Bonjour!

Bonjour! It's a new life in France for my family...We have arrived here in a small city southwest of Paris for a week now. We are homeless, carless and poor! Yes, everything's so expensive here even with the Euros at one of it's lowest rate now. Sigh, the most difficult part is the language and despite learning it from a private tutor prior to coming here. Truly understand the term 'duck and chicken' lol!

We are still in the midst of finding a rental house which is really difficult as there are not many in the market and many people are also looking for a place...We have put in our interest in a house so we are just waiting for the owner to accept us. Or else we have to start looking again. Yes, we are so desperate for a place that we are actually putting in our interest for a house that is just a stone throw away from a cemetery.....note the desperation?! But it seems that that is a cemetery in every few streets here in France....Not sure if it's a norm...

Hope to get a place by this month so that I can start cooking for the family..and my toddler and crawler who have been eating microwave and bottled food. Praying hard!!!

Birthday Dinner

Hub brought me out for lunch on my birthday 2 weeks ago. It was a great lunch at Cheesecake Factory, my favourite restaurant here in NC. After which we just spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and spending my last birthday as couple ; P
It was raining the whole day and we were back before dinnertime, Hub asked where and what I feel like having for dinner....My answer? Why don't you cook something for me? So these were what he whipped up for me....Pasta and salad! I must say Hub's really good at making salad....his sunflower seeds and raisins topped with Champagne dressing...Yum!

We had a lot of fun and laughter preparing the dinner together, I actually enjoyed my dinner more than my lunch ; )
See you don't have to spend a lot of $ to enjoy your meal, it's the company that counts!
My wonderful birthday gift from my loving Hub, it's so thin it's super COOL ; ))

Bak Kwa Again

Attempted my second batch of Bak Kwa last Friday for a potluck gathering, had very positive feedback from my first attempt ; P

I must say I am getting the hang of it...It is going to my "must do" list for Chinese New Year from now on.

A Rare Sight in NC

This is such a rare sight in North Carolina, the last time it snowed was many years ago (5?)....We must be really lucky to get this during our stay here ; P

We were so excited and just couldn't resist the temptation to go out there and have fun, getting into snow fights, building snowmans and losing our dignity....Sigh, we were just behaving like small kids but hey who can blame us? We came from a small tropical island with temperature rising above 30C all year round after all ; )

The snowing is just going to be here for a day, it will all melt away by tomorrow morning but we have a beautiful memory of this day that will last a lifetime...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my readers! I have just realised that I have been blogging for a year now ; )

Yes I started this blog last year mainly for my overseas girlfriends so that they can 'visit' me anytime they want and also for Hub who was always overseas...But I must say I enjoyed the process for the past year and I am thankful that my blog has attracted some loyal readers. I will definitely try to update it more often....that's one of my New Year resolutions ; p

Meanwhile, I would like to wish all readers a Merry Christmas surrounded by loved ones, great food and wine : )

Anniversary in NC

It was Hub's birthday as well as our wedding anniversary today. I was out having lunch with the girls and when I came home, this was waiting for me on the dining table *coyish smile*

It's always nice to receive flowers from Hub, I can never get sick of it!

Unfortunately it will be too troublesome for me to bring it home especially when it's a 30hours journey back to Singapore...

Hence the best way to remember this sweet gesture was to capture it with my camera ; )

Happy Birthday & Anniversary!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Snippets of my weekend at the Myrtle Beach, SC. It's popular tourist spot in South Carolina and it is also a place where the South and North Carolinians spent their summers with their families.
It's pretty much like Gold Coast in Australia. Slow and relaxing....

View from my hotel balcony... The Alantic Ocean...

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium (Yes, Ripley's as in the Ripley's Believe it or Not)

Lots of sharks display....

The amazing thing about this place is the number of miniature golf centres....And how they try to compete with each other in terms of decorations and creativities...It's almost like how the hotels in Las Vegas compete with each other!

Hub and myself had a great time at Myrtle Beach stuffing ourselves silly with fresh seafood ; P

Something you can almost never get to eat in North Carolina...

Where Are You George?

Hub managed to get a day off bcoz of our National Day and he gave me the option of either staying in NC and we will explore the beaches here or drive 4.5 hrs to Washington DC. My objective of staying in State is; to visit as many States as possible ; ) So I chose the latter.

As usual, since our dating days...we always plan our trips at the very last minute. We booked our hotel and printed all the maps at 10pm the night before and we set off at about 7am the next day.

The 1st stop we went to was the White House, hoping to catch a glimpse of President Bush ; p
Which we realised that night that he was in Beijing at the Olympic opening....We forgive you George....
Me being the typical tourist snapped pictures after pictures, I must have taken more than 300 pictures in DC! But I have to say the pictures really don't do justice to the beautiful sceneries and achitectural buildings we saw in DC. For example, it just cannot capture the 'majesticism' of the National Monument...it's really iconic...Unfortunately we didn't manage to get the free tickets(which they give out at 8:30am everyday) to get to the observatory deck in the monument ; (

One of the 'must see' place for Hub is the National Mesuem of Natural History coz he says they always show it in the movies*raise eyebrows* But it was beautiful, we had a great time there..

The National Monument was situated between the US Capitol Building (white building above) and Lincoln Memorial...So the 3 structures are in line...

We had breakkie in Washington the 2nd day and visited the Lincoln Memorial after which we drove down to Virginia for lunch and visited the factory outlet there.....I tell you....It's huge! And lots of shopping for me : ))

We spent 5 hrs there.....

And ended up at Rocky Mount (NC) for lobster dinner...And reached home at 12 midnight...(9 hrs behind our planned time)

It was a good road trip which I enjoyed thoroughly with Hub, we will probably go to Virginia again as it is closer to where we are staying and I just found out that I have a cousin staying there...Thus a good excuse to go shopping again ; )

Day 4 In USA

I am beginning to get over my jetlag, it tends to get worse around 3 to 4pm here in the Eastern state coz that will be 3 to 4 am back home....I have been trying REAL hard not to doze off in the middle of my conversations with people....Wait till you see my eyebags..

It was a boring past few days here coz Hub's car is not ready for collection and thus we can't go to the Asian supermarket. There's really nothing in the apartment's kitchen....not even salt & pepper *roll eyes in disbelief* I feel so bored coz it's been a while since I last cook....

Hub's colleague has been kind enough to lend us his car and we managed to go to the factory outlets here yesterday ; ) It's REally BIG!! Well it's rows and rows of boutiques....Me likey!!!

Will see what I can whip up tonight with the frozen and ready to eat food in the freezer....Hopefully the car will be ready for collection tomorrow and I can buy all my Asian sauces tomorrow night...

Day One in USA

After 21 hours of flying, 6 hours of transit, 45mins running like a mad woman in Chicago O'Hare airport chasing after my domestic flight (which I almost miss after spending more than 2 hours at the immigration) and 2 hours of driving from airport to Hub's apartment; I am proud to announce I am finally here in North Carolina!!! Hooray, I made it & in one piece!!!

And yes, I am really tired and my bum is sore from almost 30 hours of sitting... There is something wrong with my Blackberry, I can't seem to be able to connect to any of the network here. So if you are reading this, let the rest of the guys know that I am safe and sound k? Will try to get a local prepaid card this weekend. Let me show you my apartment, this is going to be my kitchen for the next 3 mths. Hub kept it real clean at the moment coz he can't cook at all... Man....; p

This is my own double Lazy-Boy armchair! Yes you can actually recline the back to almost 180 degrees....Kinda like the 1st class airline seats ; )

This is my favourite part of the place, my balcony which overlook a big pond. I will be resting at home to nurse my jetlag today. Hub is going to collect his new car this Sat and we are planning to pop by the biggest Asian supermarket here so that I can get some Asian sauces and start cooking!!!! Will keep you guys updated often ; ) and do keep your comments coming in so that I know that I am not alone...Miss ya..

While I am Away

I will be able to see Hub in another 51 hours ; p Yes Yes, I will be leaving tomorrow morning for States....I will be there for about 3 months so meanwhile stay tune to my blog!

To C, sorry for not being able to witness your big day but I am sure you will look beautiful and happy on your big day! Also enjoy your stay in New York with CM ; )

To the rest of my dearest friends, I will update my post regularly so that we can stay in touch!

Boring Weekends...

I have just realized how little single friends I have! But at my age, I don't think I have any single friends anymore. Recently I realized most of my married friends (my usual drinking kakis) have kids...I have nothing against that. It's just that they simply don't have the time to 'hangout' with me anymore....I usually have the company of my ex-colleagues during weekdays but come weekends....Boom...All gone...Sigh...You know who you are....*Evil Grin* (Well, I used to be just like YOU ; P )
I think I will be knocking on my neighbours' doors and inviting them over for dinner very soon...

I have been staying at home most of the time since Hub left, the only place that I 'hangout' aka my Mum's home is out of bound for me at the moment. My precious niece caught the chickenpox bug and me who never had chickenpox before is now confined to my home....*Sob (what is wrong with me?? Never had chickenpox, my wisdom tooth.. well.. still haven't emerge yet much to my dentist's amusement...See,I am still a small girl at heart ; P...kekeeke)

I am really sick of packing the house, the cupboards, the drawers, the boxes......

Okay I don't exactly like to go out on weekends as it is so crowded everywhere. And the idea of going out alone is worse, but you see I have a pair of free movie tickets (And it's FREE so that makes it more worth it to watch on weekends!) and I am dying to watch Sex and the City....No A, I do not want to catch it on DVD...especially not your pirated ones...Don't ruin my show.....; )

USA Here I come!

Finally managed to book my tickets to States...Yes, I will be leaving at the end of July. I will be spending about 3 months there with Hub. Will definitely try to cook there with their local produce...Only thing is...Hub shipped 1 small saucepan there only (for cooking his instant noodles). So I guess that gives me a great reason to shop for cooking ware ; p

But I reckon I will be posting pics and pics of scenery instead....

Digital Upgrade

Received a wonderful gift from Hub yesterday....It's a DSLR camera!!! Hub decided to buy me one with part of his mid-year bonus ; P
He said "Get you a better camera so that you can take nicer pictures".... It's a Nikon D40, supposed to be one of the most user-friendly DSLR for beginners like Happy Belly....*Grin*
This is a really big 'upgrade' for me because I am only used to point and shoot cameras...plus I dislike reading manuals.....Have to add that to my must do list for the next few months ; )
Need to get used to this new camera before I can invest in different lenses such as macro lens for close ups.
Thank you Hub for the wonderful gift!!!

My Pot of Wealth

Can you guess what this is?.... It is my own wealth pot. *Grin*

Went out with my girlfriends to buy some fengshui stuff for my home. The girls bought their wealth pots; which according to them is a pot mixed with 5 auspicious items to display at home so that it will accumulate wealth for the family.

Being the vain me, I thought the ones they bought looked kind of "Chee-na" (aka old fashion) to be placed in my living room. So I decided to customise my own instead....Well, the shop owner says I can do that too ; P

Bought these apples which symbolises "safety" in Mandarin and a wealth ball (it's the yellow ball in the middle) It's a total of 5 items including the 'green wealth/health crystal soil'. Don't you think it look kinda cute?

Hope it will bring my family health, happiness, better relationship, good luck and wealth!

Couldn't resist this green apple.....This is about 1.5" in size (those in the pot are about 1"),
Going to put this in my car ; p

2 Steps Back

I still cannot believe that I actually did it…. I have just tendered my resignation yesterday after working in this company for about 3 and a half years. Many concern colleagues asked if I have found a job and my answer is No, really, I am going to be jobless…. by choice….for a while….I doesn’t really know how long.

Hub and I have gone through this many times and brush it off many times too over 2007; Leave? Stay? Wait for promotion? Leave? Wait for pay raise? Stay?

I reckon sometimes in life, in order to take a big leap, you just have to take 2 steps back. I hope I will not regret this choice but one thing I know for sure; if I don’t take this step, I will definitely regret it. I am grateful that Hub promised to stick by me, well, financially I hope…*evil grin*

Yes, Hub and I have our own plans and we do not feel comfortable at this point to reveal anything yet to relatives or friends. Just trust me I did not leave without a reason ; P

Well good news is, I will have a lot of me time from March onwards (“,) to do my favorite thing……To Cook!!!

Early Christmas Surprise

Just received an early Christmas gift from my Taiwanese girlfriend, couldn't wait till Christmas and I just have to unwrap it!!! Happy Belly can't resist surprises *_^

And guess what? It's these super duper cute cookie cutters that I have been eyeing online! I have asked my girlfriend to help me check out the prices in Taipei and she decided to send it to me as Christmas gift.....Happy Belly has very good friends indeed..

Couldn't wait till Hub come back this Sunday with my camera so I decided to snap this from my Blackberry instead..

Look at my cookie cutters! I just can't decide which is my favourite... Hope I will get to use them soon.

Finally I did it!

Yes, I finally created my own blog! It was actually my New Year resolution for 2007 and after almost 12 months of procrastinating and asking around I decided to just blog and learn at the same time.

You should be able to guess from my header that I enjoy cooking. And I love to see my loved ones enjoying my cooking. Especially my loving and ever so loyal food taster, my hubby.

I will start to post my culinary adventures once I get my camera back from Hub who is in UK at the moment. So do keep a lookout!