Viola went to the States for the first time. The trip was almost a no-go because she was quite fuzzy in the morning. Finally, she was strapped in the car seat – and still asleep. Phew.

We were stopped at the border because mom-in-law has to get I-94 to get into the States. While we were lining up inside the building, a siren went off. As if the scene written for “24 hours” TV show, three border patrols surrounded a BMV SUV from the back; hiding behind concrete dividers, and one with the gun hoisted and aimed towards the car. I was not able to see how many border patrols stationed in front of the car. The driver and the passenger of the very nice luxury SUV were apprehended and handcuffed. But since this is not “24 hours” TV show, there is no gun fired, no car explosion, nor nuclear weapon triggered. … and we finally strolled into the U.S.A.

We met up with Hendro and Lydia for a very late lunch at a Korean restaurant. Very nice food. And at 4pm, Elisa and her mom are ready for shopping and I am ready for pretending to like shopping. And the lucky participant is Viola – she is the only one returning with shopping bags. Everyone else, better luck next time.

Driving back to Canada is quite uneventful – until we reached the border AGAIN. The Americans border patrols were in action again. They were barricading the States border. We were worried but the border patrol just waived us to move on. There were couple cars pulled to the side. This time – no gun aimed at the car.

That’s all folks!

Thank you Lian for the recipe~

Since the CNY tea time at her place, I have the craving for this sweet treat. Using her recipe, I made some for myself. It doesn’t turn out as beautiful as hers, but it fulfills my craving for now. I did change a bit of the recipe since I am a bit lazy in some of the “how to”. For example, instead of shredding the pineapple, I juiced the pineapple. In doing that, I cut down the cooking jam part for almost half since the water is not as much anymore.
For my first attempt in making the tarts, this was what happened:

1. 190 Celsius, so I automatically set my oven to 190. Of course, after 25 minutes, I wondered how come the tarts were not pale golden. I ran upstairs to my computer to search the Internet for other recipe to compare. While I was doing that, Inda cie msn me and we chatted. She somehow mentioned 190 Celsius is equal to 375 Fahrenheit. I ran downstairs and turned up the heat of my oven to 375. Inda cie said for 190 degree Fahrenheit, I won’t be able to cook anything, which IS true. Duh! Lesson learnt!
2. In the midst of brushing, rolling, assembling and baking the tarts, let me remind you, I still have a 2 month old daughter who will scream for her meal. So, I was between my tarts and her and of course my computer. Things tend to happen when we are not focus on one thing. I burnt the third batch of the tarts. The whole kitchen smelled like cookies until this morning.
   Somehow, my mom “rescued” the burnt tarts by scarping the burnt part. I do not know why, I have perfectly good smelling, without burning smell tart, my mom and my husband kept devoured on the burning ones. Oh well- then the entire nice one is all MINE then.

So, those were what happened to my first pineapple tarts.

Viola went for her 2 months shot yesterday-4 needles in total. I could not bring myself to see her face while the whole thing took place. Luckily, her papa was there to hold her and her grandma to support her. I was pretty much out of it because of my mastitis. That’s right, it is back again. It has been 2 days now.

Anyway, she did have a bit of fever last night, 37 degree. She became fussier than regular, and she also screamed. It actually makes me confused. I know the nurse already told us the side effect but unless you experience it yourself, listening your own child screaming like that is not a fun ride especially when you are sick yourself. We gave her Tempra. Poor papa, we had to ask him to sleep on sleeping bag since we need the bed for the two of us. Thanks papa!

This is her picture, taken a day after her vaccine. Seeing her smile, i feel so relieve. And yes, i just have to accept the fact that those eyes are not getting any bigger.

That’s the Happy Chinese New Year in Hokkien.

An article today in the paper mentioned that we should not call it Happy Chinese New Year anymore. We should call it “Happy Lunar New Year” because it is also celebrated by other nationalities other than Chinese.

Kiong Hi Fat Cai

Gong Xi Fat Choy

Hi All,

Finally, I have uploaded new Viola pictures: baby Viola.
Yes, she is 7 weeks old now. Yesterday, we took her to see her doctor and here are the result:
Length = 59-60 cm -between 90th and 95th percentile.
Weight = 5.77 kg (12.7lbs) -above the 100th percentile
Head circumference = 39.0 cm -75th percentile

How I obtained this DVD was from a good friend of Desmon, Maho. Afraid that I would be bored at home for my one month confinement, she borrowed me this DVD. Thank you, Maho!!!!
I have to say, I have not watched a good movie for quite sometime. And, this is one of the good movies that I would always remember from now on. The storyline is simple with beautiful scenery and background. The frame of the movie reminds me of anime, which is excellent.

I especially love one of the characters inside, Ippei. He is so cute and smart. I don’t want to ruin the end of the movie, but it is a MUST WATCH movie. Desmon watched it half way through and he insists on watching it all over again, and I want to watch it al over again as well. It is a very touching movie. Alright, I have to stop talking about the movie too much for I want you all to watch it yourself.

Please go to this website for synopsis:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_always.htm.

Official website:
http://www.always3.jp/

Hopefully you guys will like it as much as I do. For people who watched it already, let’s discuss it~ ^^

Viola is now more alert than ever. She knows what she wants and when she does not get it, she makes sure she is heard. What a cute pie~

She is most active when she is awake in the middle of the night for feeding and diaper change. She would babble away and smile at me. I really wish I have the extra energy to talk to her during that time, but I am just too tired and sleepy. I did spend 1 hour talking to her and in the morning, I ended up like a zombie. Not fun there either~

I guess her favorite person to be with now is her bobo (my mom) and the only reason because her bobo spoils her. First, I find it hard to accept but then hei~ that is her job to spoil her grandkid. I guess it is up to me and Des now to be the disciplinary ones-isn’t parenting all about that? Stop there! I am AGAIN too far ahead of myself………. just enjoy NOW…..*sigh

^^”

It was a rainy and cold day when we drove to Chinatown. We dropped by to see Dr. Hong and some other friends that I know when I worked in Chinatown. Everyone said Viola looks exactly like her daddy.

Although it was cold and rainy, Viola slept through the “Adventure in Chinatown” clinging closely to her papa’s chest. It was Viola’s first trip using baby carrier. She was calm and cooperative. We went to eat chive and egg buns, spicy pork buns, white sugar cakes, and chocolate cakes. Yummy treat for a cold day.

The Chinese New Year decorations are starting to fill the Chinatown streets. Seeing those reminds me of the days that I gave tours to the students regarding Chinese New Year- the candies, the redness of spring couplets and red pockets, the nien gao (sticky rice cake), the stories, the walk, and the laughter. Fun fun fun~

Cannot wait to tell Viola about all the stories about Chinatown when she is wee bit older.

Yesterday was the first time Viola and I went to the library to join the rest of the moms and babies for “baby time“. We sang lots of nursery ryhmes and played together. So many nursery rhymes that I have no clue how to sing. The teacher was nice to introduce me to some books and Cds for it. I have been playing the Cds for Viola and for myself. Some lyrics are good and some are just plain weird…. i.e.mother fell off, father fell off, etc. ha ha ha.