not quite "Cucur"

Saturday, a dear friend of mine, Felicityville (yeah, she was the lady that I had a babyshower for her last year) was planning to come over for a visit with her cute, chubby 7-months old son, R.

Unfortunately due to our different time schedule, we had to re-arrange the visit to another weekend so that they can stay longer and have dinner with us too.

Being paranoid me, I started to plan what to serve my guests for dinner on their upcoming visit.

We had Har Mee (Prawn Noodles) the last time they visited us and it was good. I wanted to do something different; an appertizer, entree and follow by dessert.

I'm thinking to cook Curry Laksa Noodles with Chicken - no "See Ham" (cockles) though. Wish I could find cockles here in Richmond.

I haven't thought about dessert yet but for appertizer, I'm going to make:



with fresh shrimp (prawn for those of you who are not American).



So, I started to practise my cooking skill of making an authentic "Cucur Udang" so that I won't embrassed myself in front of my guests lah...

Heated some cooking oil in the sauce pot.... and began to deep-frying the delicious "Cucur Udang". Just like what Datin Salt & Tumeric posted in her blog.



The first one turned out okay, not as pretty as our Datin S&T's Cucur Udang.



Boleh lah, eh..??

And when I did the second one, the darn batter kinda sticked to the ladle - HARD LIKE A GLUE.

I had to use a fork to forcefully dig the batter off the ladle.



I was getting very disappointed by then.


"Datin S&T, what did I do wrong..?"

"Was the oil not hot enough?"

See, my second Cucur turned out missing one of its shrimp.



I was getting frustrated, so instead of following Datin's instructions, I did my own way.

I used a spoon.



Add all the shrimps to the batter, scoop and drop it to the hot oil.



And all my "Cucur" turned out looking like this.



But it still taste very good.



Eat with Maggi Chili Garlic Sauce. It's HEAVEN, I tell you!



Just like those "Cucur Udang" sold in pasar malam back home.



Crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside.



Well, I might change my mind and just do a simple Fried Popiah as an appertizer since my "Cucur" didn't turned out quite "Cucur". We will see.


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Ava came over and had a sleep-over with Annabel Friday night.



They both go to the same school, in the same grade, ride on the same bus, on the same swim team, have swim practise every morning, both are very goofy - they are just like twins!



Except one with black hair with brown eyes and the other has blonde hair with blue eyes.




Must run. The girls are calling for help.






.......

No title...

I have been struggling with my weight lost so much lately it gets to the point that I just couldn't handle it anymore.

My lowest weight went down to 117 lbs, three weeks ago to be exact and for some reason (whatever it was) in the past couple of weeks, I was chowing down food like a hungry hog.

Gave me a burger and it was gone in seconds. Add fries - two thumbs up for me. Wasn't much interested drinking just water or diet, so soda full of sugar RULED my world.

This morning, stepped on the scale and I almost passed out. I have put on 4 lbs. Four freaggin' pounds in 2 weeks. How in the world did I do that?

"I have to stop this." I told MrT.

He nodded his head, "Uh-hu... and what are you gonna do..?"

"I gotta do something." I said.

"Well, you are not going to stop eating, aren't you?" he asked.

"Of course not. I just have to control my bad eating habit." I added.


So, I got on the internet trying to find some solutions. I remember a friend of mine was taking some kind of colon cleansing pill and lost tonnes of weight.

And today, I started with this 30-days colon detox program - Nature Cleanse. It says I will lose 25 to 30 lbs in a month.

"Uh-hu!" said MrT again.



Holy Guacamole! I don't need to lose 25 lbs. Take 10 lbs off me, I will be one happy camper.

I will tell you if I lost 10 lbs or 25 lbs by the end of 30 days. Pray for me, please.


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With the hot summer months, we spent most of our evenings soaking in the pool to cool off.



I have a few pairs of sexy bikinis but this lime green one is one of my favourite.



Look how tan she got from the sun.



And this young lady couldn't stand the heat; she went hiding underneath the table.




I find her extremely cute in Chinese Cheongsam.




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Annabel had her first swim meet two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. She finished 7th place in the relay and did very well in her back stroke.

MrT volunteered himself to be a time-keeper for the first half.



The girls teaming up for the relay.



Counting toes and see who has the prettiest.



Smile Ladies, you are on candid camera!



Someday, I will grow up like my big sister.




Gotta go.. Colon detox pill is kicking in!



...........

a tribute...

to my beloved Michael Jackson who passed away today at the age of 50 from cardiac arrest.

I grew up listening to his song. He was one of my favourite singer for many many years. Today he left us to be "home" and I will mourn for the lost of this talented singer.

May his soul rest in peace.





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just an update...

For the past few days, I have been thinking about changing my hairstyle. Some of you may say, "WHAT..?? Not again!"

I honestly have to admit that I had a very bad experience with the Vietnamese hairdresser when she did my highlight a few months back. I also do remember swearing over my dead body not to have a haircut for the next twenty years.

But you know what? Summer is here and having a very long hair, I repeat VERY LOOOOOONG, like mine during the hot summer months is a pain in the behind.

The heat and rays from the sun can be very damaging, causing hair to become dry, brittle and frizzy.

So, lately I have been thinking to cut my hair short, perhaps shoulder length with long side swept bangs.

What do you think of this hairstyle?




And I really like the one below.



Or perhaps I will just stick to my long hair, have it permenant and cut my bangs just like this one.




I have not had a clue. I will decide later.



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As told in my earlier post, I wanted to share some of MrT's old photos that he got from his sister in Canada.

Here you go.


MrT and his sister, Kim. Isn't he a cheeky one? I think Emma looks alot like him. No?



At Kim's wedding in Federicksburg.

From left to right: MrT's Dad, Kim, MrT and MrT's Mom. Look at that MrT's hairstyle. And I'm madly in love with Kim's heels.



MrT's parent's wedding.

From left to right: MrT's maternal grandparents, not sure who that little girl was, MrT's parents, MrT's faternal grandsparents.

Phew! Got it..??



MrT's mom when she was a baby with her parents - MrT's maternal grandmother lah...!!!

I think this is the most precious photo that we have in our collection.





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When MrT and the girls were away in Canada, I was bored out of my wits. I wasn't going to spend twenty some dollars on a pedicure (yeah, I'm cheap but hey, that 1/4 of my weekly grocery money, you know).

So what did I do?

Went out to the mall and my initial plan was just to have a quick lunch at the food court, then make a quick stop at Body & Bath Works and Victoria Secret's (Uh-hu..!!!)

I did went to both stores but found nothing worth buying, so on my way out, I passed-by Claire's, a custome jewelry store which both my girls adore so much.

A quick stop at the store and I came out VERY HAPPY with this:-





I wanted to have the 3rd hole on my ear pierced since 10 years ago. And last Saturday, I DID IT!

So, instead of spending 20 some dolloars on a pedicure which I frugally refuse to pay, I ended up spending 50 some dollars at Claire's... That's 1/2 of my weekly grocery money.

I guess the girls have to stick with Peanut Butter Sandwich dinners for a week now!



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Summer months in Virginia can be very hot. Average summer temperatures normally climb into the upper 90’s and even reach over 100 degrees at times.

During these three months, I usually wear a pair of open toe heels to work most of the days.

So besides home pedicure every week to make my toe nails all pretty and presentable, a little foot accessories is a must, at least for me, not sure about others.



I'm also thinking of getting a small tattoo on my ankle. What say you?




Time to go to the pool. See ya!




..............

home finally....

The girls are home.

They got in at 4:00 pm yesterday from Detroit, MI. Once home, they had their bathing suits on and went to the pool right away, leaving MrT at home, having some down time, ALL BY HIMSELF.

To be honest, I had the most fabolous 6-days of my life, ALL BY MYSELF at home, in 10 years while MrT and the girls were away in Canada.



No cooking AT ALL (ate out twice and leftover most of the nights), no crazy morning rush to the bus-stop, and the best part, I basically did whatever I wanted. It was indeed fun to be "single" again and I honestly don't mind doing it again. It was almost like hitting a MegaMillion!



I have tonnes of photos to share - from the girls' vacation in Canada to some of MrT's old photos when he was a kid. So, bear with me. I need to sort things out and find some time to have those old photos scanned and uploaded in here.


At the meantime, enjoy some photos of Megan Fox, the most beautiful woman on the planet, IMHO.

Seriously, do women get more painfully hot than this?

Megan Fox has the face of an angel, a body so perfect that God may have carved it out of soap and sex appeal that could melt a unicorn's horn. Plus, I read somewhere that she smells like clouds.