was quite an experience for us.. and kinda creepy too! hehe





The next day, we went to Tilamook cheese factory and visited the Haystack on Cannon Beach





It was a nerve-wrecking trip along the Oregon coast as WE WERE RUNNING OUT OF PETROL. There’s no petrol kiosk nearby!!! OMG… the needle on the petrol guage was below the empty line and the ‘warning lights’ were on ( Petrol Kisok was 10 miles away) !!! Just as the GPS shuts down…. we found the petrol kiosk . Phew!!! Reminder: Top-up petrol b4 driving along the coast esp on a rainy day!

Just as we thought that was gonna be the ‘highlight’ of the trip…. our GPS directed us up a ferry as we made our way back to Portland!





It was quite an adventure as none of us had seen such a small ferry over a lake! haha… it was like a floating platform which could take about 4-6 cars! How interesting!

We had a fruitful trip , not much pictures as it was raining the whole time!!! :/
We would love to go for another trip together soon!!!

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The next day was Thanksgiving Party at Dave and Jo’s home. haha.. it was nice to meet everyone again… we played Mafia, which is a super fun party game and I am such a bad mafia.. always get caught :/

I had a great week that it was so weird to have BH and I having dinner at home.. haha.. too quiet… It had been too noisy the past week.. hehe

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I just wanna be ok today

I figured out that I better blog an entry here to update what’s happening so far.

Social

WE have been very social this year that we missed having time with ourselves.. haha.. no.. don’t get me wrong.. we or rather I like to be with people… just that BH feels that he would like to spend more time doing his own things like work?

Oh well.. BH and I went for 2 Halloween parties this year..it was an amazing experience.. considering that it’s like the FIRST Halloween that we participated! We were very low cost on our costumes. I was a Red Indian while BH was a Pirate. erm… we were very underdressed.

First Party: Bh’s company party – Wah… it’s always good to go to a generous party. The music… the drinks… the food… Fantastic! Together with valet parking.. Nothing compared to my ‘stingy’ company

Second party: Halloween at Denny+Sam’s place. It was the BEST party so far!!! Enjoyed ourselves very much. The party only ended at 4am!!! OMG!

The survivors at 4am!

Health

BH had been quite busy and stressed out with work lately… so I leave him alone most of the time….

On the other hand, I realised that I may have another infection (similar to last time) on my leg 🙁 I made an apptment with the doc and will be seeing her on friday. I have no idea what’s wrong with me

Travel

We plan to drive to Portland for a short getaway during BH’s Thanksgiving break. Really looking forward to it.. Looking forward to enjoying each other’s company 🙂

Kitchen

I am thrilled with myself when I looked back and realised that I cooked so much delicious food 🙂 Sorry, no pictures.. to name a few… I made Fried carrot cake (again), Chicken rice and more! Just yesterday, I made Chocolate Chiffon Cake ( unplanned baking session with myself) and I was very happy with how it turned out!

ahh… I love my life now… I hope what I’m experiencing now is not the LAST of everything 🙁

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Freeze time

I have been very occupied that’s y I haven’t been blogging 🙂 Occupied in a good way. I was glad that the horrible month of September went by and welcomed October with sinful cupcakes!

Above all, I am very happy that Sam intro Jo to me , whom I learnt alot of baking and cooking techniques/skills from! Well, so we have been cooking, baking, experimenting in the kitchen together for the past weeks. Cooking and sharing food is so fun! I admire her spontaneous attitude, how she is open to mistakes and her determination to perfect a dish. I pity Jo because I don’t think she learn anything from me.. I am just so unadventurous and cautious. haha… anyhow.. the point is I learnt alot from her! I am grateful for that!

Just yesterday, I causally mentioned that I felt like trying out ‘Cai Tao Kuay’ (Fried Radish cake) and Jo was like ‘Let’s do it today! I go buy the ingredients and head to your house now!’ I was delighted with her enthusiasm! heh… In the end, we made more than Fried Radish Cake, we also made Yong Tau Foo and ngioh Hiang. We had a fabulous time ( like always) .. Sam was awefully missed ( I think she’s experimenting with her pretty Kitchenaid.. haha)

A picture to rem one of the great meals we had together





I cherish these moments and I wish it will NEVER end!

And just to add.. we also play boardgames together! Oh man… it’s so addictive and we are meeting up for more tonight! haha..

I rem how I always wished that BH and I will get to know new friends together.. and we finally did… in a foreign land. I love my life now..

Freeze time… ok?

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Less than perfect weekend?

haha.. nah.. don’t get it wrong.. my weekend had been quite fruitful and fun. It was nice to finally get into the momentum of things, doing things we like. The weather had been awesome, it was very sunny BUT not humid. I am also glad that after 1.5 weeks and lots of exercise, we finally snap out of the ‘jetlag’ 🙂 phew!

The thing about me is I like to wake up bright and early so that we won’t waste the day! So on saturday, BH and I woke up at 7 then drove to a nearby park for tennis. oh.. did i just typed tennis? haha… I rem how BH, YM and I played tennis at NUS. man… I was such a bad tennis player then ( good ball picker though!) and I’m….. still as bad at tennis now! haha.. so I guess Tennis to me should NOT be called ‘Tennis’ .. it’s a ‘pick up balls’ sport. BH said tt playing tennis with me is like playing fetch with a dog! Boo!!! After 1 hour of pick up balls, we decided to play basketball which BH commented that I’m definitely better at.. hahaha.. at least I can ‘hamtum’ shoot some hoops! heh…

as though we were Energizer bunnies, we went to Costco to buy peaches. Heavenly peaches! I love summer… for PEACHES!!! 😀 Came home finally and BH cooked instant noodles for me.. haha.. which taste great! Looks like his INSTANT NOODLES cooking skills improved after 2.5 mths of training! haha… After the food, we went to Redmond Farmers’ Market which is a short walk away! I LOVE farmer’s market!!!! I seriously think that Redmond’s Farmers’ Market is one of the best!!!! 🙂 Bought veges there, love the fresh organic vege… more ex BUT healthy and FARM FRESH! I bought fresh flowers too!!!








Now our home smells like fresh flowers… reminds me of the flowers on our wedding day… smells so good…

No… that’s not the end of our sat. , 2 of our Singapore friends are going home for good 🙁 so we sent them to the airport. It’s sad to see friends leave.. oh well… till we meet again!

On sunday, I was tired from the previous day’s activities.. haha.. I slept in till 9am ( still early but considered late for me) Got BH to sell his rubbish on craigslist. Just as I wanted to sell my kindle ( which I raved about.. we decided that the one with special offers is better… there’s a promo code of 50% off groceries!!!) I realised that the bloody 3G is NOT working! Really sad…called customer service… he tried to troubleshoot BUT it just isn’ working.. in the end, he offered to replace.. even better 😀 Waiting for the new one to arrive

BH did his monthly hsework, change bedsheet! wah.. he’s really good at it man! Fast and neat!! 😀 I think he mks a good Chambermaid! hahaha… so blessed tt BH naturally know how to do 1 household chore PERFECTLY!

Then we learnt of a deal at Sports Authority , so we went to buy matching shoes!





Not sure how much these shoes cost in SG, it cost US$99 each BUT we did our maths and were confident that each pair will cost US$35 (before tax) if the deal is right. However, we did 1 deal wrongly, so shoes cost US$55 each. I was super disapted.. the shoes were love at first sight!!! 🙁 haha.. so we are still thinking if we shld keep these shoes or nt… hehe

Ended our night at Matador – One of our fave place to chill out because the Happy Hours ( 4-6pm) are super worth it! and.. it’s so walkable to our home, so we can drink all the alcohol we want! hahaha…

You know what? what I have now… it’s perfect… don’t think anything can replace this..

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FANTASTIC home-cook meal

Last night, BH and I went for a dinner party hosted by Jo and Dave 🙂 Well, Jo is Sam’s friend and we met Dave ( Jo’s hubby) at Sam’s place during potluck night. Jo just came back from her trip home and bought back delicious food…… PETAI = Stinky beans!!! OMG!!! I mean… stinky beans is my fave!!! Sam was really sweet and invited BH and I on behalf of Jo to join them for dinner… wah… I love it!! Cozy dinner… random chit-chat… and of course.. it’s amazing how all married couples have the same complains… like ahem… ‘men dirtying the toilet bowl!’ hahahaha

yup… BH told me that he’s busy for the week.. so I was kinda prepared to say NO to the delicious food… BUT it turns out that BH was onz about it too!!! Happy happy!!!

We had Bak Kut Teh, Sambal Petai and Egg tofu… It was certainly the MOST YUMMY home-cooked meal I have ever had here ( The best is and will always be my mum’s cooking..) Jo also baked a delicious cake for dessert!! My skill is sooooooooooo not there can! kekeke…. but I’ll try to host a dinner party soon… 😀

and… we took pictures… but it’s with Sam… I’ll update this post if I can get pictures from her

Happy mid-week!

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Mini-roadtrip to Portland, OR

It was Alvin’s last week over here. We decided to rent a bigger car and embarked on a mini-roadtrip. It is always nicer to travel with friends than just having the both of us 🙂 oh well… Pictures below are courtesy of Alvin and WQ.

Alvin drove most of the time to Portland and in Portland.. while BH drove us home.haha.. we are kinda convinced that a SUV isn’t our type of car as it’s heavy and bulky… and fuel inefficient! ok.. so where we went?

The trip there already tks up 3hrs!! After lunch, it was already abt 2.30pm??!! how fast time flies… we made out way to the Nike Headquarters… it’s the REAL headquarters! I didn’t even know that it was in Portland. The place was HUGE and quiet… because… it’s a saturday? we wanted to view the exhibits BUT the musuem was not open 🙁 sigh….

some pictures…














After which, we headed to Multnomah Falls. The waterfall is stunning… it was HUGE and magnificent – we felt that it was better than those we saw in Hawaii :X





Us with waterfall... Pardon the wet and messy hair.. it was raining + the water was splashing from the falls.. that's y!



Last but not least, a picture of all of us with the Jeep 🙂





BH and I won’t have done this w/o u guys 🙂 Thank you all for mking it happen! Amazing trip and we all had fun!!

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Escape to Vancouver, BC

The weather in Redmond or rather WA had been quite weird. It cld rain, hail, snow and become sunny all in 1 day. Just last week, I was trapped in a hail! Boo… no fun… it hurts so badly that I thought my whole face was bleeding… wah… the wind.. so so chilly & strong…I thought i cld b blown me away… scary weather…

anyhow.. as part of Alvin’s last 2nd week over here, we made a road trip to Vancouver. It’s about 2.5 hrs drive. The weather that weekend was super!


BH and I at Vancouver customs



At Vancouver, we met up with 2 more Singaporeans for dim sum.. I think that’s the BIGGEST group of Singaporeans we have ever been with by date!


Thanks Alvin for the pic! haha... think the most excited pple in the pic r BH and me? 😀



Sight-seeing at Stanley Park.. a nice pic of us 🙂 so nice that I made it into a fridge magnet – oh well… just for in case I need to go back to teach.. I can put the magnet at my workplace 🙁





Ransacked BH’s camera and spotted a nice pic of me and my sophia





Then we went sightseeing at English Bay.. WQ took a candid photo of us.. haha…quite cool I would say








Had sashimi at Sumurai Sushi Sashimi were generously HUGE, fresh and cheap! I felt like a polar bear after the meal.. haha

After a ‘polar bear’ dinner, we headed home…. and I spotted this….


Don't play play.... STEVE NASH fittness centre!


It’s sad that after u made friends.. u realised that your friends are going home 1 by 1 .. and the next person is gonna be me…

That’s all… I’m kinda nursing a cold now… my nose feels funny… had some Dayquil – supposed to be non-drowsy.. but I feel light headed 🙁