Jade’s Mom’s days…

I need bigger closet space for my clothes!!! I spend too much money on cheap little frilly items. You know the ones … $3 skirts and blouses bought at the flea market. $5 knitted handbags and accesories bought in Bali. All the $2-3 tank tops in every color ranging from fuschia pink to lemon yellow to leprechaun green to eggplant purple and $5 cardigans in all the rainbow colors.

Come to think of it, I don’t really spend loads of cash for clothes, but all those little items are piling up very fast in my little wardrobe!

Perhaps the best solution is to spend $200 on a pair of jeans and $300 on a blouse, then I might be able to control the clutters… ho ho ho. NOT!!!

-L

I made some chawan mushi for my dear daughter today (she doesn’t eat egg other than this dish) and it turned out pretty good. I’m sooo proud of myself. HAHAHAHA … ^_^;;; … I admit I really don’t cook at all, but I’m quite amazed of what I’m capable of making when I put my mind into it!

That said, I will share my recipe for the chawan mushi. Good luck!!!

CHAWAN MUSHI recipe for individual serving

- 1 egg

- 150 cc dashi broth (or chicken broth)

- 1 piece kani stick (cut up into 4 small pieces)

- 1 shitake mushroom (sliced)

- salt and soy sauce to taste

note: you can substitute the ingredients with chicken pieces, shrimp, fish, green onion, etc. I just used whatever is in my fridge today.

Prepare the dashi broth my mixing hot water with hondashi (or chicken broth boullion) - read instruction on package. Set it aside. Half-fill the steamer pan with water, heat till boiling then reduce heat. Cut up your ingredients of choice.

Beat egg with fork (not too vigorously) and slowly pour in the cooled broth. Season with salt and soy sauce and stir.

Put the kani stick and mushroom in a japanese tea cup, slowly pour in the egg mixture (I recomend using a fine sieve, to get better texture).

Steam the chawan mushi in very (VERY) low heat for 10-15 minutes, don’t put the lid cover on too tight. After 10 minutes, test it by sticking small bamboo skewer (or toothpick). If the bamboo comes up clear, then the chawan mushi is done.

It’s so yummy, I’m making this again tommorrow morning. ^_^

-L

Today I went grocery shopping with Jade. We went to Carrefour supermarket Lebak Bulus, near our house. It took like, seriously, FOREVER to get shopping done. She fidgets in the cart, sings loudly, asks to get cookies and ice cream and stuff every 2 minutes. She tries to help, but she’s always messing up the task that it took twice as long to get it done right … It was quite fun, but was very exhausting! By the time I got home I just want to throw down and go to sleep! Good thing that I brought one of my housemaids along, otherwise I’d be so spent, I probably wouldn’t have the energy to drive myself home!!! Usually I have a driver so it’s not so bad, but today he’s not available … and I really need mascara … HO HO HO ^_^;; … just kidding …

Gosh, I probably won’t survive living in LA or anywhere outside Indonesia for that matter. Imagine going to the supermaket with Jade, alone. I have to take her with me to go shopping, strap her into her carseat, drive ourselves to the store, park, unbuckle her, try my best to hold onto her hand (heaven forbid she escapes and run around in the parking lot!) while trying to find a trolley, pick her up and into the basket, run around the shop while listening to her whining "Can I have this cookie mommy? Can I get juice mommy? Ice cream please mommy?" … Then after 2 hours (instead of the 45 minutes it normally takes) of going around in circles trying to get the shopping list done, we get to the cashier, I scramble for my wallet through a big bag (full of jade’s wipes, spare clothes, tissue etc… in case she spills something on her), pay up, load the groceries into the car, buckle Jade into her carseat (praying that she doesn’t protest), drive home … Oh here’s the WORST part … unbuckle Jade from her seat, try and lug 4-5 big bags of groceries AND hold onto her hands while trying to make it inside of the house in one piece …

Gosh … I get tired just by dreaming up this scenario!!! I guess I shouldn’t complain at all about my situation right now, huh … ^_^;; … Maybe the next time I take her shopping with me we’ll take 2 carts, 1 for me and 1 for Jade, I would have more peace to get my shopping list done quicker. She can get anything that she wants, but in the end I get to sort out which items that I would allow her to have. Then again … I’d feel guilty towards the guy who has to put back all of the stuff I don’t want to buy for Jade … hmm …

Does anyone have a better battle plan? ^_^

-L

PS: I’m drinking Barq’s while posting, it’s soooooooo good. So worth the 160 calories. Well … maybe not … gosh darn it, I have to work out tommorrow. :p

*Rain rain go away…*

Seriously crazy … isn’t it June already?!?

My laundry is stacking up because I’m afraid it won’t EVER dry … and now my bedcover stinks … it smells like FEET!!! YUCK!!! I’m not kidding you! You have to come over to my house and smell the thing, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously smelly!!! I have to wash it all over again … *sigh* …

I need retail therapy … *I know, it doesn’t have anything to do with laundry, I just need an excuse to go shopping … HO HO HO* ^_^;;

-L

Hello and welcome to my blog!

What’s with this ‘new’ phenomena anyways? Do we really read other people blogs? Really? hmm … Okay, okay, I know it’s not THAT new … It’s already been going on for a couple of years.

But what really inspires people to create one? More intriguingly, what drives people to READ someone else’s??? It’s the same reason behind the ‘reality show’ phenomena. Inside each and everyone of us is a SNOOP, itching to take a peek into someone else’s life. Why do we have the urge to do it? My theory is we are ALL dissatisfied with our lifes, in one time or another … Maybe not all the time, but at some low points, we all have experienced the same feeling. STUCK. We’re stuck in a rut. Stuck in the same job, same work, same chores … Every day the same thing, over … and over … and over … again and again … It’s the same shit. And then we turn to other people’s life. Just to see if they’re rolling around in a muck, just as we are. And then we’d feel better if they’re in the same predicament .. or even worse … We’re hoping and praying there are dramas, lots of ‘em … Break-ups, broken hearts, dillemas, parents troubles, sibbling rivalry, bad hair days, whatever … Or maybe it’s just sinister old me … HO HO HO! ^_^;; 

So, enjoy (or don’t) my rants and/or raves … Welcome to my blog! ^_~ *winkz*

-L