So i finally gave in and retired my old breakfast frying pan that I had been using for quite a while now.  The reason for retiring it was because a piece of the coating was gone – so to be safe and not get food poison or anything – i went hunting for a new one.

As you all know .. the only thing i buy on impulse is Chloe’s stuff – even then it had to be a good deal.  So when looking for a breakfast pan – i had to make sure the price was right.  So i saw this the other day at the mall – and it was pink – more my type eh – didn’t cost too much – pretty reasonable – so i bought it.  It wasn’t a Tfal brand but i tried it anyhow – so i wasn’t surprised that it didn’t cook as well as the Tfal brand.  Well, i’ll make do with this one for now – it’s for my hash browns and turkey bacon in the mornings – and an egg sometimes during the week.

So it was Grammie’s birthday last week or maybe a week and a half ago .. and since we will be at the store that day, I reminded the “ang moh” to go get a cake – not a huge one – since Grammie wasn’t going home after visiting Chloe at the store.   So we waited for Chloe to come home from school – so that she can sing her Grammie a Happy Birthday song .. and blow the candles – because she loves blowing candles.   Everyone ate the cake..and there was like a good half a piece left.  I didn’t eat it .. because i was trying to be good since i had to go for my blood test soon.

Chloe is indeed a very blessed gal – because you see – she not only have aunties from everywhere who sends her presents – she has a Kai Mah from Singapore – who travels a lot and buy things for her from all over the world.  We cannot ask for a better Kai Mah and am very grateful for the love shown to Chloe.

Kai Mah Lina who went to Japan for a vacation brought back Japan for Chloe – everything from Hello Kitty.  So thoughtful – go for vacation also think of the Kai Lui.  A Hello Kitty cup for her hot drinks.

And goody bag from Sanrio Land

A picture/postcard of Hello Kitty – which Chloe promptly pasted in her room.

Hello Kitty Chopstick and another red color chopstick – very pretty but i didn’t get a good picture of it.

A Hello Kitty towel with Chloe’s birthday on it – super thoughtful right.

A place mat from Hello Kitty.  Thank you so much .. Kai Mah – Chloe said.  She said.. she loved everything – and will treasure them.

A week ago, I wrote about finding a somewhat like satay here in Canada – in fact – i found it at M & Ms – and those who lived in Canada would probably know what and where M & Ms is -  they aren’t cheap but when you are away from home for this long – you probably pay anything just to have a taste of home. Luckily, I found peanut sauce in a packet too.. from Asian Gourmet.  I think i liked the Canadian Satay because I can dipped them in peanut sauce.  So if you want a taste of home, try getting these from M & Ms and make your own peanut sauce – as for me.. i had rice with my satay – yums!

This is long overdue – like most of the things I need to post up here – hahah! busy lah!  anyhow, this was taken 2 weeks ago, when Chloe visited her grammie and grampie on a Sunday for sledding.  Grammie decided to bake some cupcakes with Chloe.

Yes! i believe in letting Chloe do as much as she can or comfortable with – but Grammie does all the preparation lah.  She didn’t like using the mixer at first but daddy got her a stool to stand on .. and she is good for a bit and mixing the flour and eggs.

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So I finally gave in instead of buying  cigars online for Chloe’s grampie’s birthday, I bought this Disney thermos for Chloe just to encourage her to eat her lunch.  She does have another one .. but it’s a plain black and grey one (which was taller – she can’t reached the bottom of her food)  and it wasn’t cheap either – but this one was way expensive since it was Disney.  You see, we have to bring in lunch to her everyday – well almost everyday except for one of two days because she is fussy like that about what she eats.

So how did it go .. you are asking..?? well .. the brat still isn’t eating all her lunch but then she will have no excuse now eh.  And the other one a pink one but smaller one that she had for the longest time cracked – so there – I had to justify why i bought her such an expensive thermos.

Chloe loves her “chinese” noodles but in fact they are instant noodles what we normally called “gong jia mein”.  She would eat it everyday and for every meal if i allowed it.  She would beg and beg and beg for it – and as you all know – chloe had been sick for quite a bit.  She would be well for 1 day .. and then the cold would come back again.   I strongly suspect it was because she haven’t been eating well, since she wants her “Chinese” noodles so much.

As parents we want the best for our kids, like getting them  allergy bedding so she can sleep well if she have sensitive skin.  So we got “kai mah” to tell her that “chinese” noodles is not good for her .. and it might be the cause that she is sick so often.  In which – chloe replied that maybe, we could have a yard sale for the “chinese” noodles  .. muahahah!!  I guess she knows – mama is a yardsale junkie.   But she had been good.. and haven’t asked for “chinese” noodles for a few days now.  And yes, I encouraged her to help me in the kitchen all the time – even though they are small tasks  like getting ketchup and oyster sauce, I still wanna teach her.

It was after Christmas and we were still receiving gifts  – this time from Hawaii !  Look how pleased Chloe was – and cannot wait to open it.  Julie who had just gotten married – took time to send a present not only for Chloe but me as well and what a thoughtful gift.   Yes, a cook book from Hawaii !  she must know how much i love food hehhee!!  Thank you Julie.. ! you are so thoughtful !  I need a  quick weight loss program now – for all the recipes are so yummy.

Chloe just got home from school and didn’t even undress – she needed to open her present immediately.

So nicely wrapped up ..  with a bow.

A Hello Kitty puzzle and a cook book – i couldn’t take a better picture because Chloe was being cheeky and didn’t allow me to take more pictures.  Thank you very much .. Julie..! you are very kind and generous..!

The other day I was telling all of you – i was so ashamed of myself  – do you remember..?? Yup ! i bought this coke because they were small than regular cans – and more expensive because i didn’t wanna waste just drinking a sip of it or two.  But even though it said it was only 100 calories – I have to warn those who are diabetic to read the labels/ ingredients like lipozene.  You see the small can of coke still has like 26 grams of sugar – and yes . .that’s a lot..!!

Normally, I don’t mind just 1 or 2 grams of sugar in my food or diet..  and i know better than to open the cans of coke .. but I did.  Nope i didn’t finished it .. i shared it with chloe.. and still had a third of the can left.  But it still doesn’t make me any less guitar.  So yes .. i’m so ashamed of myself for drinking so much pop the other day.

We were at M & Ms the other day and they recommended this to us because we couldn’t find anything to buy – so the minute i saw it .. gotta try lah.  Why?  don’t they look like satay from back home?  except without the certain marinate..??  well beggars cannot be choosers right?  So how did it taste..??  Well, lets just say .. i will be needing some slimming wraps.. hhahaha!!

For 20 pieces – it cost like $10.95 + taxes – so about $0.50 cents a stick – which is not too bad lah.  And it tasted pretty good – by itself – only needed to microwave for about 1.5 mins.

But of course, i made some peanut sauce for the Canadian Satay and it was awesome..!! i think i eat the chicken because of the peanut sauce – i put some Sambal Oelek  into the peanut sauce – so that it taste more like home.

This is what the satay looked like.

Canadians here goes to Chinese restaurant but not really eating Chinese food used to bother me a lot .. but it goes with the territory like  human growth hormone .  So now I don’t even blink an eye when the “ang moh” orders 5 chicken balls for Chinese food.  I myself have never heard of chicken balls till I came to Canada – when i traveled in the USA, i rarely eat Chinese – i mean afterall, i was traveling to try different food and different cuisine right?

Yes, so if you are in Canada or in USA – Chinese food means chicken balls and egg rolls – what is egg rolls ? well that’s another Canadian Chinese food -  it’s like spring rolls but flat – oh – of course the plum sauce too – can’t eat them without the plum sauce.

I had a special fried rice that I had ordered for the Zhu’s the other day – it was pretty awesome – i had asked for less rice .. because it’s only for me – but i wanted some foo yung eggs because i was craving for “choy poh” but of course, I haven’t had “choy poh” for like 10 yrs lah.  But anyhow the fried rice was so good – it had prawns in it .. and they were so yummilicious fresh – i ordered it again – a week later.

Unfortunately, this time – it didn’t turned out the way i wanted it – it was ok – but not as yummy as the first time but i still ate it.  I wonder if fried rice is considered junk food hor?  afterall, lots of cholesterol and all right…??  But the first one was fresh – not much msg – therefore i considered ordering it again – but if it taste anything like the second one – you know who needs some  fat burner eh.

Yes ! again ! i found this in our local grocery store. What a surprised eh! I mean here in Canada – very easy to find bodybuilding supplements at our local stores but what are the chances to finding vermicelli and spinach ones at that! I thought to myself.. boy! this must be my lucky week – I mean i like spinach and it’s healthy – so how bad can it be right?

So quickly – i cooked it as soon as I had a chance – didn’t even need to have it in my beef stew but still cooked it to try it out. That was how excited i was – hahah!! mountain tortoise eh? Well – for those who’ve never tried this before – don’t waste your $3.50 because it had an awful smell to it – and it broke into so many tiny pieces.. it was hard to it – and it wouldn’t drain dry properly. Bummer eh..!! potong steam..!

We haven’t been to Quiznos for a long, long time.  When they first opened we had gone in to try it – but we found that Subway had better value for the money.  But since we wanted something different on a Sunday afternoon for a quick lunch – we decided to stop by Quiznos.  The wait staff were nice but they had absolutely no upselling skills nor do we feel welcome at all when ordering.  Don’t get me wrong – they did their job – but you just can’t feel the warmth at all.  As for the food – well, one would need  bodybuilding supplements if we had to eat here regularly.

For a meal of 2 – we paid like $13 – 2 sandwiches and a soup and 2 drinks.  Pretty ex in my humble opinion.  Apparently, they also changed the names of their sandwiches – and named them bullets and flats.  I had the flats with roast beef and the “ang moh” had turkey in it.  The sandwiches were open faced and were so awkward to eat.  As soon as we tried to fold it up.. everything just fell out.

Chloe had a huge cookie that she can’t finished – no wonder the Canadians are obese – blame it on fast food chain like this.   There is an only one size cookie and if someone paid for it – they wouldn’t wanna waste their money – so they stuffed their faces.

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I bet no one has eaten lychee here in this town – I kid you not, tell them about the best acne cream and they wouldn’t have any problem about it but if I showed them this fruit and offered free of charge to them- they wouldn’t eat it even if their life depended on it.  I found some decent looking ones in our local grocery store and since they were quite decent looking i bought some to try.  I haven’t eaten real lychees like for 10 yrs – the can ones yes – get them from Halifax but as you know they are heavily syrup.

You must be wondering why i only bought so few right ..??  firstly – you wouldn’t believed how much i paid for these 5 puny looking lychees and secondly – i didn’t wanna be disappointed – as you all know that lychees back home are pinkish red in color and these ones are almost brown.  I wasn’t disappointed – in fact even Chloe loves them.. and asked for more – unfortunately – when i went back to the grocery store – they were all sticky and squashed by other fruits on top of it.  I paid like $2.59 for them – ridiculous eh..?? when one can get $5 a pound for lobsters..!

10 yrs ago, when i first came to Canada – the “ang moh’s” family and extended ones were really amused that I take pictures of everything i eat and everything i do.  In fact, it had become a part of their life – to let me take pictures first before they even start a meal, to them it’s like me going on treadmills to keep me happy.  But you see not everyone knows what i do online, in fact last week when i was taking pictures of this home made lemon meringue pie made by Aunt Helena – the “ang moh’s” uncle was totally amused and asked me what i do with these pictures.  In which i replied that I make money outta them. HAHAHHA!!  he thought i was joking.

At first, he thought i sold the pictures of the food pictures and then “ang moh” explained to him about my food blog.  Not many of you, know that one can make money online and i’m pleased to inform you that it is not a myth, it is true  – yours truly is one of them.  You don’t have to write “bullshit” like what “ang moh’s” father used to say about me – but if you are passionate about food or just about any niche, you can make money.  Once again, let me warn you that if anyone ask you to pay money upfront to join their “make money online” affiliate program, then you can be sure that you are getting scammed.  I never have to pay to make money and am fortunate that I have great sponsors for various different blogs of mine.  Making money online is not by fluke or luck but a lot of hard work and research – and time consuming, so if you think that making money is a shake leg business then you are wrong.  There are a lot of self-proclaimed internet guru or SEO experts out there – hahahha!!   and some who claims they make 1000s of dollars every month – well, unless you are John Chow or Darren Rowse – i highly doubt so.  Well, there you have it in a nutshell – and yes, my passion is still food and yes, I make money online but compared to pro bloggers like John and Darren – i donch even make a fraction of what they make but i’m happy to let you know that I’ve build a small little nest for my daughter and can afford little luxuries without having to “ta fu tou” – on our grocery money.

Did you know that the “ang mohs” love their nuts? Yes!  in fact the fun of eating nuts is to crack them up with a nut cracker.  I never used to enjoy eating nuts this way – but it’s a lot more fun to crack the nuts whole and then dig the goodies out with your fingers.  I also think you eat a lot less than those packet nuts that you can buy at convenient stores.

These nuts are really cheap here – a bag of assorted nuts are less than $5 i think .. and usually ppl don’t even finished them at parties but they are great to be seen on table.  So if you haven’t cracked a nut before, try it – even chloe loves playing with the nut cracker.   Oh . .and nuts are supposedly to be healthy and healthier if eaten whole.

I love pineapples – never used to though but ever since coming to Canada, I don’t find many that is cheap enough nor sweet enough.  But once in a while pineapple comes on sale for a few dollars cheaper than usual – and if they looked good enough I would get them for dessert.

This time, just before the new year I saw some from the local grocery store and bought some.  Lucky me, they weren’t that bad either – of course, i couldn’t finished all but now that i’ve had my hysterectomy, i wonder if it would still affect me – you know the chinese myth about pineapple is not good for woman’s body.  If you know the answer let me know eh.  So who loves pineapple..?? let me know.  Oh.. i love pineapples with my ham and also pineapple rice.

So i wanted something sweet during Christmas.. but i wanted something kinda healthy too.  I saw this new thing at the grocery store and thought to myself..  ALMONDS?  NUTS?  nuts is good right..?? so i bought it.  Not very expensive .. about 5 bucks.

So happily .. after Chloe slept.. i opened it to enjoy it..  but alas..! it wasn’t what i expected…!!!  the dates were not the whole date .. it was something mashed together.. and didn’t taste like dates at all.  I had one.. and the rest are currently now sitting inside my fridge .. what a bummer..!!  But at least i tried..  and i now know.. and am now sharing with everyone.

I don’t know about other people… but when i have my food, i usually like to watch a show – gotta love the convenience of these netbooks.  And what better way to enjoy .. a good meal … of home cooked meal of curry or food from home then to watch a chinese show right?  Sometimes.. i wait till my show is out before eating.. kekekek!! what about you ..??

Not only I have such bad habits.. so does “ang moh” . .and now.. chloe must have a show on .. before she can eat – well.. except when we are out at someone’s house.. or at a restaurant.  Unlike in Singapore, there isn’t much one can choose from to eat out.  They are pretty much the same kind of food .. and when Chloe eats out in a restaurant, she only wants to eat fries.. which in my opinion is not healthy.  So mostly, i cooked for her at home.  Not the best cook nor the best kinda food – but i think it is healthier.

Anyhow.. for those waiting to watch the show.. like I am now..  don’t forget to check back for the synopsis.  I’ll have it up as soon as I can.  Leave a comment for the password to the synopsis.