new park in town

Checking out the new park today amid the drizzling rain.











We like the place, Taman Perdana. Please don't rain tomorrow. I want to come here again.

Update

Hi! I've been immersed in life that I have neglected to post again.

Hubby's aunt from KL just left here yesterday. She was here since last Wednesday with her husband and 2 other relatives. Didn't do much entertaining since it was school week and all. We just gave a car for use and let them in my Mom-in law's care.They entertained themselves driving out of town to Beaufort, Kota Belud,etc, buying stuffs like 'beras bukit', fresh tiger prawns and this and that.

The best part was ofcourse Mak Ngah's cooking especially that udang goreng cili.Hmmmmm.. I should say no more. My sinus is bad these days from consuming all those wicked udang.

Kids schedules are tight this month. Sports practice, afternoon class, co-cum every Saturday, top with kelas mengaji and tuitions, they hardly have time for homeworks. And the homeworks are a lot. Not that I'm complaining. But they are really cramming everything before the long CNY holidays.

That's a whole one week by the way. You guys got anything planned?

None here. We'll probably just hang out at the club. I just hope the rain doesn't come some days. It's everyday, isn't it? Kids haven't gone to the pool for a while.


So before I take a blog break again, here's wishing you a very prosperous Chinese New Year !

New Look

Dig my new look?

Hee...I like it. I'm not too crazy about the new template but I love the new font. I've been wanting to change my post font to make it look my own handwriting (when I'm not writing in a hurry, that is). And won't you know it, there are new fonts out there at blogger! So while I'm at it, I decide to choose a different template altogether. I have changed four times.

Fancy changing your own font? Go to your dashboard. By the way, I got to know this when I was blog-hopping and found a post explaining everything about this new find. Don't you love a blogger who loves sharing tips/info and tells you about it in detail? Awesome. So I'm gonna pass on the kindness and hopefully make your day.

Right. Ok, this is how you do it :

1. Go to your dashboard
2. Scroll down to bottom and click on "blogger in draft" under Tools and Resources
3. Next, click "design"
4. Next "Template Designer" - at this point you can change template, background color and stuffs.
5. To change the font, scroll to the bottom and click "Advanced".
6. On the right side, select Text Font, and click. Enjoy scrolling down the options. You can preview to see if you like it and if it's easy to read.

So go on! Have a play around. Have fun.

Lazy Day Yay

It's quiet here. It's been quite and slow. Actually just the way I like it. Have had enough chaos in December going vacationing everywhere and shopping school stuffs . So I intend to go abolutely nowhere this whole month, except grocery store, to make up.

It's raining everyday. Not quite the way I like it. But it gives me the reason to work on getting my kitchen/pantry organised. I went through all the cabinets and cleaned them out, which always feel good, and I redid all my spices. It's amazing how much room is wasted with things you don't use unless you really stay on top of it, you know.

The before look:


And the after :


And all these are past their expiry dates. What a waste. One good rule to organising pantry is to purge. Often.



So what do you do when it rains? What else, eat ofcourse. The kitchen is nice and tidy. Everything is organised. You have some mushrooms in the fridge and ready pastry. How about some mushroom soup?

Hmmm.....it's good..it's good. Shall I pass on the recipe? It's a keeper. I got it from allrecipe.com. Here :

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh mushrooms

1/4 cup margarine

4 onions, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

2 tb flour

4 cups vegetable stock

1 cup light cream

salt & pepper to taste

1 sprig fresh thyme leaves

1 tb chopped fresh chives

Directions :

1.Thinly slice the mushrooms, discarding the stalks.

2. Melt the butter and cook the onions, garlic and thyme for 1 minute or until garlic is golden. Add the mushroom and salt & pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the mushrooms soften. Add flour and stir for 1 minute.

3. Remove from heat and add stock, stirring continuosly. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce the heatand simmer gently for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Whisk the cream into the soup, then reheat gently, stirring. Do not allow the soup to boil. Season to taste with salt & pepper, and garnish with the chopped chives and thyme.

Have a try. It's perfect for the weather.

because i need to blog

does writing the title count as blogging?

i did say i'm going to do better this year. easier said. and you shouldn't believe everything i said.

i think i'll share photos of our family day we had before the new year.

at a local resort, half an hour from home. everybody was there except eldest brother and youngest brother. we had fun throughout 2D 1N. the only thing slacked, it was raining a good half of the first day. such a shame we couldn't do all the outdoor games planned. it would have been great fun.

so we settled for indoors, and had fun anyway.

i'd like to say i have many pictures to share but i don't.

The dinner was great. Buffet spread of delicious entree, appetizer, 6 main dishes, and dessert.

in the morning we had a nice stroll on the beach which was beautiful.

while the kids splashed around in the swimming pool, us adults took to the sea. it was a great feeling because it had been such a long time since we last 'mandi laut'. fun. hopefully we can continue this annual family do forever.


enjoy your friday!

Goodbye 2010

Happy New Year everyone !!!

How's your new list going? Me, I've stopped bothering about new resolutions since ..I can't remember when. The list stresses me. But good luck with yours.

2010 had been a good year I suppose. My kids grew in their thinking and independence. They made me proud. My blogging and baking has taken a backseat somewhat but I expect I'll do better this year. Don't know what makes me so sure but I just do. I have also met up with many long lost school friends which is really good. Ofcourse there haven't been all happy memories last year . We lost a brother. That's a big downer moment. However it grew us closer and tighter.

Let's all hope this year will be a wonderful one.

Happy New Year !