New love!

Recently I've been visiting many nurseries due to some work commitments... and I ended up buying pots of mini orchids whenever I'm out working!

But all these pots of mini orchids are so pretty and they are very affordable, usually about $6-7 per pot. I simply cannot resist... ...

Let see how long these blooms can last and hopefully I can allow these pots of orchids to bloom again. I am so looking forward to growing them!

Beanie in Cheongsam

Beanie and her cheeky grin

"say cheese!"

Throw in an Ultraman pose!

It has been ages since I last updated my blog! Wana share some pictures of Beanie in a Cheongsam bought by Hub, who recently went on a business trip to Shanghai. I thought she looked so cute in the cheongsam! I'm also glad that Beanie's Chinese New Year's clothes are all settled. One less shopping chore for me.

Beanie is now 26 months, and in about 2 months time, she will be going to school - Nursery 1! I've enrolled her in Zion Church Kindergarten in Bishan, walking distance from my flat. Both Hub and I, together with Beanie attended the orientation 2 weeks ago and I was very impressed with the teachers and Principal.

Although it wasn't a branded kindergarten but I was glad to see the very experienced teachers playing happily with the children, while the parents sat down in another room to listen to the Principal. All in all, I was glad that my "kiasuism" paid off when I had to queue at the kindergarten at 630 am to ensure that Beanie has a place in the N1 morning session!

As for the little Nugget in my tummy, I think nugget is doing quite well, since I am still suffering from morning sickness! Yes, even at 17 weeks! Ugh.... the weirdest part about Nugget is that, I absolutely CANNOT drink plan water. I will simply gag and at times vomit whenever I drink plain water.

In fact, I can only stomach flavoured water like Honey water, Barley water or Ribena with water and all forms of soft drinks or juice.

Hmnp. Naughty little Nugget!

Morning sickness --- ugh!

Ok, I realised that I haven't updated my blog for the longest time. Quite a number of things are going on right now, and every time when I log into my computer, it is to work, work, work. Not very fun.

It also doesn't help that I am suffering from a rather severe case of morning sickness. Yes, I am expecting Baby no. 3 (Baby no. 2 was miscarried in May 2013). Currently Baby no. 3 is at 10 weeks, still in the first trimester.

After the early miscarriage of baby no.2, I am very much more careful about this pregnancy. Especially since I am very prone to bleeding during my pregnancies, even my gynaecologist is rather paranoid and started me on Hormones therapy BEFORE I show any signs of bleeding,

With so much progesterone in my system, I feel bloated and constipated ALL THE TIME. And this simply worsen the nausea. So, I have to be on anti-nausea medication.

So many pills to take each day: folic acid pill, iron pill, hormone pill, probiotic pill and the anti-nausea pill. Ugh!

But I can't exactly complain... hopefully Little Nugget is doing fine and that's all I pray for.

Best of luck to me!

Dolly

Beanie and I were at the H&M recently and at the Kid's section, I came across this little cloth doll. It was on sale and only cost a grand total of 7 bucks! So I bought it for Beanie and we named her "Dolly"

The cool part about Dolly is that you can undress her totally (yes, you can even remove her underwear) and dress her in other outfits! I remembered that I really love to design and make clothes for my dolls when I was younger and I couldn't wait to make some clothes for Dolly!

So, Project Runway begins! I'm going to make a blouse and a skirt for Dolly.

I used an old dress to set a blouse for Dolly.

And I used an old sock for Dolly's skirt. Originally, I wanted to sew the ribbon as trimming for the skirt but I changed my mind when I realized that it would take me too much time to do so.

Above was Dolly's original outfit.

Ta-dah! Dolly's new outfit! 

And what was Beanie while I was sewing Dolly's clothes? She didn't give 2 hoot about Dolly and her new clothes at all... ...

O well, I think Beanie has to grow up a little more to appreciate our Project Runway Sessions for Dolly. 

Teochew Brasied Duck

I'm a Teochew and one of my all time favorite Teochew dishes is the Teochew Braised Duck.  I've bought this recipe book: Chinese Heritage Cooking last year but I only recently started to cook some of the heritage dishes and so far, the recipes had turned out really well.

Above was my first attempt at the braised duck and I was really pleased with how the duck turned out. Actually that was half a duck as I wasn't confident to braised one whole duck, so for my next attempt, I will definitely buy a whole of duck.

With this recipe, I don't have to buy overpriced braised duck during Chinese New Year anymore! I can braised my own duck. Whippee!

Pig's trotters in black vinegar

Inspired by Petunia's post on pig's trotters in black vinegar, I decided to cook my very own as well! It has been a long time since I had pig's trotters in black vinegar. I used 2 front trotters, some "muscle meat" for my hubby who prefers lean meat, black fungus and eggs.

Pig's trotters in black vinegar is a classic confinement dish and it is my all time favorite confinement food. I can eat this every week, I swear. Thankfully Hubby and my in-laws are huge fan of pig's trotters in black vinegar too, so that big pot was finished to the very last drop in one setting. No left overs at all!

Looking at Petunia's recipe, she used 2 types of black vinegar: sweet rice vinegar and black rice vinegar. For me, I only used 1 type: the Bull Dog Brand Black Rice Vinegar.

It comes in "single strength" or "double strength" where "double strength" is about 1.5X the price of the "single strength". I have previously only used "double strength" since that was what my mom and my confinement lady used as well.

But this time round, I've decided to give "single strength" a try, to test whether is there any difference. The verdict: no significant difference. However, the "single strength" wasn't as sweet as the "double strength", so I had to add a lot more black sugar, in order to have the same sweetness.

Another interesting fact that I have learnt about this Bull Dog Brand Black Rice Vinegar: it is manufactured in Singapore. Wow... our very own local brand!

Yummy. Looking forward to cook another pot in a month's time! ;)

Beanie's first visit to a farm (and mine too!)

Little Beanie took her feeding duties very seriously and insisted on carrying the feeding bucket.

The little wallaby was SO CUTE! It was a gentle little thing and was very patient with Beanie.

But Little Wallaby was simply too greedy so it went straight for the bucket.

Beanie: "Nah, bread for you!" 

During the Margaret river trip, we visited a petting zoo / farm: The Sunflower Farm. It wasn't really a real farm but more of a touristy petting farm. Nonetheless, it was an eye-opening for me, who have never been to an Angmoh farm or a petting farm.

First, we bottled-fed 2 cute little lambs. OMG, they were so cute and their wool was so soft! And the best part: they weren't smelly at all!

Then the baby wallaby came along and stole my heart. It was such a gentle little creature! It followed Beanie around since Beanie was the one carrying the feeding bucket. And Beanie was very intrigued by her furry friend. They hanged out for a while until... well, the feeding bucket got kind of empty.

Then we saw geese, limas, many different breeds of chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, sheep, a horse and a pony... etc (strangely, no cows) and most important of all, pigs.

I have never knew that pigs can be so BIG. I mean, HUGE. In my mind, I thought pigs are the size of big dogs, but fatter and smellier. But apparently, pigs that are reared for meat are really big animals! They are twice the length of me... Geez!

I stared at the pigs and lambs for the longest time and started to feel bad that I actually eat them. Sigh, maybe I should become a vegetarian but the foodie in me refused to even entertain the thought.

As for Beanie, she had a blast at the farm. She happily carried the feeding bucket, fed the animals, she was not afraid of them (not even the pigs?!) and was constantly interacting with the animals. I was rather proud of her, my little trouper. ;)

I'm now looking forward to visit other farms in other countries and maybe a farm stay too!