Chloe told her class teacher that she was on a magazine – hahahha!! her teacher replied – ” I guess we’ll have to get your autograph after class!” muahahhaha!!!  It’s that time of the year again – that if you are a subscriber – you can enter a contest with Today’s Parents to be on the cover – and if you are not chosen to be on the cover – your kid’s picture can still be a personalized copy for keepsake.  This year will be Chloe’s last year entering the contest – for she turns 7 in a few weeks – how time flies!  And to everyone who have shown her love throughout the years – I thank you sincerely.

When you can’t have the real thing – you settle for the next best thing – frozen Hargow ! and yer know what ! it was yummy!  We were up in the city a few weeks ago – and i bought some – not enough though – to last me through winter – but nevertheless – still good and stopped my cravings for a bit.  I made use of the steamer that PB bought for me a few years ago  - and walah!  steamed Hargow – perfectly done – and with a little bit of chilli sauce – yummy to the max!!  If you haven’t migrated or been away from home as long as I have – you wouldn’t know that these little things brought me so much pleasure.  Boy! i missed home this Christmas!

So many good shows coming up on Monday – Show Me The Happy replaces Some Day which ends today.

‘Family Style’ dedicated medical clinic is ran by the Chai’s family three siblings after the death of their parents. Oldest sister CHAI CHUEN (Michelle Yim) deals with all the administrative management of the clinic. Second sister and an obstetrician CHAI YUI (Teresa Mo) has high expectations on all people and situations. Third brother and a pediatrician CHAI JEUNG (Roger Kwok) is frivolous. The three siblings treat their colleagues just like family.

In addition to the three siblings there is retired surgeon oldest brother-in-law (Paul Chun), the accomplished plastic surgeon who is heads over heels for the second sister, the undercover pretty nurse (Bernice Liu) and the next generation family physicians and clinic staff. The complicated and subtle relationships causes different small life stories. The so-called “doctors cannot be self-doctor”, the group of elite physicians have to face their own personality flaws, human weaknesses and if you want a cure, what kind of effective strategy do you have?

The daily battle of wits in the clinic between the sisters CHUEN and YUI leaves little brother JEUNG stuck in the middle with a headache. In the early years, oldest sister CHUEN was forced to give up her doctor career and becomes a nurse to look after the family. She paid for her two younger siblings’ medical education with the money earned. When the siblings started their own family practice, the two sisters had conflicts and arguments due to their different statuses. Often questions like “Are you the older sister or am I the older sister?” and “Are you the doctor or am I the doctor?” comes up in the arguments.

Sneak Peek

Twilight Investigation replaces No Regrets – and starts on 29 November 2010 – Monday – watch out for it.

Private agency owner YIP KWOK-CHEONG (Shek Sau) was a former cop. His three investigators are vastly different in terms of personality. CHOW KA-SING (Wong Ho Yin) is a style freak, WONG SIU-FU (Lee Sze Chit) is a slicker, and KAY ON-KUI (Wong He) is a dependable guy. CHEONG thinks very highly of KUI, who with a meticulous, analytical mind is able to crack the most difficult cases. KUI gets to know model CHUNG YEE-TAK (Linda Chung) when he is investigating an adultery case. TAK comes from a single family. She is always down on her luck when it comes to men and career development. After a near-fatal drunk driving accident, the idea of looking for her mother who left the family many years ago occurs to her. She turns to KUI for help. A subtle chemistry sparks between them during the investigation process. Later, KUI discovers a secret that even TAK never knew…

Sneak Peek

part 1

part 2

part 3

Sorry I’m late with this cooking show of Maria & Friends – it had been so busy at the store – it’s crazy!  anyhow – hope you enjoy this and have a great weekend.  Those who are in USA – Happy Thanksgiving!

Chocolate Lava Cake from Jungle Jim’s is one of the best dessert we’ve had and this picture doesn’t do it justice.  I can’t finish this myself – and even with PB, Chloe and I sharing it – we still didn’t finish it.  The gals at Jungle Jim’s were really nice – they didn’t charge me for ribs because I had some – some weeks ago – and they were tough.  So since they didn’t charge me for my food – we had a dessert even though we were already up to our eyeballs with food.  The chocolate cake was only $5.99 and definitely worth the price we paid for it but I know eating so much chocolates will caused my acne to pop up – never mind I have a great   acne treatments that I’m using – so eat first and treat the acne later – !  Yummy! try it sometime if you are in a Jungle Jim’s.

Have you seen this candy machine before? or remember them?  I remember them from Singapore Island Country Club when I was a young gal – older than Chloe but young nevertheless.  This retro candy machine was in the recreation room in the clubhouse back home and then it cost like 1 cent to get a candy.

We saw this candy machine at the bowling alley here in Canada – how unique is it !  and of course Chloe is thrilled to put in 10 cents to get some candies outta it.   She didn’t even finish her candies – she just like putting the money into the machine and pick her candies.

This candy machine sure brought back lots of memories – and nope we weren’t a club member – but a family friend’s son was and he invited me to the club just to show off his golfing skills.  His father on the other hand wants to know if I knew how to cook – muahahahah!!!  sure brought back lots of memories.

Meet Lena – from Lena’s Designer Cakes – Edible Art For Every Occasion. I only met the very talented Lena in the Farmer’s Market and enjoyed her treats every Saturday.

As you can see all her cakes were very pretty – so delightful looking and i find it hard to sink my teeth into them and would rather admire them instead.  Silly me eh! hahah!

They were not just ordinary cup cakes or cookie – they were thoughtfully put together by one skilled hands and the ingredients used may not be the conventional type – but nevertheless must try.  i loved the cheese frosting on one of them – and a short cake cookie too.

These fudge were no ordinary fudge – they looked plain – but the taste were magnificent.  They were called belgian chocolate orange fudge.   Definitely worth buying!

These yummy looking cookie were made of cheese with cheese topping.  Lena does wedding cakes and specially designed birthday cakes too.   Some of her specialty cakes are so cute!   So if you are living in Nova Scotia and wants some special cake for special occasion – you can contact her directly at Lena’s Designer’s Cake.

Meet Faith  -  Mr & Mrs B’s latest addition in the family – isn’t she precious!

And meet Cookie – Chloe’s oldest doll from Kim our customer turned friend.  This was Kim’s first Christmas gift to Chloe when Chloe turned one years old.  Cookie is as old as Chloe – I think Faith will be long time friends too when she grows up.

I love muffins but because I’m diabetic – I don’t eat them very often these days – but once in a while I do indulge and have half a muffin with my coffee in the morning.   Fruit explosion is what I usually get and even though they are a healthier choice – they consist plenty of calories.  But at Tim’s you can choose an even more healthier choice by choosing the low fat cranberry or blueberry muffins.

Yummy looking right?  but i can only afford to eat half.  What about you?  do you like muffins?

Episode 2 part 1

I think I can call myself a food lover – are you?  who doesn’t love good food right?  sometimes I am grateful I don’t lived in Asia no more – because if I did – I would truly be horridly obese!  The amount of good food – that one can get in Asia – is just amass!  And like all food lovers – we are cursed – cursed because it shows what kind of food we put into our body – it’s like a love-hate relationship that I have with my food.  Have you ever eaten a whole boxful of durian in one sitting?  I did !!!! watching tvb drama on tv – and enjoying myself thoroughly!  Have you had a whole order of crabs – by yourself in your tv room ?  I did!!!  But after eating a very satisfying meal – I feel so guilty !!!  And like all food lover – we wanna keep our weight at a reasonable number – so we read up a lot about fat burners and hydroxycut reviews to see which one is the safest and effective way to lose those ugly love handles and that big tummy.

Exercising is HARDDDDDD!!!  you need determination and time – and when you can find any ambition at the end of the day – what do one do?  so i say again – I’m glad I’m not in Asia or any part in Canada where the food I loved is available anytime.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t crave for good food – i do!  i even managed to get frozen durian – during my recent trip to the city – muahahhahaha!!!  greedy, greedy!!  I better do more step aerobics before eating them.  So food lovers out there – how do you keep your weight down?  pray share!!

Sometimes when I don’t know what to eat for lunch – I have a mushroom soup and a bagel from my favorite coffee place.  Can you all guess where it is?   Those living in Canada and in USA – will know that Tim’s is everywhere and it’s everyone’s favorite.  Coffee is by far the cheapest – and they have fancy coffees like Cappuccino and Mocha  as well.  But since I can’t take too much sugar I only opt for coffee with cream.

I don’t eat bagel as much as I do before – because they are like 330 calories for one.  Even though it’s light cream cheese – it must be tons of calories when added together – but once in a while I do want to eat them and it’s yummy as usual.  What did you have for lunch today?

So you all know that we had gone to the city for a eat trip.  We ate all the way from our town  – right up to the city.  Pretty awesome trip and I definitely tried all the things I can think of – if I stayed any longer – I would need to remove belly fat from my belly!  I do love all the food there – and tried just about everything during my trip.  I had sushi first and then these minced pies and more.   time to lose some belly fat – LOL!

We were invited to an early Christmas Dinner Party by a friend – who owns his own business in town last week.  This week – we have another to attend too and our friend had a party gift for everyone  -  some cigar sampler specials – for the guys, some skin products for the ladies and the kids are not left out either – they all get a toy each – from mystery toy box – so thoughtful eh. These were the dessert – that we had with our Christmas dinner party – i didn’t take any pictures – because we were so busy yakking and getting in the Christmas mood.  I don’t know if there was bonuses for the employees this year – or do the friend practice it – but some gift for everyone even the spouse was a really good idea.  So if you are throwing a company’s dinner -  don’t forget to be like my friend – and be generous with everyone now.

Hi, everyone – we are having breakfast at Niche Cafe – Four Points Sheraton Hotel in downtown Halifax.  Yes! we finally made it outta town for the day – and since the weather ain’t so bad  – we just up and left for the city.  The Four Points Sheraton is by far one of the nicest hotel that we’ve stayed in and the front desk staff were very friendly – unlike some of the hotels that we’ve stayed in before.

So for now – I will sign off and enjoy my breakfast!

Going on food trips to the city can be quite tricky!  why?  because we have a small car – ours is a Ford Focus.  We shouldn’t have changed our yellow Ford – we do regret it – but then we were leasing it and when the lease was up – we still had to pay $10K – so we opted a brand new car.  Anyhow, we need a bigger car for our food trips to the city – because the Chinese/Asian food alone fills up half the car or more.  But with a second car – we also need to get cheap car insurance, so that it will be worthwhile getting a second car.  This year we also bought a previously used truck – for the store – so yes!  a second car is kinda frivolous – therefore, the car insurance really gotta be cheap.  But without collision I think – it would be fine.   What do you think?  collision or no collision?

So last week was the last part for the Japanese Cuisine that I shared with you.  I found Maria (Fei Mah) cooking with her friends – 26 episodes altogether.  Maybe we can get to learn a thing or two from her eh.  Enjoy!

A childhood friend told me a very long time ago – that unless you are in your own business – you will never be rich or make lots of money.  To a certain extend – I agree with him – now that we own our own business but with owning your own business, you have to worry about everything.  From taking care of the store itself to paying and making sure that your employees are happy.  But my best friends who are in finance jobs in the city – will beg to differ because they are doing well and have time to spend with their family and taking vacation time every year.

What about those who makes money online like Darren Rowse and John Chow – so are they making lots of money and are rich?   Is making money online legit – ?  a customer had asked me one day about it – and many a times – people don’t even think that there is such thing as making money online – in your PJs and sitting at home or anywhere to do your work.   I would love a finance job – dressing up, make up – flying here and there for work – loved it – once upon a time – but now with a kid and our own business – definitely different.  So can one make money online?  or do you need a finance or a desk job to keep one happy?  Your say now!