Saturday, March 31, 2007

Lime+Sunglight=Pigmentation

I noticed patches of redness on my left hand the other day. I went to the doctor yesterday for my allergies, and also asked him to look at the discoloration of my hand. He briefly looked at it, and he asked the most bizarre question (I thought)- Did you use lime last week? I was like, huh? Err.. yeah, I did. How did u know? Then, he asked, did I go out in the sun after that? I was like, I don't know, I can't remember, I might have gone out for a run. Then, he told me something I didn't know before this - I must have gotten some oils from the the lime onto my skin, and it was exposed to the sun, and thus a photochemical reaction occured, causing the skin discoloration. It will go away, eventually. (I hope that's true) Interesting, isn't it? So for future references, please wash your hands thoroughly after working with limes! :)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Ah Kong's Tui Nee

This is what we prepared on Sunday, for Ah Kong's Tui Nee.
Mummy cooked many dishes, while some are brought by relatives, and others are made to order.


It was a long session, from 10:00am till 3:00pm.

Among many other things, this is the first time we had Ah girl praying from US, via the Internet, using Skype. Ah Kong must have been quite happy.

Wonder how many persons had done this ;)


This photo covers all, but I want to draw your attention to something at the sides on the table.



You will see more clearly from this angle:There are 2 extra 'colourful pillars' on the 2 sides of the table. They are called 'Moh Hor Chiam' which literally means a small pagoda made of Moh Hor Kueh. These are made to order, and sponsored by the daughters. You can see more clearly from here:

Amongst many other dishes, some Nyonya Kuehs are worth mentioning. They are soooooo delicious ;p

First, the must have " Ang Koo"



This is "Huat Kueh with Monk head Ang Koo"




While this is the ever popular "Tapioca Kueh":








'Kueh Kochee', sounds familiar? Remember, it's green colour with coconut and gula Malacca inside:



I wonder if you remember this, the semi salt/sweet Chinese carrot Kueh, sprinkled with pounded roast peanuts:


This is every one's favourite, "Pulut Taitai" or Kaya Kueh:


Now a days, local 'longan' or "Dragon eye fruits" are good but more expensive than Thai varieties.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Winston Meets Toro 2

Day 3. Weds. Work day for both of us. Since we are not comfortable with both cats in the same room yet, we have decided to have Toro in the bedroom, while we let Winston free to roam around the house to get comfortable. We are hoping that once he is comfortable with the surrounding, he would have one less uncertainty to worry about.

After we came home from work, we let Toro out. But want to introduce both of them again. So we moved one of the coffee table glass top to the bedroom, and make the door seemed transparant. This allows both cat to be able to see each other without being able to hurt each other.

The encounter wasn't completely friendly at all times. Sometimes, Winston will growl at Toro, but this time around Toro growls back at Winston more. But Winston is really quite a brave cat, he knocked down the slippers that was supposed to block the little opening so that he could enter Toro's room. The encounter took a few hours. It was fun but stressful at times to watch them. By this time, we really admire Winston's courage, he has a really cool attitude on the whole thing. No matter how many times Toro growls, he would keep going back to Toro's room. His tireless spirit is commandable and amiable. This is a big difference in character between Toro and Winston.
After the exercise, he got pretty tired. Time to excuse him to go to the bathroom.

Quite thirsty indeed....
Day 4. Thurs. Yesterday Winston had the whole house during the day time, today it's Toro's turn to have the whole house. When Toro naps in the afternoon, I let Winston out to roam around again.

Wait, looks who's here! It's Pei Yean! She is in town... She finally gets to carry Toro. So big and soft... :) She just arrived from Malaysia!
Day 5. Friday. Work day for both of us again. So today Winston gets the house. When we came home at night, we let both of them out. They are getting better at hanging with each other's present within the same room as long as certain distance is kept and under adult supervision. Toro is also getting somewhat comfortable laying in front of Winston. By this day, they both can live along one another around the house when we are around.
Too bad. Winston is not a lap cat, but Toro is... Look at how comfortable things are...

Day 6. We are not home most of the day. Although they are starting to be able to live with each other, we are still not comfortable enough yet, so one of them gets the house while we are away. When we return, we let both of them out to familiarize with one another. By this time, Winston is actually getting quite comfortable. Toro seemed to be getting crancky when Winston is too close, things are certainly improving.

Day 7. Sunday. We work from home today. Bailey, the dog, came to the house today. At first Winston is quite curious, but just a bark from Bailey scared the spirit out of Winston. After that, Winston didn't even come out of his room. After Bailey left, then Winston once again roam freely. Today, things are significantly better, Winston now comes in and out of Toro's room. Once in a while Toro shows aggression, but most of the time Toro just let Winston wonder all over the place now.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Winston meets Toro

Pei Sun's flight came in early, so we are very excited to introduce Winston to Toro. So as soon as Winston comes home. We left his kennel in the living room, then opened the door. And I went into the master bedroom to pick up Toro to introduce to Winston. Winston is already busy exploring the living room when Toro came out.


No matter how much we have told Winston that Toro is awaiting him, he couldn't really understand. So while he is busy checking out the living room, Toro came up from behind and sniffed him. That's when Winston was shocked, and he became anxious, alert, and defensive. He growled at Toro, and Toro growled back. That's when we realized, not good! We have made a mistake. So we decided to isolate both cats. So Winston was moved to the study room, where he is free to roam around. But he is still in shock and defensive, so he growls at me when started patting him. That's because I haven't gained his trust, and he thought that I am on Toro's side since I brought the cat out from no where. We know Winston is scared, but even then he didn't bite or claw me. So obviously he hasn't hurt people before. He made a funny sound, a much lower tone sound when he is not happy. It took a while for Pei Sun and him to be in the study room before he starts meowing again. It seemed like they are not ready for one another yet. So poor Winston was isolated for the rest of the day. Pei Sun was in the room accompanying him most of the time. And Ah Girl and Matt came to visit Winston as well.


Meanwhile, I keep Toro company to make sure that she doesn't feel left out when a new cat just arrived. And she was also busy checking out Winston's kennel. Also researched on the net how to introduce a cat to existing cat household.


Day2. After Winston slept alone last night ... :( More like Pei Sun accompanying him until 3am this morning. I let Winston out of the study room to roam around the house while keep Toro in the master bedroom this time. He was really nervous and cautious at the beginning, but got pretty comfortable after a while. He and Toro now shares the house. So when Toro naps in the afternoon, he is out again checking things out.

He loves the windows!!


He made himself really comfortable at the end.


Toro claims the house again at night.


We tried to introduce them again, this time through a door, so that they can't fight. Toro made this friendly eager to meet sound, but poor Winston is still defensive and growls most of the time. So we decided that it is not time yet. Will have to re-introduce them again tomorrow.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Trip to pick up Winston :)

:D Trip to New York city is fun and relaxing. What can I say... don't have to worry about work, just shop, eat, *ahem* watching tv, and of course, to pick up Winston before I leave. As always, Ah B is a good host. I didn't miss out the "xiao3 long2 bao1" and Malaysian food (Nyonya Restaurant). Yumm... I had my own piece of Roti Canai (instead of sharing). :P So glad that the weather in NYC was and is still gd these few days.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Winston. He's a very special cat. He is originally from Paris, a Munchkin and Exotic mix. Do you notice him having shorter front legs when compare with his hind legs? He visited Ah B's apartment yesterday for a while, and caused Ah B having mild runny nose. *sorry* Indeed, he is a super duper nosy one, and was busy checking out every single inch of the apartment, including the kitchen sink, bathroom sink and bathtub. Particularly, he loves Ah B's bed. While exploring, he jumped on it, wondered around the bed and then sat right in the middle of it... which 'freaked' Ah B out because he just washed the bedsheet an hour ago. hehe... so funny and cute! :P Anyhow, I will upload more pictures when I get back. ...took me soooooo lonnggg to upload these pictures.







































Checking out the bathroom and the kitchen sink.


Winston and his owner, Rhea.










Winston came to visit me again Sunday early evening for about 3hrs. I took more pictures:
Checking out Ah B's writing desk again... hm... what's inside??
He loves to drink water from tap. :)
Sorry Ah B, I guess he REALLY loves your bed... he sat there while I wasn't aware of it. I was buzy watching tv. :P I carried her away after taking a few pictures. Guess what, ... he jumped on the bed again while I wasn't aware of it. :P When I noticed him, he was rolling & lying on his back. took a few more pictures and carried him to the couch. He sat there for a while and then on the floor since then... beside me :) so darn cute!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

I love mushrooms...

Made this the other night, was quite delicious! Somehow, we cannot eat as much of this as the usual meat lasagna with a tomato based sauce. Wonder if it's because it is a cream sauce and therefore richer?

A total of 1.5lbs portobello mushrooms went into this dish!


Choonping had the honor to cut the lasagna and serve everyone! :)

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Genting Highlands

Don't remember when was the last time we went to Genting Highlands during Chinese New Year.
This trip we quite enjoyed the nice CNY atmosphere .
Mummy bumped into 2 "Chai Sengs" ( Gods of prosperity), and they offered mummy tons of luck in this pig year ;))


View from hotel room is quite nice, as I selected view of 'Hua Kuo San', the mountain where 'Donkey' resides ;p , as per Ah Girl's theory. Occasionaly, it was very misty.


Well, mummy decided to treat me to some good food. So we went to the Abalone Sharks fin Restaurant where Ah Bee treated Ah Kong and us in 2004.

Excellent food!
This is something like uncle #6 treated Donald in Penang.

However, due to technical reason, I ended up having to sign the bill instead ;(
Guess this is part of the luck the 2 'Chai Sengs' bestowed upon mummy ;)

Friday, March 02, 2007

Ouch!

My first bike accident at Stanford in the last 4.5 years.



Luckily I had gloves on, so my palms are saved. Can't say the same for the gloves though.