Kong Hei Fatt Choy !!!   Everyone Fatt, Fatt big big this year!!  lots of “kum” coming into your home and businesses.   May the dragon year bring everyone good luck, good health, good eats and good money!  And the box of “kum” is for the Zhu’s who’ve always been so kind to us.

While other people get diamond rings or a piece of new jewellry – I wanted a KitchenAid Cast Iron Pot for my Christmas this year – that  I’ve been eyeing on it for years now but since it’s on sale I quickly rushed out to get one from Canadian Tire.  Trust a food blogger to ask for an cast iron pot – instead of jewelry.

Yup they had the red color ones but I wanted the purple one – coz’ I’m that special – muahahhaha!!!

So PB paid for it – and we went on our merry way – on Christmas eve!

We are truly blessed by good and true friends from around here – not only does Chloe and I get gifts all the time – we also get specially made cookies from Kim every year.  I think it is a priceless gesture and wished I had the time to do the same for all my friends too – alas, being so busy with my own work and work at the store – and of course Chloe – it doesn’t leave me a lot of time.  But my friends are steadfast and they understand it and never hold it against me.

And every year we received fruit baskets from friends as well – this one is from Lynette and Josh.  They are so thoughtful – even when they were just getting over their illness – they came by with gifts for Chloe for her birthday and Christmas and a fruit basket for us.  In everyone’s life – we have  lots of friends but those who are with you throughout the good and the bad times and never jealous of your achievements – those are hard to come by.  I’m glad I have friends who are never envy or jealous of our successes and celebrate them with us.  Thank you for your friendship Kim and Lynette.

A gourmet fruit basket from a customer.

And another 3 more from friends of the store too.

I’ve always wanted a cookie jar – but never bought them – because I didn’t really think they were practical.  But this year – I had to buy it because it’s one of the things I had been longing for in my kitchen.  I loved my very first Christmas cookie jar and I want to be able to bake lots of cookies with Chloe and her friends when they come visit.  The cookie jar was a wee bit expensive – but what the heck ! it’s Christmas!  and every home must have a cookie jar right?

We’ve been invited to several Christmas parties this year and Chloe and PB baked some sugar cookies to bring to our hosts – we thought it would be a nice gesture since most of our friends have everything and insist that we don’t bring anything except ourselves.  We had to turn down some parties because we were afraid that the weather may not permit us to travel to and fro for the parties – plus in previous years we’ve seen many accidents on the highway – even when the snow wasn’t so bad – it’s the ice on the road that causes these accidents.   Of course,  medical help would be there when the need arises but why court trouble when you don’t have to right – so we only attend parties right in town and the time has to be right too – because of Chloe’s food – she is a fussy eater.

PB always insist that he is a careful driver – and I always remind him that it’s not him I’m worried about on the road – it’s those that are drinking during their parties or those who’ve ate too much – and falling asleep on the road.  You can never be too careful – so this Christmas season – for those who drink – don’t drive and if the weather is bad – don’t go out – because you may be a cautious driver – but the person riding down the highway – may not be – or the road conditions just may not be the best.  Be safe this Christmas and always have an emergency kit with you in the car and a number to call for Medical Emergency Assistance.

Thanks to Jenn from Toronto – I’m having some food from home – a huge box came in for me and Chloe last week.  Jenn – who blogs like I do – had been sending me lots of food and gifts  – and even though she is pregnant, she is still taking care of us.  Thank you so much Jenn and Chapman!

I bet you want to know what is in the huge box that arrived right?  well, here is a glimpse of what is inside.

From jewelry to angpow and of course lots of food that I liked from home.

Wedding favors from her wedding earlier this year – so thoughtful right?

How cute right?  Chloe had one too – that she carries with her to school everyday.

Pork floss to go with my pineapple rice.

Cute ang pows for Chinese New Year in January 2012

Lychee jello that chloe loved.

Yummy Taro Mochi!!  I loved it so much!

Red bean mochi  – yummy to the max.

Pickled mustard aka hum choi for my soup.

A lovely Christmas card – really thoughtful.

And laksa!!  what i was waiting for !  i want to cook this for Chloe’s teachers.

Yummy spicy cuttlefish !! it was so yummy!! i finished it in 2 days. Thank you so much Jenn – i truly appreciate all your effort and thoughtfulness.  God bless you and Chapman!  both of you got a heart of gold! and thank you for donating to Chloe’s lobster fund!

So finally after being here for about 12 yrs – I get to go to Austrian Inn – I had wanted to go for a long time – but people keep telling me that they served loads of fried food only but they were wrong!  they have all kind of food!  See ! you must not listen to people – you’ve gotta give them a chance and try it out yourself.

We didn’t have the buffet this time – because we were pretty late for lunch a few Sundays ago.  But the buffet spread was pretty awesome and I’m going to go with my girlfriends again – but this time we are going to try the buffet.

They had loads of food and I would really loved to try a bit of everything but since PB don’t eat that much – it’s best to go for lunch with my friends instead – those who really enjoys food.

I wished they had a place card on the dishes though.  Some I could make out but others I don’t know what they were.

Fried shrimp and rappie pie and lots of other dishes.

Rappie pie is a favorite for the Acadian french here in Canada.

Fried chicken nuggets I think on one side.

And here comes 2 table full of desserts – heaven for some people but I can’t eat so much – darn right!

Fruit tarts and eclairs.

Log cake, dates pie, mixed fruits and more fresh fruits.

Pumpkin pie, jello, vanilla and chocolate mousse – yummy to the max.

Look at the jello on the fruits – the honey dew and cantaloupes.

More assorted cakes – I will get a sugar coma you know that right?  I look forward to going back to try the buffet.  Buffet I heard was about $25 – 28 + tax, a wee bit ex.  but worth every penny.  Now if only they had some oysters fresh – that would definitely make me go back every week.

You can never imagine how a simple cold soba can make one so happy right?  but it does.  I never used to eat cold soba when I was home – in Asia – I avoided them like a plague.  My excuse  too much calories but now – I eat them as soon as I can find them.   The simple affair with the cold soba reminds me of how we take a lot of things and people for granted – we think we have a lifetime with them – but when they are no longer available to you – you will then cherish it and be grateful for it.  Then can you appreciate it – and treat such simple food – with admiration.  A simple food, a simple affair – cherish your food – cherish the people around you – you don’t have to treat them with rarity only when you can have them no longer.

Happy Halloween to everyone from Chloe!  but today Chloe has a special assignment – besides giving out cookies to her friends in school.   Halloween is a big thing for some people and to one couple – this Halloween will mark a really special day for them – because both of them met at a Halloween party – so Chloe’s cousin – is asking the hand of his girlfriend tonight and Chloe has a  diamond ring in one of the cookie treat bags.   Chloe’s cousin was looking at diamond engagement rings from Reeds for a long time now and finally bought one that is within his budget and since Chloe is so cute and adorable – his girlfriend is not going suspect anything when Chloe gives her a treat bag tonight.  Pretty cool if you asked me – so tonight – we are all going to gather at the cousin’s house where the Halloween party will be – and his girlfirend won’t suspect a thing – hahhaa!!  i’m so excited!   Happy Halloween everyone!

I love home cooked meals – and even more so after I moved to Canada permanently.  I strive to cook for Chloe – and it has to be fresh – because I don’t like for her to eat overnight stuff in case she has wind in her tummy.  Last week – I got some tau pok from Halifax – Gary  - a customer was up in Halifax and picked them up for me – so I cooked them immediately with some Japanese mushrooms – given as gift to us – from a blogging friend with oyster sauce.

I added some hard boil eggs and brought them to work for lunch – what a great meal!   I’m not a very good cook – but I’ll have to say – that this food were as close as home can get for now.

If you love to taste and try new and exciting foods, you may have enjoyed reading up on my Ice Cube Junkie site. I have packed it full of light hearted diary entries about all things edible which I love to eat here in Canada. But what is considered the most popular Canadian dish?

According to the former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, ‘Canada has a cuisine of cuisines. Not a stew pot, but a smorgasbord’. The cuisine will vary depending on which region of the country you are in. However, its main routes trace back to British and French cuisine, as a result of immigration in the 18th to 19th century. There are also some Chinese and Eastern European influences, such as Ginger Beef, which is found in Western Canada . If your weekend breakfast treat is to lay in bed, playing Party Poker, with a pile of home-made pancakes with lashings of maple syrup, did you know that Canada is in fact the syrup capital of the world and produces the most amount of the sweet treat internationally? What other traditional dishes can you expect to find in Canada?

Poutine is a very popular dish in Quebec. It is a greasy fast food which consists of French fries, topped with cheese curds and covered in a meaty gravy. Other countries have taken the dish and made it their own; Mexico uses fries, guacamole, sour cream and grated cheese, whereas the Greeks enjoy shoestring fries, splashed with warm Mediterranean vinaigrette and feta cheese.

For those with a sweet tooth, the quintessential dessert of Canada is the Butter Tart. Made with butter, sugar, eggs and syrup, these ingredients combine to make a flaky sweet pastry which is molded into individual bite size cases. A sweet egg mixture is placed in the case and the dessert is baked until it produces a crunchy top. ?

I love to go shopping with my girlfriends from Canada – but eating with those from home – now that is pretty awesome too – especially when they bring you presents like personal picture frames from the states and eat sashimi with you.  Speaking of which – I’ll have to remember to collect my California rolls from the Farmer’s market tomorrow – I ordered them last week.  Anyhow, I had friends from home who’ve migrated to United States who came to visit this week – so I was extra busy with showing them around and eating with them.

We went to the Farmer’s market and bought some bread pudding.

And we checked out the Halloween decorations at our local grocery stores.

And we drove them to the airport – to send them off and had some good Japanese food.

And yummy, yummy sashimi!

And yummy grilled and raw squids. It was but a short visit – but we had a great time and it was like only last week that we had left each other – and we just picked right up where we left.  Some friends are just passing thru’ while others stay around for a long time.  Thank you for visiting me even though your schedules were so tight.   Now I can’t wait for Fiona and Karen (my other long time friends from work) to come visit me next year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  this year we are thankful for a lot of things!   I’m sure you are too – and here’s Chloe having a rainbow cupcake from Goodies – I think she was fascinated with the color of the frosting – that’s why she wanted to buy it so bad – hahah!

But yes, we are thankful for Chloe’s good health – and that she is a happy kid, that her dad loves here and would do just about anything for her.  She is loved by many people including all our customers.  And she has good teachers for the last 2 years – we are really thankful for that – because they make her feel special and confident.

We are thankful that the store/business is doing well – and that we are getting a lot of good customers at the store and for me  a lot of good private advertisers and a long standing one – that I can count on.  Thankful for family, friends and loved ones – because they enriched my life and make me a better person.   Thankful for a spouse who never complains about me – and is long suffering towards my craziness.

Thankful for all my friends from here – you know who you are – who brings me food from Halifax and thankful for those of you who sends me food from home – you too know who you are.   Here’s wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving day this weekend – and may we all be thankful and gracious about the things we have and not the things we do not have.

That’s a lot of food !! i hear yer !! it is a lot!  I had to keep half a portion immediately in a doggy bag – because I know I won’t be able to finish it.  And true enough  I couldn’t even finished half – but I tried my darnedest.  I kept the rest for supper – and it was a full size meal then too.  But it was absolutely yummy !  I had this at Peg’s family restaurant – some 4 weeks ago – with PB and Chloe  - and even though I liked  it a lot – the chicken was well cooked and the Parmesan that is on top of it was good.

One definitely will not go out of Peg’s feeling hungry – in fact – I think you won’t be able to eat another bite for the rest of the day.  Good value for money – go to Peg’s – downtown Yarmouth.

I’m surprised I haven’t written about my new found goodie – which I had brought home from Halifax in May – perhaps I ate them too fast – because they were so yummy – even chloe loved it so much – that I didn’t have a chance to write about them.  But here it is – found them at a grocery store up in the city and bought 10 packets of it – which was quickly cooked and ate.

Look at how el dente the noodles was – and even though the sauce was very simple – they were absolutely delicious!  I am going to get a box of it – the next time I am up in Halifax.  I usually have lots of veggies with mine – but this one belongs to chloe – so only fish balls for her.

A few weeks ago – my buddy Lynette and her son joined Chloe and I for supper at Peg’s family restaurant.  Lynette had been to Peg’s before but not Josh – so we decided to head for Peg’s instead of our usual Chinese rendezvous .  Josh had fish and chips – look at how huge the fish were.

Lynette had the chicken cordon bleu – the dish that PB eat all the time when he is at Peg’s.

Our meal started with soup first – I had a bowl but not Lynette – she was too hungry and dived into the main dish first.

I had spaghetti with spicy sausages because I wanted pasta.

Chloe had her usual children’s meal of pan fried fish and chips and ice cream of course.

Lynette had fried ice cream for dessert – but I was too full to eat another bite.

Meet Lynette and shiny Josh – chloe’s best friend.

Chloe eating her ice cream – look how red she is – out in the sun all day.

And this is the fried ice cream – I’ve often wonder how they do it –  and I found out from a Mexican restaurant owner from San Francisco – that the trick is to freeze it a few times while doing all the coating on it.   Did you know that they used cornflakes to coat the ice cream?   frying the ice cream takes only 30 seconds or 1 min at the most.  Very yummy  - fried ice cream!  try some – and they have it here – in Yarmouth – so those in Yarmouth – don’t forget to try it out.

It was such a beautiful day on Sunday – that PB & I just had to go to the lighthouse again – we tried many times to go – but the weather was either too chilly – or the big yellow chair that we wanna go see – was not there.  So last Sunday – we took a drive up to Cape Forchu – and this time I remembered to take my gravol because of the long and curvy road – and I have motion sickness.

The view was excellent – even though the food was pretty good.

They called this place The Mug Up Tea Room – and the menu wasn’t a lot but I saw someone having a whole lobster!  although it wasn’t on the menu.   Wished they served lobster bisque though but alas there was none to be found.

It was a busy little place as you can see – our table wasn’t entirely cleaned up.

Chloe with her diary and pencil – writing up a storm of what she saw and did at the lighthouse.

Truth be told we weren’t very hungry  - we just had breakfast – not too long ago.  I order a fish chowder – which turned out to be pretty good.  Now if only it was seafood – that would have been splendid.

PB had a grilled cheese sandwich – which didn’t look too appetizing to me – but he said it was alright.

Chloe had a hotdog with some chips.

Chloe and I shared a chocolate cheesecake dessert – even though she didn’t know it was cheesecake – she thought it was chocolate cake. hahahah!!   she loved it so much !  We had a good day!  Chloe went home to play with her friends in the neighborhood.

We attended our first summer party last night in the country of a dear friend’s country home – it was the wedding of her son – and it was a small party for closed friends and family.  Everything was prepared so beautifully by friends and family – even the food was prepared at home and not catered.   The invitation cards and party favors were pretty unique – so I had asked my host about it – and was re-directed to an online store.  Now had I known about this earlier – I would have introduce this place for the 4th July party that my girlfriends from the States had at their home.  But never mind – next year she can check out  the invitationbox.com july 4th invitations for all her invitation needs and party favors.

I loved the summer wedding party we attended – the garden was so brightly lit and the wedding couple were beautiful.  Food was yummilicious !  and here I wish them a blissful marriage – which reminds me that today Jen and Chapman is having their wedding in Toronto today !  and i wish them many, many happy years together.  Congrats to the newly weds.

Just the other day, Chloe said she had never seen a horse before -  well – that’s not true – we’ve brought her out to see horses when she was much younger and she didn’t quite like it.  So we decided during the weekend to bring her out to the country for a horse ride  – well more like  a pony ride at a friend’s farm.  We got up real early – and headed out to Shelburne – and the family friend showed Chloe some of the horses with their english horse tack and also got Chloe to feed her little pony some sugar cane cubes.   Of course, Chloe refuses to go on the pony – but hey!  at least she saw some horses eh.   Plus we had some yummilicous Egg Benedict for breakfast – with an Breakfast Blend coffee and wonderful strawberries in this small little cafe we found.  More about the cafe in another post.

My mother used to say that if you want to have a happy marriage and keep the husband at home – is to make sure you know how to cook – and to a certain extend it is true – but like you all know my mother is not always completely correct.  Now here’s a way to keep a happy marriage and an everlasting one.  So for those who wants to have a happy marriage – watch the below clip – very, very wise and true advice and it would make you laugh till you fall out your chair.   Make sure you let me know if you enjoyed it – so that I can tell my blogging friend – sasha – about it and thank her.