The Apple's Diary!

Tapping onto my new found energy, I decided to make my day even better with this confinement food - Sesame oil chicken. I followed the recipe from Noob Cook . She made it so easy and it was really easy. I tweaked a little to use up all the spring onions but the end result was still the same. Fragrant - a treat to my nose. Really loved this dish and now chicken has become my best friend, I think this will become my staple.

I like Tom Yum Goong... when I'm in Thailand. Back in sunny isle, I won't purposely order a Tom Yum lunch. Reason #1 - it is too spicy for me. Reason #2 - It is already very hot during lunch hour, I don't want to end up perspiring profusely. Reason #3 - I don't have to suffer a diarrhea later. But Xiao Poh likes it... just like the Papa. So I gave in ONLY once to the craving and ended up with all 3 reasons surfacing. After which I was always thinking of making Tom Yum Goong myself at home, so I could control the spicy level. So today, feeling energetic, I venture into my kitchen to spice up my life... Tom Yum Goong (Apple's version) The Main Ingredients #1 - Tom Yum Paste ($2.20) There were 2 choices for me in NTUC and I picked the level 1 spicy level. #2 - Tom Yum Set ($1.50) Initially, I wanted to buy lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves only. But I chanced upon this and got myself a pack. The pack consisted of lemongrass(x2), Kaffir lime leaves (x5), shallots (x2),...

Finally they were all done with the hacking. It had been so dusty and so noisy. As a description how dusty it was, we had to clean the door everyday, mopped the floor twice everyday, even when no window was opened. This was how dusty it is.

Couldn't resist buying this cute pair of ducky booties for Xiao Poh. I hope Xiao Poh will like it, no matter as boy boy or girl girl.

Bought this Clarins' Stretch Mark Control for a start. Have been applying since week 6 in a bid to dismiss any stretch mark appearance. I don't know if it really works as there are many sayings about stretch marks. Stretch marks could be genetic... so I did a quick check with my mum. She got minimal stretch marks but more obviously on the thighs. Coincidentally, I also got stretch marks on my thighs although I didn't know how it came about. Probably the growing up years. Stretch marks could also be prevented by drinking more water. By making your skin more elastic so they stretch better and not get "wounded". So I am dutifully drinking more water than ever. Actually since I am preggie, I am constantly thirsty. A check with gynae revealed that it was normal. By the way, Clarins is not cheap ($82 for a 250ml tube) but I still applied religiously after shower each time. I hope this will save me from ugly stretch marks.

Pregnancy is really a life changing event. Suddenly everything you do, you will add 10% of caution to it. From the first day we discovered Xiao Poh's existence, Darren could tell that I wasn't having an easy time. Some days, I wished I could just stay in bed and not having to work. Some days, I wished I could have my teh-si. So one day, Darren came back and surprised me with a love gift (cadeau d'amour). It was so nicely wrapped up and I couldn't guess what it was. He said this gift was to thank me and encourage me to endure on ... all the sake of Xiao Poh. I could take it as Anniversary gift, Valentine's Day gift, Pak Tor anniversary gift, X'mas gift... whatever I like. So I eagerly unwrapped my lovely present and really got a lovely surprise. Very appropriate and thoughtful. A Tag Heur watch. I had been wanting to buy a proper "adult" watch as I felt that it was time for me to grow up from my Swatches. I had been looking around at different brands b...

Pregnancy can really make my day better or worse. The next day after I tested positive, I came down with a heavy flu. Knowing that I shouldn't take any medication at that point of time, I had to rely on natural remedies like gargling with warm salt water for sore throat and drinking plenty of warm lemon honey water to ease off the flu. It took quite a while for me to recover and I constantly worried about my little one. From week 6 onwards, I suffered from Morning Sickness. I was nauseous most of the times and I gagged so much with my morning teeth brushing. I didn't puke or rather I couldn't puke out, so it was really a very difficult times for me. My only consolation was that with higher preggie hormones, the morning sickness would get worse, but it also meant baby was thriving well. Slowly I realised I couldn't eat some of my favourite food. Example 1: Duck Rice Photo Source - http://aromacookery.com/2009/04/14/合记-he-ji-braised-duck/ I had duck rice for lunch one da...

Got my impromptu hair cut yesterday at Jurong Point. I just stepped into one of the many hair salons available and asked for this lady that my Church friends went to. She turned out to be a salon director but the damage was only a fraction of what Oliver (my usual hairstylist) would charge. After the cut, I quickly went to the toilet and took a snapshot of myself. This is what I wanted and at $35.90, I have no complaint. But my hubby thinks I look like strawberry shortcake... hur hur

On 12 January 2011 Wednesday night at 8pm, a miracle happened to me. The story goes like this..... I just had my baked salmon dinner and I was home alone. Darren had a night assignment. I wasn't particularly very late in my period but I just had this nudge that I should perform a home pregnancy test (hpt). So I took out one of those online test strips I purchased and telling myself even if it was a negative, I should be too bothered. Because the recommendation was always use the first morning urine which had the most concentrated human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG is a pregnancy hormone). And then, my eyes popped out, big and wide! online HPT I couldn't believe the test result. I got a positive?! I took out another brand of HPT from Guardian, to confirm it was a true positive. Guardian HPT The test result didn't take very long to show 2 clear dark lines. Yes, by this time my eyes were swelled with tears of joy and gratitude. My God my God, Thank you for Your faithfulness. Wh...

Where have all the trees gone to? This morning, we got a shock to see the trees with barely any leaves left. Okay, they didn't chopped down the trees but they chopped off the branches. Why? Speculating that is for the lift upgrading workers' safety. Now I look out of my window and see such a sad botak tree.

Toast Box has been around for some time yet, today was my 1st time eating at Toast Box. I ordered a mee siam ($3.50)... and a glass of iced milo ($1.80) Verdict : Passable. The mee siam gravy was a little thick but the spicy level suited me well. The bee hoon kind of lumped together so that was a minus point. Iced milo was a little sweet but still drinkable. I think for a quick lunch without fuss, Toast Box can be considered.

32 gone but 33 is going to be better! Wednesday, 2 March marked darling Darren's 33rd Birthday. Woah! No present from me actually. I owed him a 1st Wedding anniversary gift, a Xmas gift, a 4th anniversary park tor gift, Valentine's Day gift and now, his birthday gift. As each year passed, it is more and more difficult to get a gift. All gift ideas exhausted. So if time permits and if my pocket is deep enough, maybe I will roll all 5 gifts into one HUGE present for him.... we shall see. His birthday celebration started with dinner at Sakuraya Sashimi House @ Anchorpoint. Followed by a small birthday cake from Swissbake which we brought home and lighted the candles. Ah... I'm beginning to see that our faces have evolved to make us look like some sort of twins. Haha... the fat round faces. I take it as a positive sign of happiness and blissful marriage. Luv u, my darling!

Last Sunday, attended Darren's colleague's baby girl 1st birthday. I was surprised to see that the cake was done with Hello Kitty image. Well, it was my first time seeing a Hello Kitty cake and I wonder if it was the mummy's favourite or the birthday girl's favourite. Anyway, the cake was done nicely and it was no ordinary chocolate sponge cake. It tasted quite exquisitely but I forgot to ask who was the baker. Well, I think I would like to have a Hello Kitty cake for myself too, on my birthday.