This Thanksgiving, we give thanks to...

...Good food and great company
...Good weather and smooth driving on the roads
...A wonderful time with friends in Pittsburgh
...& something warm and fuzzy to look forward to when we returned home!

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend too! :)

All I want to do is crawl back to bed...

I slept terribly last night, no thanks to a very clogged nose.  It took alot of rustling of magazines and gnawing on the wooden wall panel by a certain fur-ball of a thing under my bed to finally make me pull myself out from under my comforters at 11 am this morning. Turns out that little creature was trying to make a statement. He wanted me to fill up his food bowl - STAT! Seems like I am slave to every living thing in this apt. *Pfttt...!*
There's a list of things I planned to do today but I'm still pretty much in a daze right now. Forced myself to do some grocery shopping earlier and I was practically falling asleep in the supermarket. Oh well, my bed beckons...good night...good afternoon! Will write when I return from slumberland. *Zzzz....*

Happy me! (Or I'm so lazy...I'm going to skip class this evening!)

The past weekend was nice. We ate at "The Mad Greek" restaurant which I've been wanting to go to for the longest time. Nice ambiance and the food (a fusion of Greek and Indian cuisine) was good. Watched Harry Potter and the deathly hallows. Loved the fact that we did not have to fight a crowd for the movie. Managed to get Hubs into Marshalls to try on the winter jackets and bought one - an otherwise impossible task! On Sunday, we were meant to go grocery shopping but the weather was so pleasant that we made an impromptu decision to drive to Rocky River Reservation instead. The leaves had mostly fallen but it was a lovely drive and we took a nice little walk there before finally making our way to the Asian supermarket. I suspect this might just be our last weekend of good weather. I'd probably be needing those gloves this Thanksgiving weekend! "Let it snow..let it snow...let it snow!"

Pink Martini Concert

I had such a splendid time last evening! It was a last minute decision to go for the concert and what a treat it was! Honestly, I've not heard of Pink Martini until quite recently. A friend of mine was raving about them and told me about their one night performance here in Cleveland. I sampled their music online and really liked what I heard. So there I was at the concert yesterday and wow, they were even better live! An extremely talented 12 musicians band with their lead vocalist China Forbes belting out tunes in various languages. They even did a number in Chinese, "Gong Xi Gong Xi" (aka "Congratulations") which unfortunately turned out rather awful. But that aside, beautiful music, lovely evening and you bet, I am certainly a fan now! :)

Let's Play Doctor!

No, not in a kinky way. ;) I've been helping hubs prepare for his final medical licensing exam this week by playing pretend patient. We went through case scenarios after case scenarios and my roles ranged anything from a 30 year old abused wife to a 50 year old man with impotence.  It was hilarious trying to answer questions about my erectile dysfunction. Haha.
Anyhoo, his exams are in a few hours so break a leg, honey!!! We'll celebrate your birthday proper when you get back! *Muacks!*

Chwee Kueh

Last night, I had a sudden inspiration to make Chwee Kueh (aka steamed rice cake with preserved radish) for breakfast this morning. My sister had brought over the aluminum molds for me but they've just been sitting in the cupboard. So I looked up the first recipe I could find online and got to cooking. The recipe was pretty easy but I was (and still am) unsure as to how thick the batter should be before transferring them to the individual molds. The rice cakes turned out a little too soggy and I almost threw them out but they tasted just fine after sitting overnight in the fridge. (Phew!) I topped them with fried preserved radish this morning and breakfast was served! :)

Recipe adapted from Jas's Kitchen:
Ingredients:
180g rice flour
25g corn flour
800ml water
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp salt

1. Place the two flours into a bowl and pour about 300 ml water. Mix to form a smooth batter. Strain.
2. Bring remaining (500ml) water, oil and salt to boil. Reduce to low heat. Pour in batter and stir constantly till it thickens.
3. Grease a few chwee kueh molds. Pour the mixture into each mold and place it on steamer. Steam over rapidly boiling water for about 10 minutes.
4. Remove from mold.
5. Serve hot with radish topping. (Preserved radish fried with minced garlic and sugar)

Dent No More!

The dent on my bumper miraculously disappeared! Yay!
This crazy weather does have its advantages after all! ;-)

This could be my full-time job! ;)

It has been a busy week of volunteering. I was a kitchen helper at the Cleveland Foodbank, which involved preparing trays of frozen roasted chicken and pouring gravy over them. I went in with no expectations and was surprised by how large the building and store was. I was a little tickled to be told that I could cause the whole operation to shut down if I did not observe the hygiene regulations in the kitchen. It certainly would be disastrous if the place has to close down after my very first visit! The next day saw me doing inventory check and packing at a unique shop selling crafts for third world people to ensure that they earn a fair wage. Some of the stuff are really pretty and exquisite and it is nice to know that the things do sell well. Yesterday, my friend and I spent the entire day helping out at the Fabulous food show which featured celebrity chefs, cooking demonstrations, food and wine tastings. It was a mighty big turn out for a Friday morning and we were swamped initially. We did have our fun later in the day with endless sampling of food and drinks, freebies and sitting in for some of the cooking demos. The admission fee was rather pricey ($30 for general admission and more for celebrity shows and the wine tasting pavilion) so we didn't really mind the long hours shift. Plus they did provide us with free lunch and a free admission ticket to use over the weekend. Finally, I've got one more ushering job at the theatre this weekend and I'm done for the week!  Looking forward to sleeping in this Sunday! :)

Snapshots of DC

Pics of some of the places I visited. I would love to have gone up the Washington monument but the elevator broke down the first time and the tickets were all snapped up the second time I got there. Guess it was not meant to be but I did get the second best view of DC from the Old Post Office instead. My favourite attractions have got to be the Washington National Cathedral and the Library of Congress. Absolutely stunning architecture and interior. Wish I had more time to spend in there!

Argh!

Thanks to my wonderful parking, my car kissed a truck today. Now there is an unsightly dent on my back bumper while there is barely a scratch on the other vehicle. Sigh.

To the White House and back! :)

It has been a good trip. :) There is really so much to see in DC and the best part of it - the attractions are mostly free! I visited 4 museums and spent a good half a day at the Holocaust museum. Even then, I did not manage to cover all the sections! Hubs was only available to hang out with me on the first day and I was subsequently on my own. Decided to take the old town trolley hop-on hop-off tour who worked out really well since it gave me a nice overview of the city and I got the second day pass free! Also got to know a new friend, Tatiana, a Russian lady who has just completed her Master's program here in the States and doing her bit of traveling before heading home by end of the year.
The highlight of my trip was of course my meet-up with fellow blogger, Sugarlens! :) It's really nice to be able to put a voice and real life figure to the blog I've been following for a while now.  Her little one, Anna, is still warming up to strangers and I'm glad she was not completely put off by my presence. In fact, I managed to get a few giggles out of her! And the two little doggies, Pesto and Pargo are such sweethearts and so well-behaved! I really hope we'll have a chance to meet up again in the near future - hubbies in tow! :)
It's back to the grind for now. Plenty of laundry and ironing awaiting me! *Grrr....!*

 Evidence to show that little Anna did warm up to me! ;)

DC trip

Am pretty much packed and all set to go! We've just got to deliver Alfonso to our bunny-sitter this evening. Hopefully, our little furry one will adapt okay to his new environment. I wish I could bring him along! Anyway, we'll be back in a week.
Till then, have a great week everyone! :)