Pumpkin Soup!

yum! i made this soup several rounds already but always end up forgetting to take a snapshot. shoot!

*edited with new pix :)

A hearty dish that's absolutely yummy and quick to prepare too! (except when it comes to cubing the pumpkin - hint- get your hubby to do it! )

Recipe:

1kg pumpkin - cube into small pcs

1 leek

2 sticks of celery

2 carrots

2 onions

4 cloves of garlic

1L chicken stock

Saute the garlic, onions, carrots, leek and celery. When they turn brown, add in the pumpkin and saute some more. Add in the chicken stock and bring to a boil until the pumpkin is soft. Pour into blender then blend till smooth.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a swirl of cream on top - Voila!

wat do u think?

Hubby's Birthday

i bought this interesting looking cake from Meidi-ya. the girl at the counter told me it's 'sangat sedap'. welll.... i didnt quite believe her but i didnt have much choice. wanted to surprise my hubby with a cake at the stroke of midnight and didnt have time to get another cake. Believe me, it looks better than it tastes (but then again, it could be my photography skill, i must say i have an eye for angles and lighting HAHA)

anyway, we had fun just plain eating it.

"Happy Birthday Hubby!"

Shaken

i recently had a nightmarish experience that shook my world of security. How often we take the everyday comforts for granted.

it all started with a phone call at 6am on a monday morning. of course i rushed to pick up the call, thinking it must be an emergency. no one answered, i think the line was cut. several seconds later, i got a disturbing sms.. call it sexual harassement. immediately my heart froze. it was unnerving and it struck fear in me. however, my hubby told me to ignore it, probrably a prank call.

so i woke up later and got ready for work. while driving, i started getting more calls from the same harasser. he kept calling up to 5 times, showing his impatience and since i didnt pick up, he sent even more threathening sms'es. I immediately called my hubby to stay home and wait for me.

from there, we went straight to make a police report and cancelled my number.

it was a terrible day and that incident filled me with paranoia. i am now more aware of my surroundings and can't help but keep checking if anyone is following or looking at me suspiciously.

my whole world of comfort and security just crashed. And all it took was a phone call.


Its been 2 days now and i'm calmer. This incident has taught me several things:
1. I will not live in fear of this harrasser. I will not let him scare me into being a victim of his sick fantasies.
2. I will trust and have faith that God's blood will cover and keep me protected.
3. Not to take things for granted. You can never be too careful. Look around before entering your car, don't go to lonely corridors / toilets alone, carry a self-defense item (pepper spray) while walking alone.

To the rescue!

How often do you get to witness firemen rescuing a stranded cat here in Malaysia?? haha, we had such fun when one lazy Sunday afternoon, we heard loud clinking and clanking behind our condo.

Lo and behold! Our upstairs neighbours' cat was stuck (how come the silly thing can't jump down?)

everyone staring at the silly creature

firemen contemplating who would get the honour of rescuing the cat

aha! the chosen one ascends!

and descends with the rescued creature

the "handover". see how highly strung the cat is. shouldnt they be relaxed since they have like 9 lives?

the great big fire engine rolling away after a hard day's work. at the expense of tax payer's money

hmmph, and goodbye neighbour and silly cat. I think the owner should have just used a stick to nudge the creature to the edge and force it to jump down.

Clear Blue Skies

Just a beautiful picture I saw and couldnt resist posting it.
Its nice to just sit back and be reminded that the skies are cleared and calm again after thunderstorms of the day.

a cutie?

that's my lil' nephew in the picture below. Isnt he a cutie?? awwww.... posing for the camera like that:

BUT see wat happens when he doesnt get his share of black mee:

Pressies!

haha! as alwayz, my hubby bought me lots of gifts from his recent trip to Dallas.
- a simply adorable little white bear (bought from a souvenir shop at his TI HQ! *roll my eyes - trust a man to get a gift from his office - where's the romance?)
- a Victoria Secret babydoll night dress in pink! I'm thinking the cut is flattering and maybe I should wear it to a wedding dinner but my hubby objected to that rather vehemently..
- oooOOOOooo a Coach bag.. in a rich tobacco colour - LOVELY choice! erm i do think its a makeup bag coz its rather small, but hubby insists that its a Trendy Hand-bag. Oooeer, okay but I love it!
- a really cool trendy long T-shirt from banana republic
- LOADS of reese peanut buttah chocz..our fav!

here's me with my gifts!

My very first Coach!

naughty things my hubby did

Yay! My Hubby is Back

its been 10 lonely nights without my hubby again. In all the 5 years of dating, I've been the one constantly travelling overseas. Things decided to take a real testing turn just after we got married. He's been whisked off to Japan for 2 weeks and then to Dallas for another week! Someone's testing my mettle, and I've never stayed alone at all before this! I must say, the first time when he went to Japan, I was so afraid to be alone at night that I had to leave the lights on and the radio too throughout the nite. When I locked my room door, I could just about 'see' all sorts of shadows playing at the crack below the door.

But now, I'm quite ok. At least I can lull myself to sleep with thoughts of fewer nights alone as the days pass by. SO last night was my LAST night alone.... he's back today! YAY! heh heh, and i think he got me some precious handbags *wink! I don't know which I'm looking forward to more. nah, kidding... not the most exquisite, soft calf leather handbag in the WORLD could replace my hubby *grin

Orite - gotta keep myself busy by actually doing some work till lunch time and I'm off to pick him up.

Life Without the Idiot Box

Everyone stares at me agog when they find out that I do not have a TV at home. Haha and I take pride in being able to fill my time with various 'constructive' chores or activities without the TV. Yep, life is certainly more fulfilling without fixing myself permanently on the sofa and eyes glued to the set. Let me brag about that for a while for truth be told, I would jump at the opportunity to get a TV if you just give me rm5K now. I'd get one of those sleek flat screen TV's and register with Astro on the double.

BUT, I do cherish the 'extra' time I have now. Reach home at 8, cook dinner, clean up, read a book and i'm already fast asleep. I have been able to devour a book in a week on average. Bet I wouldnt be able to finish a book in a month if I had a TV.

Besides, my hubby is pretty into living life without a TV. Guess he knows if we get one, he'd be watching his football matches back to back and i'd resent him for not helping around in the house. yea, I can just about picture that nasty scene - me naggy wife, him couch potato deaf to wife's nagging.

Phew, so let's see how long we will last without one

Bliss!

That's the beautiful island of Redang, located on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It has the whitest, finest sand in the world! (at least in my opinion), and the bluest, most crystal clear waters. You can just lie on the sand or dip in the sea for hours ahhh that's bliss!

This is actually my 2nd trip to Redang and to the same resort too! haha, i'm not the adventurous type. Came here in 2004 with a good friend and vowed to return again with my hubby.

3 days just arent enough, i think all the americans and europeans spend weeks here! Sigh, if only we had that sort of culture in Malaysia. Even getting a 3-day leave proved testy. Had to be on my toes prior to my leave in case anything came up. And yes, something did come up! it was indeed a challenge to keep it out of my mind throughout the trip, but when i sank my feet in the sand and let the cool waters soothe away the worries, i had some peace, at least for a while.

Already planning my next trip! Till then... its work again. toodleloo!

Superman returns... B grade

sigh, i watched the blue-suited hero in action yesterday and words fail me... how can a movie be this bad?? i mean, they've been making and remaking superman for years! how can this age of Hollywood blockbusters movies, superb CGI and brilliant directors churn out such a souless, kindergarten-standard plot picture? arrrggghhhhh i hate walking out of movies disappointed. it makes me mad! I want my money and time back.

with all the advertising and publicity, large billboards, shiny posters adorning every mall and highway, certainly the general public would expect at the very least, a decent plot with some acceptable acting? sigh...

Lex Luthor was pathetic, and isnt he suppose to be a brilliant bad guy? how could he come up with such a supid plot? to sell land and be a rich tycoon to a nation where he know billions will be killed in the aftermath of his evvviil plan?

Smallville's version of Lex is superb compared to this.

I guess i can;t comment much on Superman and Lois. They weren;t given good scripts to work on, iamgine repeating the same boring stuff - "will we see you around?" and "I'll always be around" arrrgghhh gimme a break mom!

Lazy weekend

i finally had one of my long desired lazy weekend. Eat, sleep, watch a dvd, eat sleep, bathe, repeat cycle. of course i did a little housework here and there *wink.

but more often than not, i find that when the lazy weekend is coming to an end, it always doesnt leave a good feeling. i get headaches from sleeping too much, resulting in a terrible Sun night sleep, and voila! me driving along the KL roads on a bright, cheery Monday morning, ready to do serious damage to anyone who dares cut my line.

When the weekend is packed with too many activities/chores/responsibilities, i end up complaining that i have simply no time for myself. why must i do this, why must be oblige this person and that etc etc... and yet, when i get a perfectly free, sinfully lazy weekend, i end up not satisfied either. sigh, what a grouch-pot i am.


which is better?

My flourishing plant

This is Ed's 'throne room' where "wisdom often descends on him".

The plants appear to flourish here --->

On being alone

My hubby left for Japan yesterday. I sobbed (just a little!) when dropping him off at KL central.

Sigh, i guess absence will make the heart grow fonder. I miss him dreadfully. Thank god for work where I can keep my mind busy on not so important stuff - haha. He has never been overseas for work (unless u count S'pore) and this is a really good break for him. :) Just wish his work period wasnt that long so he could extend and have a little holiday for himself there. Thank you God that he arrived safely. I was so happy when his phone call came at 6.11am this morning. I kept imagining the worst throughout the night, I dont know why my mind works this way. Thinking of the worse scenarios and making myself miserable - am i addicted to depression? hmmm.. my hubby always calls me a drama queen - how right he is.

I wonder how singles go thru their lives? I have many single colleagues - my company is abundant with them!. Most of them are busy with various things in their life- family, friends, etc. I can't imagine myself being single, but then again if I was, I'd probly have found a way to survive - keeping myself contantly busy and maybe my bunch of friends would be larger and not dwindling as it is now.

BUT, nothing beats coming home, planning dinner, cooking it and knowing that my hubby would be back soon to enjoy it. :) yeap he does enjoy my cooking.

In conclusion, i think my lesson for today is "Your life is meant to be shared with the people you love."

I wish everyone out there the best, where every moment of their lives will be filled with loved ones, coz you only grow with love when you're living your life for someone and not yourself.

My Hubby!

Hi there! This is my very first blog entry... I've never understood the craze with blogging and always wondered what is was all about that teenagers and adults alike go blogging and talk blogging... until I read a blog of my fren's. hmm i must say, the blogging bug may have stuck on me! Its really fun to read blogs! I guess its a channel for people to channel their opinions and have it actually 'published' haha. cheap trills but nevertheless, harmless (to a certain degree) and fun!

yikes, this is way off my original topic. My hubby, the love of my life *goofy smile*
We just got married barely 2 months and I can;t believe how fast time flies! Its like it passed even before I realised it did. I guess many events in life are like that. The planning, anticipation etc builds up towards the day of the actual event and when its over, its over!

I must say, I am one happily married girl ( or woman but that kinda sounds old. I still refer to myself as a Ms. shhhh...) To my hubby, you're the greatest. I know how you detest doing the dishes, throwing the rubbish way back where its stinky and rats glare at you with their beady eyes, sharing the laundry load, having to clean up your own sweat -wet futsal gear - haha ( I will try to do that for you but that would mean i approve of futsal so....) but you still do it!

You're right behind taking one of your famous "short naps" ? Have happy dreams where dishes wash themselves and rubbish bags are never filled..

to us, to our future where the grass is always green and the skies are always blue.