A Valentine's Tradition

... no more! We usually celebrate valentine's day by preparing lobster at home (we've done this 2 or 3 years in a row already). This makes celebrating so much easier since you don't have to battle the crowds or worry about where to go :)

Chez MintPatch Dinner Menu
* Oyster Stew
* Pepper Crusted Steak with Red Wine Sauce
* Balsamic Tomatoes and Crinkle Cut Fries
* 1998 Monticello Rioja
* Strawberry Mousse in a Chocolate Shell

This year, we strayed a little from the winning formula. We had steak instead since we weren't particularly in the mood for lobster. I tried to stay true to the seafood tradition though by making a pot of oyster stew. It was also yesterday that I discovered how disgustingly packed with fat cream based soup dishes are. I used a whole quart of half and half and a stick of butter. That's like over a 100g of fat!!! Yes you heard right. See thats why I don't like cooking, for me ignorance is bliss. I can never look at a bowl of chowder the same way anymore.

Look at the candles ... so romantic right? Too bad hubs made me blow them out after 2 minutes :p


Hubs is especially proud of the fact that the steak is carmelized on the outside yet juicy on the inside:


I'd like to say I made this ... but I bought it from Whole Foods:

Awww

I want to be MADE

Wow yesterday brought the first nor'easter of the season. Weird, this has been an unnervingly mild winter so far. 50 degrees F in February? I should be rejoicing but I know we'll eventually pay for it with some freak snow storm in May when I'm out parading in my new sandals.

Anyway, we were stuck at home all Sunday and ended up watching two movies 3-Iron and The Aviator. An arty one and a hollywood-esque one. Hubs refuses to watch chick flicks, I'm still working on converting him. We also watched like a billion episodes of MTV MADE that I tivo-ed. See MTV makes me feel young and cool again. Woohoo!

If you haven't watched it before, Made is this show where teenagers get transformed into anything they want. Of course the twist is that these kids are the total opposite of what they want to be made into. Think along the lines of loser nerd wants to be a rapper or prissy princess wants to be skater chick.

Hah so I was just thinking, how cool would it be if I could be made into an aerobics/spinning instructor! How totally opposite of couch potato me haha.

Now what would you want to be made into? :)

Depressing

Smashed Poop

It all started on Thursday when Miss Moxie picked up and ate this awful stinky piece of thing when we were out on our evening walk. It was dark, I couldn't see, so I yelled like a mad woman but nothing would make her spit it out. !*@*!@

Fast forward to Friday she has the runs in the morning. In the evening hubs comes home to a poop fest in the kitchen (good thing I got home late muahah). Then early saturday morning, I wake up to this awful stench smell in the bedroom. Turns out she couldn't hold it in ... and the scariest part was she wasn't able to walk. Her hind legs just refused to hold up :*(

Turns out I don't do very well in stressful situations. I got all freaked out and we rushed her to the emergency vet ... at 5am. The nice vet managed to coax her to walk after a bit and gave her a fluid injection beneath her skin so she won't dehydrate. You can see her little hump in the photo hehe.

She's doing better now, after a long afternoon of looking rather pitiful, crying, and not being able to walk. She can finally stand up with some effort. I'm so relieved I can finally take it out on her for all the worrying. No more sympathy for Mox. She wins an oscar for best corgi actress.

Meet the Family

Uh oh it's retail therapy part II. As you can see, now that the wedding is long over, and I'm done with my applications, I am in desperate need of a new obsession. Funusual was having a 30% off everything sale and we managed to pick up a few Alessi kitchen accessories. They are usually ridiculously expensive, but so irresistably cute. Looks like we're officially alessi whores.

From left to right. Ms Priss, the pepper grinder, Mr White Pants, the cork screw, and funky Koziol, the sugar dispenser, masquerading as an Alessi.


I also got a cute apron! Me posing as myself ...


I need to resist the urge to go back and get the can opener! OK I need to go hibernate now, we're out of heating oil so our apartment has no heat or hot water bleh. Time to wrap myself in blankets.

Retail Therapy

Headed down to bloomies last week to indulge in some retail therapy and managed to score some bargains. I got a cute juicy velour hoody (I love juicy), a BCBG sparkly top for $30 (I wore this for CNY) and a pair of theory velvet pants at more than 50% off (don't they make my behind look so nicey nice). Juicy, Theory and BCBG are some of my favorites because they fit me so well! Shopping in the US is a huge pain since I'm, to put it bluntly, short. And every friggin store is guilty of of vanity sizing. I swear a size 0 here is really a size M in asia. HOW UNFAIR. Ok rant over. I guess this stops me from buying everything in sight.

The hoodie. Well not technically a hoodie since it has no hood. Confession: I've worn this 3 times already haha

新年快乐

Happy chinese new year! The year of the dog, moxie's favorite :)



For our 'tuan yuan fan' we met up with two couples at Chau Chow City in Chinatown. You see 6 is a lucky number ;) As we ate, we lamented about the cny foods we missed most. Kueh bankit, pineapple tarts, bak kua, fried prawn rolls ..argk! Yeah we're deprived, gone 10 years without partaking in the festivities. Also talked to my family, they seem to be having much fun (without me). Hubs and I resolve to celebrate CNY in singapore next year.

Weird, I never really missed the whole lunar new year thing till this year. I don't know why, maybe as you get older you get more nostalgic ... it's nice to celebrate in a big way like the americans do thanksgiving. Even though both festivals really stand for the same things, spending time with family, thanksgiving just doesn't have the same feel since it's not something I've grown up with.

Fish Maw soup. I don't remember why but eating fish maw is supposedly auspicious?


Yummy duck


Pigs trotters with fatt choy. We clogged our arteries but we'll be rich!


Sea cucumber ...


The obvious ... 年年有鱼. This was actually really tasty!

In the Kitchen

We cleaned out our pantry the other day. It was filled with food that hub's parents had brought us during their trip almost a year and a half ago. We probably have enough to survive a nuclear explosion. Fortunately, or unfortunately, most of the stuff was expired so the decision to toss them out was easy. The rest of the items, I wasn't sure what to do with. There were all kinds of chinese herbs, apparently for making soup? But I don't make soup???? Though I found in the mess, 3 boxes of prima chilli crab premix! So yay! We'll be having a feast sometime soon :)

We have like a billion packets of bak kut teh so if anyone is craving some ... let me know :D



My next task was to make pineapple tarts. Being a tad over zealous, I bought a fresh pineapple not the canned ones. Canned pineapples are for sissys. Real cooks use fresh ingredeints. Of course I can barely cook or bake or cut for that matter. After watching me battle the pineapple for a while, hubs graciously offered to cut it for me :)

The pineapple:


My nemesis:


They look better than they taste. :( The pastry was too salty and the pineapple filling wasn't sweet enough. I also ran out of filling after 12 tarts. Hence the empty middle row. I was hoping to be a domestic goddess and send these to family and friends for Chinese New Year. *Sigh* will have to experiment again!

I also played dress up with Moxie. She's outgrown most of her clothes already. That cow :p

Weekend List

I'm resolving to be less of a procrastinator, so this weekend I am going to accomplish all these things that have been sitting on my list for a while. Oh and of course fun stuff too, things I've always wanted to do but never got down to doing

Print out wedding photos (my mom's been bugging me forever)

Finish writing out our wedding thank you cards *blush* mom is so gonna kill me but I think she hasn't read my blog in a while so she doesn't know ;)

Get stamped envelope to mail to embassy so I can get my new passport and travel

Clean the apartment so we can invite people over (haha). Reward: Go to ikea to get home organizers

Do laundry. I have a huge pile of clothes to be washed (hubs wants to stop me from buying new clothes (yeah right) till I do laundry :p)

Go to newton open house on Sunday. There is this condo we should take a look at. It's right down the street from where we live. 3 bdrms and includes garage and patio! Only problem is the outside looks kinda crap. It's in our price range so we should take look anyway. Yeah there's usually some major flaw with anything in our price range :p

Bake pineapple tarts! CNY is coming up and I've always wanted to do this. Anyone have a good recipe?

Take moxie for interview with doggy daycare. Then we can take off on short trips and not have to worry :)

Work on resume

Return jacket at BR and exchange sweater at bloomies

Wow long list ... wish me luck!

Tea for two ...

and two for tea. I've only heard about the brand Bodum recently from matreshka. She bought a coffee press set as a wedding gift and showed me the website. I really liked their design! Modern chic.

Anyhoo, I ended up at Starbucks one morning trying to find a gift for the yankee swap we had at work. And guess what! I noticed a bodum assam teapot for $20! I liked it so much that I even got K one for x'mas. And finally last weekend, we caved and got a set for ourselves! It makes drinking tea so much more fun :D ... oh and the really cool part is you can microwave the whole pot! How's that for convenience ...

Our afternoon tea :)

Japanese Perfectionists!!

Hubs found this on youtube.com and actually tried it. It's amazing! Expect no less ...

Happy New Year All

twas a quiet new year's. We were somewhat relieved.

We've spent the last few new years with A and gang. Each time there's been major drama. Last year, one of the A's went home sick, another broke up with her bf, and someone else got into a fight. The year before, the boys had a flat tire and never made it to the club before midnight hehe. We're beginning to believe it was that combination of people that triggered the bad luck of which hubs and I were a part! haha

This year we've almost broken the curse. We went for dinner at Sibling Rivalry in the South End with different friends since the A gang is broken up :( What was memorable about the food, besides being tasty, was the generous portions and the pomergranate champagne cocktail (I forget the exact name). I love POM! Everything went smoothly ...

It was really dark in the restaurant so the photos didn't turn out. Here's my duck! It's huge ...


Though I have to mention that SZ forgot their keys and were locked out of their apt when we were with them. It's never happened before. Our fault? Hrmmm ....

Christmas in NY

I like Christmas time. I get to have caramel apple cider from Starbucks, nice pressies, and indulge in consumerism (both pre and post x'mas). This year, despite our grand plans to spend Christmas at some exotic locale, we ended up going down to NY yet again. Not that it wasn't as much fun! We got to see my cousin and A and N.

As usual Moxie sticks her nose in the wrapping paper. She has to inspect everything:


We had dinner at Sushi of Gari on Friday night. N thinks this is one of the best sushi places in NYC (less pretentious and greater focus on the food). She must have spent a fortune in her quest for perfect sushi. haha


I know, I know, we always seem to be eating sushi! A and N were shocked that we weren't floored by Chutoro. Scacrilege but I'll say it ... Chutoro just doesn't do it for me. I get a bigger kick from eating uni :D Anyway the sushi was good, though not a wow. Maybe I'm just not a big fan of fusion style sushi ... or maybe we should have gotten the omekase.



We also had a soba lunch on Saturday at Sobaya. I got the cold soba (their specialty) and Tororo set. I loved it! Tororo is japanese yam served over rice. The tororo is white and gooey with the texture of mooshed up cereal. Weird but I like gooey stuff. Why don't they have a place like this in Boston? :( Oh and they make their own soba with ingredients flown from Japan. Though the Japanese purist might be horrified to find that the soba is actually handmade by a little hispanic guy heehee.



Ok ok lest you think that we eat only Japanese food, we did grudgingly go for Italian on Saturday at Assenzio in East Village. The buffalo mozerella with prosciutto was good. I also learned that buffalo mozerella is made from buffalo milk. Hrmmm....

My Jumbo Shrimp with Black Pasta dish:


On Christmas day we watched Memoirs of a Geisha. I had to watch it since I read the book, even though I knew it'd suck. The movie was slow zzz and it was awful watching supposedly Japanese people speak with a Chinese accent. I can tell myself that they're speaking Japanese, but it gets tricky when the americans come. They still speak English, though the chubby geisha pumpkin adopts an american accent. HRMMM. I'll give it a 5/10, at least I enjoyed looking at the pretty kimonos haha.

Of course the gifts! The best one ... for me from me. Yay a mulberry bag! Saks where is my order???? We also got a mini convection oven from my generous cousin L and a cool free people scarf, also a $25 starbucks gift card that I promptly spent. Very cool!

A My Humps Christmas

This has to be the strangest christmas card ever!! So tacky but so funny. Picture the 3 wise men scene done to Black Eyed Pea's My Humps. Yikes!!! You have to see this for yourself!

I gotta admit watching it is addictive. Here are the actual lyrics for My Humps ...

A sneak preview:

OK OK Pocky!

OMG my pocky obsession is out of control. I picked up 4 boxes of Pocky from Kotobukiya the other day. Almond Crush Pocky, Kurame (Sesame) Pocky, Reverse Pocky (I thought this was so clever - it's inside out geddit? haha), and Marron Toppo which isn't technically pocky. I have no idea what Marron is but I suspect it's some kind of Japanese chestnut that you can only find in a the fall? Someone please enlighten me!

My Pocky stash:


And check out these Pocky commercials. They're hilarious!

Little Monk Pocky

Crazy Pocky - They still eat pocky the same way they did 15 years ago .... left to right ...snap!

Medival Pocky - They sword play with pocky in this one *gasp* kill me now

No blog entry is complete without the quiz:

You Are Reverse Pocky

Your attitude: rebellious and clever Non-conformist, but curiously a trendsetter With you, up is down... and it's a wild ride!

What Flavor Pocky Are You?


In any case I've found new direction in life. I want to try all the pocky flavors!!! Eeeha! I have chocolate, strawbelli, green tea mousse, creme brulee, pumpkin, milk, sesame, reverse, almond crush, men's pocky, honey mustard pretz, salad pretz, under my belt.

A Wedding Gift

M and G gave us tickets to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the MFA in Boston as a wedding gift earlier this year. They know that hubs is into photography so this was really thoughtful and sweet of them. Though being the ungrateful people that we are, we procrastinated till today when we finally decided it was time to go before the exhibit closed at the end of the year.

When we got to the musuem, it was packed and the tickets were sold out??? Erhhh I didn't know that tickets ever sold out at a museum :p. Thankfully as we were about to turn around and head back, one of the very nice ushers gave us two tickets for FREE! Apparently 2 people had cancelled. Yipee! Good wedding mojo?

Hubs and I both preferred his portrait shots though he's really known for his work with landscape and scenery. BLASHPEMY eh. Not as blasphemous as a comment we saw in the guestbook "good photos but would be better if colorized" ... I hope the person was kidding haha.

There are these random men around the musuem:

Which celebrity do you look like?

Read about MyHeritage.com today on digg. It's supposedly able to do face recognition on a photo you submit and tell you what celebrity you look like. Oooh what fun right? Of course it has more meaningful purposes too :) for example you can use it to find long lost relatives or trace family lines.

Perfect timing. We have a release going out at work tonight so what better time to try this new toy while waiting haha. Apparently I look like Hilary Duff in one and Renee Zwelleger in another. Hrmpf. Guess they haven't uploaded any photos of asian celebrities :p

Alrighty people make sure to try it out and let me know who you look like!

Is my face that chubby???


Oooh I likey she's like 20 and I'm not ...

Oooh I likey she's like 20 and I'm not :)

Snow Day

It snowed like a $*#$ on Friday and we're covered in a good half foot of snow. I hate it when it snows since I have to wear 'sensible shoes'. I twisted my ankle last year navigating the snow in my 3 inch heels so no more being gung ho. I am getting old ...boohoo :(

Moxie on the other hand loves snow. Maybe it's because she has a nice warm fur coat on all the time. She isn't even fazed by the fact that the snow is sometimes taller than she is. She just hops through it like a bunny. It's really quite funny. I took a video today when we took her for her daily walk.

What a silly looking mox! Her legs are too short.


Here's me with the mox

Purses R'us

Help I'm drowning in the deluge of christmas sales. My will power is weak with an empty wallet to match. I did however successfully avoid buying a new bag at the botkier.com sale. Yes ladies there's a huge sale with $600 bags marked down to $175. Bring on the credit cards! For those of you on a shopping ban, please cover your ears! *nyah nyah nyah*

I've recently discovered these bag blogs too :) to help me keep up to date on my obsession ...

The Bag Blog
The Bag Lady
In My Bag
Manolo's Prada Blog
Bag Crazy
Purseuing

Oh yes, and this weekend there's a 30% off coupon for the Gap and Banana Republic. 20% off at Lord and Taylor and Macys, Bloomie's coupons, and a Gucci Sale. There's also a 20% off smartbargains.com coupon floating around. Let me know if you want the codes or coupons. I'm afraid of the damage I'm gonna do ... help me please :(

An American Girl

We checked out the American Girl store in NYC over the weekend and boy was it a mad house! There was actually a line to get in. You'd think it were a new trendy club or something. Apparently American Girl dolls are the latest 'IN' toy for girls aged 7 and up. There are 2 kinds of dolls 1) Historical Character Dolls that come with their own story 2) Just Like You dolls that look like you. Freaky eh? You can even dress like your doll. Of course these dolls don't come cheap at almost $100 a pop!

Hubs and K were rolling their eyes at the insanity of it all while kicking themselves for not coming up with such a money making idea. There are American Girl magazine, movies, books, furniture, clothes for dolls, clothes for girls, pets, the list goes on. The most ingenious (or incredulous) part I must say is the doll hair salon! You can actually bring your doll to have her hair done. $10 for a sassy ponytail, $20 for elaborate braids. They put the dolls in little chairs with aprons ... I was quite fascinated. It's all a little cute, a little nuts.

Erh yes I am a hair stylist ... for dolls. What is the world coming to??? :P


Does this look like me? LOL

Gobble Gobble

My stomach isn't feeling very well at all. It's been kinda queasy the past couple days. I know, I shouldn't have abused my poor tummy over thanksgiving. It's all L's fault! Why did she make such a delicious sweet potato casserole, and turkey and and ... The worst part though is that it all culminated in several bathroom runs while out shopping on Saturday (will spare all the details). Ended up taking some Imodium to feel better. And the saddest part was that we were going to Sushi Nouveau in Montclair NJ that evening for Omakase. Sigh... needless to say I didn't have much of an appetite. However, I did manage 8 pieces of sushi. The scallops and giant glams were amazingly delicious with a slight hint of a citrusy sauce (I think that's the chef's specialty). I can't believe I missed out on a good meal :( So unfair HRMP

Some photos from thanksgiving. Step aside Legal Seafoods, this oyster stew by L gives legal's clam chowder a run for its money.


Not complete without the turkey ...


The pie we bought from Finale in Boston. If you can't bake it buy it teehee


Didn't get any good photos from our sushi dinner. Hubs forgot his camera and we had to make do with my camera. He also refused to use flash :p so they all turned out dark.

The Sushi. Tastes better than it looks:


The green tea tiramisu with almond pocky ... very good. I ate even though my stomach hurt :(

I am ... Mini Moaner

My friends say that I'm a pessimistic sort of person. Hubs calls me Mini Moaner coined after Debbie Downer on Saturday Night Live (she's funny!). I'm sceptical, I'm apathetic, and I love complaining. But I can't help it, I am Singaporean! :)

Was thinking about its this morning. I read a report about Newton being named he safest city in the US. That's a good thing right? But all I could think was, great just what we need. Prices will go up and we'll never be able to afford a house here, and the criminals now know where to shop! It's true you know ...

Hey look, it's Debbie Downer. BTW doesn't Rachel Dretch remind you of Harry Potter????

Natto Obsession

I should be working on my resume. But blogging is more fun. :p Hubs and I have been stuffing ourselves with natto ever since we discovered the joys and convenience of frozen natto. Natto is this weird sticky stinky fermented soybean that the Japanese eat and we love it!

This is what the carton looks like:


Our attempt at making natto maki. I know I know, not very gourmet looking :p

Of Eyebrows and Chocolate

Yay I finally made up with my eyebrow threading lady this weekend. I stopped going to her earlier this summer because she'd stood me up several times! :( Unfortunately, this boycott hasn't turned out to be too successful since it's not like I'm spoiled for choices. I went to Leeba salon near BU for a while but I stopped going after the lady ruined my eyebrows!!! :( They turned out crooked. Mad does not even describe it. And I'm not usually that particular about my eyebrows.

OK so I finally sucked up my pride, tail between legs, and went back to Nila auntie at her new salon. She used to work out of her home and A and I would sneak out at lunch to get our eyebrows done. Anyway her new salon (Dreams Salon) in Harvard Square and my eyebrows are beautiful again!

Another perk of the new Harvard Square location is that it's right behind L.A. Burdick, a New England based Chocolatier! We stopped by the cafe after to get some hot chocolate. The place was super packed so we'd to get it to go. The hot chocolate is unique, more bitter than sweet and very rich. I'd recommend the small cup coz I felt sick after downing most of the medium (and I love sugar!). Oooh I also bought some chocolate mice. Very cute!


A photo from inside LA Burdick. Doesn't it feel like you're in a different country? I want to move to Harvard Square!!!


Eyebrow Theading, 114 Mt. Auburn:

Got Some Spare Change?

Found our mailbox stuffed with all kinds of junk catalogs today (in time for x'mas I suspect?), victoria's secret, patagonia, bloomies, and the ultimate neiman marcus catalog!! I've always enjoyed perusing whilst gasping at the ostentatiousness of it all! :p

My top picks for this year ...

#1. Skycar Prototype
Who can resist a skycar? Only 3 million moolahs ... it's touted as the "world's first personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, designed to elevate individual drivers above the headaches of commuting and the dangers of highway travel". WAH!!!


#2. The Henry Dunay Brooches and Necklaces
From their site: the black jade brooch (217.52 carats) is embellished with diamonds (2.28 carats) and rubies (39.36 carats). Erhmmm like I didn't even know jade was measured in carats?!?!


#3.Swarovski Crystal-covered Ipod Case
Erhmm this one is considered cheap at the lowly price of $840.


#4. Louis Vuitton Jewelry Case
I saw this in the paper catalog for *coughs* $44,200. I can't even find it online. Don't tell me it's sold out already? This one I don't mind having ... so exquisite looking! :(


OK can't continue now. I just told hubs about the skycar and he rudely snatched the catalog away from me for his toilet reading :p ... ahh maybe he will get me something in there for x'mas *dreamsss*

Sephora Haul

It's been a busy start to the week. Attended an info session Monday night and a project management seminar this evening. Was unmotivated to go and a colleague bailed at the last minute, but I'd already told my manager I'd attend. Needless to say it was *#@# boring zzz.

But on a brighter note. To treat myself, I stopped by Sephora before the seminar to figure what I'd order with the Friends and Family code. 20% off gals! Skincare and make up hardly go on sale so I'm taking full advantage. The code is FF2005 and free shipping on orders >$75. Thanks to P, I'm going to try out the Bare Esentuals starter kit which includes sample foundations and brushes. I'm a loyal Shiseido fan but hey she convinced me! It's also one of the top selling items on sephora.com.

Am also gonna get Philosphy's Gingerbread Man Body Souffle (I love the warm scent!), some Nars blush in orgasm, Fresh sugar face polish, and Clinque Water Therapy Body Cream . Hey a girl deserves to be pampered every once in a while ... especially when there's a sale :) Oh and my shopping cart was coming out to way too much money so I had to axe the train case yet again. *sob*