Happy New Year 2007!!!

For those who thought that I hv abandoned blogging....hehe..... I am back! There are some things that I really wanna share with all my friends, including my family. Also some things that I really wd like to write abt, this time, without Bryan's help on editing so please forgive me for all speller mistakes, grammar whatsoever... just read.

Winter storm in the month of Feb.

This is the 3^rd winter we spent in Pittsburgh since 2004. For the first time Bryan has agreed that we should shut our windows totally. I didn’t think we’ve seen this much snow in the last 2 winter. This year, even Bryan couldn’t take the cold and I’ve seen him wearing more layers, including elbow and knee pads, hand gloves, home socks and bedroom slippers. As for me I just try to avoid the kitchen as the window in the kitchen is the only one that is slightly open. (We need the air.) However I can’t avoid going to the kitchen for the whole day. I need to cook. SO I either do quick meals or just cook fried udon, fried noodles, or glutinous rice…etc. Then order Bryan around to either make coffee for me or refill my mug with hot water from the kitchen… :)

Actually the coldest day reads -19 degree C but with a wind chill of -25 degree C. Wind chill is what we felt on our skin so we usually just read the “feels like” temperature on the weather channel.

For the first time we actually has frosted window frame (from inside the house, that has ice forming along the frame). For the first time, those 2 trees outside my window has got ice covered all around its branches. One morning when I was cooking in the kitchen, I realize something that “sparkles”, it was the ice on those branches when the morning sun shines on them. It was the most prettiest sight I’ve ever seen.

Becos of the winter storm and crazily cold weather, we were trapped at home for >2 weeks, we could not do our groceries at all and for that period we were without fruits and vegetables. As a result, haha… guess what, our farts really smells…..!!!

Cocoa hates winter. I am so afriad of the cold. Yupz, when I sleep, I try not to be the first to go to bed. I let Bryan sleeps first, and then after a while I will roll him over to the other side (the other (colder) side of the bed), so that I can sleep on his side, which will be just “nice and warm” hehehe… LOL :)

V Day 14 Feb 2007

Bryan thought of bringing me to eat Jap food on Vday. But of cos it is snowing BAD on that day, not a wise choice to brave the cold. So we end up just "doing stuff at home", nothing special to talk about, in fact it is so normal that I actually forget what we did that day.

Anyway I do remember one thing. To create some romantic atmosphere, I tried to light a candle. Bryan saw it and he looked worried, and then he said to me that he prefers oxygen. (Cocoa : " .............!@#$^$&&*")

CNY

The only thing we always do for CNY - Make pineapple tarts.

By the order of Mr Bryan Low, I abandoned his mum’s pineapple tarts recipe….and adopted another recipe given to me by Leng. They are really so good, so so good that the pastry could actually “melt-in-the-mouth”, and no joke abt it. We made our first batch at Geok Wah’s house one week before CNY. GW and Bryan helped me a lot in the wrapping… GW is a dumpling expert, naturally her tarts are very nicely wrapped. But for Bryan to get it done correctly, I must say, he is amazing!

Seminar : “How to love your Husband Better" 17 Feb 9:30 am to 1230 pm

Cocoa attended a Seminar in Church on “How to love your Husband Better. Bryan was of cos “EAGER” to find out what I HAVE learned. (Too bad, I’m not so stupid as to share everything with him)….. There are stuff that should be kept between and among “wives only”… so ….. well, however, I can still share one thing, "SEARS", Support, Encouragement, Admiration, Respect, and S___ ____. (To know what these 2 words, email me in private and I will tell you!)

Well, let’s just say, it is really an eye-opening time for me, to have the other women shared their thoughts and experience to one another. Everyone was being sincere and honest. There are really lots to learn from it, parts of some advice seems rather impossible (for me NOT to do). For eg, "I will not nag or complain"... My O.S. when I read that line was "No way!". So, although I do agree to all that's been taught, I do not think I can actually do them all. Either that or maybe for the next week I will try to at least try to be "nice", and then one week later reverts back to my naggy habits. I know I am sometimes may be too childish and wilful when I do certain things, even behaved badly when I'm in a foul mood. All these things I did it and I regretted. So there are lots for me to do, for me to learn, in God's way, to be a better wife to Bryan.

CNY Dinner

On that same day, we went over to friends’ (Geok Wah and Zijian) house for CNY dinner. TingTing and Kevin, Kenneth and Linli came to join us too. We had steamboat, a roast chicken, Almond desserts with longan, pineapple tarts and peanut cookies. Well, we also had some wine and sake. (What else can be better to battle the cold??) Oh, Kenneth handmade that almond desserts. At first I really thought it was from instant pack but I was quite impressed to know that he made it. Kenneth, he is our new grad student representative, who apparently has become a more cheerful guy, now that his wife has come to Pittsburgh to join him. They are newlyweds. A very cute couple. Kenneth was very proud of this desserts and kept asking us how it tasted. We all joked that the best thing out of that dessert was the longans!! HAha!

All of us was watching the ALL STAR NBA thing on TNT while having dinner. That was quite entertaining too. It was really a very special CNY dinner here in Pittsburgh. It has been snowing all day, freaking cold, but we were all eating steamboat inside. It was already past 11pm when we decide to leave. I really hate to call it a night. But when we were out of the house, we saw ZJ shovelling the area just outside the garage, Kevin and Kenneth both using some tools to brush off the layer of snow off the windscreen and all 4 windows of their cars.... And then Kevin's car couldn't get out becos it's right tyre got stuck in the snow, in a hole actually.... ZJ, Ken and Bryan all have to push his car out from that hole. It wasn’t an easy task, they shoveled, they pushed, shoveled again… I never thought it was that hard to get just one car tyre out from one slippery hole….

It was almost midnight when we got home finally. It was a long day for me. But a happy one. I was still very excited abt the day that I couldn’t sleep that night. We have to gossip abit lah...among ourselves only. It was 6am in the morning when I finally go to bed. Bryan said I slept “soundly”….. J

Thoughts

One day I was sipping coffee next to the window, lazing on the cozy sofa, watching the snow. One huge snowflake actually sticks to the window and I was drawn to it quickly, hoping to get a close-up look…. Just one snowflake can be such a beauty! I asked Bryan, just how much more can I still ask for in life??? What and how can life be better than this?

Something interesting to share….

Bryan’s Top 3 Most Enjoyables…

1. Lancome’s facial and facial massage. (cleanse, scrub, mask, tone, moisturise... all inclusive)
   
2. Body Massage (Essential Oil inclusive)
   
3. Foot massage (cleanse, scrub, moisturise..)

See that they are all “body-related”… haha.

Top 3 Most Enjoyables (Food category)

1. Coffee
2. Chocolates
3. Chocolate Chip Cookies

All begins with the letter “C”. Now I know what an appropriate name I am called... "COCOA!!"