Meetings, meetings, and more meetings...

Lots of meetings at work lately. I was in meetings for 5 hours today. I am glad one meeting got shortened tomorrow, otherwise I will have meetings from 9am to 5pm non-stop. Now I will have an hour back to myself. Another 7-hours of meeting marathon on Thursday. Finally a little bit of breathing room on Friday, but my first meeting starts at 8:30am.

Even Ka's mom, who doesn't know much English, saw my meeting calendar, went: Wah! How do you work?

Right. How do I work with all the meetings? I really want to know too. I can't really work during meetings since these are all discussion meetings, and I even have to chair and present at some. Unlike others who can think while having heated discussions, I need time outside of meetings to think.

Crazy week. Yes. Very crazy meeting week.

(Back to prepare for my meeting tomorrow, just wanted to take a blogging break. :))

CNY Clean Up (Part 1)

Traditionally, families would clean up their homes just 3 days before Chinese New Year. Of course We like to take this opportunity to do a more thorough clean, all the places that we don't normally see: behind the fridge, behind the oven, inside the cupboards... The good part about having just two of us living in a condo is, we don't have a lot of things to clean, so everything is very manageable.

We changed the cabinet lining paper and reorganized the things a bit. We found a few boxes of different cups that we probably won't have a need for. They are pretty nice, and brand new. Anyone wants some brand new champagne glasses, water/Whisky glasses, Chinese tea cups, Mikasa wine bottle stoppers?

Fwd: 煲湯有學問

王亭之談廣府文化: 煲湯有學問
(Source: http://www.cantoneseculture.com/page_TalkEat/page00005.aspx)

煲湯不同滾湯。滾湯易，煲湯難。廣東館子的特色正在於煲湯而非滾湯。若乎滾湯，則四川菜蘿蔔肉片，湖南菜鷄湯滾生魚片，皆不輸於粵廚，甚且可謂凌駕其上。

許多人以為煲湯乃易事，將一應配料齊齊下煲，加水煲之哉，便以為是煲湯矣，一旦煲四五個小時，便自稱「老火靚湯」焉，真的笑煞人也。要煲一煲靚湯，湯料如何整治乃第一要務。例如節瓜煲豬肉，節瓜是橫切抑或直切，都有學問。又如煲節瓜，必須去瓜仁，而煲老黃瓜則須帶瓤，連瓜仁一齊煲。倘一部通書看到老，便不知煲湯的竅妙。

用江瑤柱煲瘦肉，煲至火路足，須將瘦肉用筷子拆散，再文火煲之，然後湯始無瑤柱的腥味。倘只將豬肉切件來煲，湯雖鮮，必仍帶腥。若加胡椒辟腥，那麼整煲湯就立刻變質，由滋陰變成燥火。這類知識，光靠看食譜來煲湯的主婦，一定不識，因為連寫食譜的人，煲出來的湯都未必靚也。

Happy Birthday ar, Mike!

It's Mike's birthday today. Mike told us he had dinner plans with Cathy and little N&J, but because Mike was such a dear friend, Ka and I went to pick up a birthday cake tonight, to enjoy amongst the two of us; we even cooked lamb chops and popped open a bottle of red wine to celebrate! All just "for" Mike. :D


Mike, Happy Birthday ar!

身在福中

星期天可可車flat tire. 戳了兩眼釘, 其中一顆小釘子, 很小很小的 (跟我的 tire 比較真是"蚊同牛比".), 但就是這顆小釘子, 因為戳的位置和角度, 就足以令到我的車胎certifed dead 了. 星期天dealer關門, 我們拿了車去完 Cdn Tire又去Costco's 問. 沒得修補, 唯有在零下十度的天氣底下, 自己換 spare 胎.

今早起床, 發現: 大wok! 無熱水!! 凍冰冰.

很多東西我們都覺得是理所當然的. 記得可可小時候, 那有一扭就有的熱水? 舊式的熱水爐. 撻多次才開, 有時候沖沖下涼就無熱水了. 不過可可有熱水已經很幸福. 這世界有多少人沒有熱水? 就連自來水都沒有的也大有人在吧.

身在福中知福嗎? 熱水沒有一天, management 立刻找人維修. 晚上熱水已回來了. 車胎在冷天戳釘, 倒霉嗎? 還有老公大人幫我換胎. (可可也從中榮升為換胎小助手.) 倒霉中還能感受到當中樂趣, 還能覺得自己其實很幸福, 不是身在福中是甚麼?

This weekend...

Without school, every weekend feels a lot like the Christmas holidays to me. But time seems to go by unbelievably quickly. I can't believe a month has already gone by for 2010.

We went to celebrate Kevin's birthday at Kutura on Friday night. Interesting fusion style menu. I thought the food wasn't bad. (Some found the steak salty.) It's a restaurant that I wouldn't mind trying out for Winterlicious, but probably wouldn't add it to "My Favourite" list. It was still a lot of fun hanging out with friends in a cozy setting, especially it was -16 degrees outside!

I also went with Janny and her mom to find me a Maid of Honour dress (actually a married MOH should be Matron of Honour.) We were quite efficient (of course Janny has done some homework herself, so she has a very good idea about what looks good for her wedding and on me :) It helps that Janny has very good taste. :)). It was a fun day. I also learned a lot of good tips from Janny's mom... from cooking to how to 保養 (女人唔保真係好易老). I look forward to seeing the actual dress. Thanks for shopping with me and for the dress!

每條每條整的Macaroni

通心粉, 食都唔會一條一條食啦. 這碗通心粉由上年十二月初已經開始做, 做到昨晚終於做好了. 裡面有三四十條通心粉, 每條都是1-2mm 長, 每條都真係通心架. 相片拍得不太好, 但實在很想跟大家分享. Voila!
Macaroni with ham and mixed beans. One of my favourite HK style breakfast. I handmade every single macaroni. There must be 30-40 in this bowl, each is only 1-2mm long. While I thought this was just a simple item, it was much more difficult than I thought! The photo wasn't of the greatest quality, but I really want to share this with you. The bowl is a bit smaller than a Cdn quarter.

Project Cleaning-V's-home

I promise Vikki that I would help organize her home almost a year ago. Ka and I invited ourselves over, and immediately (好唔客氣) put ourselves in action.

We didn't really keep track, but I think in just less than 2 hours of time, we gathered 2 big bags (and some small bags) of garbage, 4 bags of recyclable materials, 4 large boxes of card-board boxes, her 3 computers, 2 printers, 2 bag-full of materials to donate, and 3 huge full boxes of materials that belong to her siblings (who live in a separate unit). Then we spent another 2 hours to rearrange some furniture and to organize her stuff a bit better. Ka even provided a free vacuuming service and changed 4 light bulbs. :)

I was pretty amazed by how efficient we were at cleaning Vikki's home. To be honest, all I have done was remove cardboard boxes and plastic bags. But when Vikki sent me the "before-and-after" photos, I had to give all 3 of us a pat on the back for such a job well done. I think we could still do a bit more with Project Cleaning-V's-home, but this is absolutely a great start.I hope after a long day of work, Vikki can now go back to her less-cluttering home to enjoy a good read with a nice cup of tea (or wine) :)

I always thought I am like M-O from Wall-E (the robot who can't stop cleaning when it sees a little mess). Haha. May be I can start a consulting business to help people de-clutter their home.

Borrowed: 5 toilets photo

After I saw the 5 toilet photos that Carmen posted on her blog, I just couldn't resist myself from making the below edit. Please don't mind me from taking your photo without asking.

Source: http://thenathanchan.blogspot.com

Bye bye blues

Perhaps it was the sun,
Perhaps it was the Friday,
Perhaps it was the badminton game,
Perhaps it was the 2 milk teas that I had.
Whatever it is,
I finally felt much better today.
This past week has been somewhat horrible.
Logically nothing is wrong, but emotionally, everything seemed wrong.
It took me a tremendous amount of effort to live through every minute.
I was very glad I was back to myself today.
May the feeling of blues stay away.

常餐? 常餐有咩食架? Mini Meals (1)

常餐?常餐有咩食架?

同特餐一樣囉...
咁特餐係咩黎ga？
同快餐咁上下囉...
咁快餐又係咩黎ga？
車..快餐咪者係午餐
午餐吃咩架？
午餐同晚餐一樣架...
咁晚餐又食D咩ga？
晚餐咪之係常餐囉..
咁啊..我要兩個常餐啊...
好野啊！我地今日D常餐...

星期六的節目

細v 形容我聖誕的假期形容得很好: Craziness of parties. 當然, 我很開心可以跟很多要好的朋友們catch up, 但也是時候跟老公大人拍拍拖了. 原本想到Downtown, 但可可實在太懶, 後來去了Don Mills Centre 走走就算. 很怕買衫的我因為掉得太多衫了, 所以一定要添點衣服. (也好, 添了一件 :P). 之後我們去了 Cafe L'Opera 喝杯咖啡吃件蛋糕. 原本我們的計畫是出外好好吃一餐的. 不過看過Haiti 地震片段之後, 都是不想太奢侈. 想起CB-Fob 介紹的 Taro Fish, 於是便去試試看.

二十多元的Sashimi已有我最愛的scallops. 其他大部分我都不知道是甚麼魚. 不過好新鮮, 好好味.
Shochu. 之前專為朋友們上來大邊爐而買的. 暖後的flavour很好.

跟婆婆講電話 On the phone with my grandma

除了爸媽之外, 我就最鍚我婆婆. 婆婆每個星期都定時打電話跟我媽跟舅父談天的. 不過可能她覺得不應該打擾我們後生, 所以不會打給我.

而我, 久不久便會掛念我這個新潮又可愛的婆婆. 打了一個星期電話給她, 今晚她終於在家了 (八十歲的婆婆依然很多節目). 不要聽她說自己年紀大, 記性不好, 我的呀姨舅父跟我們十個孫兒的事, 她都很在意. 跟婆婆談天就像跟朋友談天一樣. 打電話給她, 她一定很興奮 bee-lee-ba-la 的跟我談這談那, 不過也是個很有好的聆聽者. 煩惱事, 開心事也能跟她說.

婆婆今年八十一大壽, 我們正打算回香港跟她慶祝生日. 不過我們暫時還是keep it a secret. 不過如果她知道我們會回香港, 她一定會很開心. :)

Besides my parents, my grandma (por por) is my favourite person. Por por calls my mom regularly (every Friday night at 8pm :)), but because she feels she needs to give us young people alone time, she rarely calls me. But I always miss her, and would call her here-now-and-then.

I wasn't able to reach her this past week until tonight. Once she answers the phone, she said "Wow! Why are you still up? It's midnight already!" (You can tell even with grandchildren in Europe, Australia, and Canada, she is still sharp to know which time zone i am in, and you can see how much she cares about me. :))

It's always good to chat with her especially when I feel tired or frustrated, or when I am down. Don't let her fool you telling you that she is old and have bad memories. She remembers everything we tell her, and care deeply for us.

This August, we are planning to go to HK to celebrate her 81st birthday. We are keeping this a secret for now, but I am sure once she knows, she will be very excited. :)

祝福

剛從老公口中聽到一個好朋友的壞消息. 聽後, 腦袋一大片空白. 在辦公室的我流下淚來.
疾病真的要這麼殘酷嗎?
Mia 妳啟發了我要勇敢做人, 要熱愛生命, 要珍惜所擁有的一切.
Mia, Stanley: 在遠方的我們只能暫時送上祝福. 請你們不要放棄. 加油!

Mini Hot Pot 迷你打邊爐 (2)

上個星期凍得很, 加上風速, 零下二十度呢! 寒冷的天氣最好就是打邊爐! 可可一直以為已經post 了火鍋 set 的照片, 不過原來對上一篇迷你打邊爐 blog post只得寥寥可數的raw materials. 所以 post 多少少先.

I didn't realize I haven't posted more photos of my mini hot pot sets. Let me slowly post more of the photos up.

The complete set.
檯櫈是可可以"高價"在這裡的玩具舖買的. 二十大元. 我都知道香港買會便宜很多... 不過, 可可就是太喜歡, 在舖頭見到時已經兩眼發光...

可可打邊爐最喜歡吃牛肉. 吃好多好多都得.

My favourite beef. I love the marble effect. It's quite hard to cut the think slices.
有可可不吃的蠔.
I don't eat oysters, so I don't quite know how they look. But I think they look ok right?
火鍋. 看到在滾熱水的bubbles嗎?
You see the bubbles from the boiling water?

迷你,薑餅屋 Mini gingerbread houses

聖誕節, 可可通常都很喜歡送一些小禮物給一些我想多謝的朋友. 但近年來, 朋友們都長大了, "物輕情意重"好像不是個個都會appreciate, 禮物越來越"實制化", 有時候, 請一班朋友回家吃吃東西, 談談天, 大家反而更開心.

二零零九年的聖誕節. 可可堅持親手做了數間迷你 Gingerbread house 特別送給幾位朋友. 由 design 到包裝, 可可也用心去想. 看起來簡單, 但薑餅屋上的每一粒糖果, 雪人的眼睛, scarf, ...也要時間去做. 每一間包含了很多心思, 和很多小時的手工. 希望收到禮物的朋友喜歡.

Often times, I wonder if people appreciate handmade gifts as much as I do. But this Christmas, I wanted to make some gifts for some special friends whom I really wanted to say Thanks to.
(In chronological order of which house I gave out first...)

第一間送了給我的好朋友. 她一直都很關心我們, 特別是老爺病了的時間. 生日又做了個靓靓蛋糕給我. THANKS!! :)
The first gingerbread house went to Vicky, who has always cared for me, Ka, and even our families, during both up and down times. She even made me a multi-tiered birthday cake!

第二間送了給花仔一家. 謝謝他們年年聖誕節都一定記得我們, 請我們到他們家吃飯. 有得食又有禮物拿.
The first house went to Mike and Cathy's home. They always remember us every Christmas, and invite us over for dinner. We even got gifts!!

第三間送了給我們的好朋友, 好鄰居, 永遠只懂為朋友付出, 又不問回報, 不願麻煩人的好人.
The third house went to our very good friends, very good neighbours, our wedding GMs. The couple whom only cares about giving, and never asking for anything in return.

最後一間送了給肯陪我晚晚在MSN 談天的細v. 無論是無聊事, 還是重要大事, 我們都無所不談. 謝謝她一直為我打氣.
The last house went to the one who listens to me, and chat with me about everything. Probably the most accoｍmodating person I know. Thanks for cheering for me these past several years, whether it's for work, for school, or for personal stuff. Thanks Vikki.

(其實還有一個朋友很想送最最最後的Gingerbread house, but I have another idea for later... :))
There is one more person whom I really wanted to make a gingerbread house for, but I have another idea for later... :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my lovely Dad's birthday. We went out for dinner, and my dad rushed home to watch World Junior Hockey Final. I used to think it's weird that my dad would rather cut his birthday dinner or Father's Day dinner short to go home to watch a sport game. I remember there was one year that he was watching hockey in the basement. He rushed upstairs during commercial break to cut the cake, chucked down the cake, and then quickly went back to the basement to catch the game.

I used to think it's weird that he would rather watch a hockey game instead of having us do something special with him. (You can tell I am not much of a sports fan.) But I finally learn doing what he enjoys the most on his birthday is the most important.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!