On How to Bake Something Pretty into Something Horrifying

Let's start with something pretty to look at, shall we? (No, I'm not talking about me. But thanks anyway)

I have been browsing to find any baking recipes to get into the holiday spirit. Or to be precise, since I have bought 3 cookie jars, I'd better start filling them up or they will be collecting dust. Out of these, I was planning to make the Raspberry-Almond Linzer, the Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Swirl, the Butter Cookie Sandwich with Chestnut Cream, the Chocolate Souffle, and the Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies (Please match the title with its picture yourself).

I thought the universe was on my side when I saw the deal on KitchenAid Standing Mixer from Kohl's on Cyber Monday. Kohl's had 20% off everything online. That made the price of the mixer down to $280 from $350. On top of that, there was a $50 mail-in rebate. So right now we're at $230. On top of the top of that (Yes, I like to make up my own words), I got $75 Kohl's cash. So I bought it.

It was hard to choose between Empire Red color or Aqua Sky. But I thought the red will pop in our white/gray kitchen. The day it got delivered was probably the greatest day of my amateur baking days. Then it went downhill from there.

Last Sunday, I made the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies. It all can be concluded in 4 points:
1. They became a hit in my household.
2. My current household consists of my husband and me.
3. I don't like mint (with some exceptions). I hated the smell of the pure mint I used/
4. Thus only my husband ate the cookies. (36 cookies in one week). Probably that does not make me a good wife.
5. However, I didn't use the mixer because I used Betty Crocker sugar cookies mix and I want to be careful to pick the recipe that my lovely mixer will experience for the first time.

After some consideration, I picked the Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Swirl because I like red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese filling/icing, so I though Why not? But let me tell you. They didn't turn out as good as I'd like it to be. And trust me, I already lowered the standard. It all can be concluded in 10 points:
1. I forgot to mix in the brown sugar. Duh!
2. Mine looks like poop.
3. Some food coloring did not mix well.
4. Thus making it look like poop with hemorrhoid.
5. I'm sad.
6. Though I can't wait until my husband gets back and we can laugh together at it.
8. But I do not give up. (Listen to that, kids!)
9. I am preparing the next recipe already. Wish me luck!
10. I feel bad for my mixer

You can't clearly tell the unmixed red food coloring from the picture. But I hope you get the idea......
Don't they just look so poopy-ish?????!!! GOSH!!


Love,


Your angry-but-not-giving-up-yet-because-I-have-to-set-a-good-example-for-my-kids baker

On His Profile Through My Eyes

One Saturday evening, a lady came to us and said, "You two make a cute couple." I laughed and said thank you, while he kept his cool and gave a cute crooked smile. Among many other things, his smile is one thing that will make my heart melt every time I see or think about. 

Since I don't want to take anything for granted, including that smile, I am writing a few things down about him 

♥ When he eats ice cream, he always wants a glass of milk to go with it. (I thought it's dairy overload)

♥ Every time we shake hands during Sign of Peace, he will try to tickle my palm with his index finger.
Every. Single. Time.

♥ He'll call me, Babydoll!! to let me know he's home after work everyday.

♥ Or just when he calls me Babydoll

♥ When he eats bigger portion of dinner, then I know that he likes the food I make (my Shepherd Pie does this)

♥ If we watch something really weird on TV, I'll look at him and he'll look at me with our eyebrows raised.
No words needed.

♥ When he can't ever seem to find his tools, I'll find it for him and ask rhetorically, What would you do without me.. He'll say, I don't know, baby...I don't know..

♥ He's into some TV shows that I think are crappy and strongly feels that they are good.

♥ Sometimes he'll say to Lucky (our yellow lab), Yeah, mommy loves you today. Well, it's actually annoying at the moment. What does he mean by today? I love her every day!

♥ When he snores at night.

♥ Okay, maybe scratch that last one.

♥ Just for being a really good husband. 

♥ But hey, ask me again 25 years from now, right?! ;)

Love,

Nautical Living Room

We have another living room on the first floor that we don't use (yet). Right now, we are using our second floor living room that looks like a standard living room. Couch and love seat in espresso faux leather material, espresso coffee and side table, and boring throw pillows (they came with the couch). Not to mention a bunch of speakers and electronic stuffs. We are planning on buying/making a long floating cabinet that will hide store all of those stuffs. But, that is the least of our priorities. Meanwhile, we're working on our kitchen, door and window trim, and throwing junks that we both accumulated throughout the years. Oh! And of course to prep for the coming of our own little monkey. Thus, in order to keep me sane, I have been dreaming about that first floor living room.

I have compiled several ideas of what I want to have. Obviously I focus too much on tables (I have the glass coffee table, the garden stool functioning as side table, and ship wheel side table). My husband and I for sure want a cowhide rug. I want accent chairs, for sure (wingback is preferred). But who knows when we will eventually get around to do this.

I guess it's time. Back to "work"

On What I'm Reading

I am having a reader's block. I don't remember when it started or how I got it. For me, this is bad because I love to read. However, I don't have the desire to do so for this past few months. God knows why. I can't get into any books. I usually lose it after the first paragraph. I am also guilty because I have been preferring to read a real book than to read e-book (My husband gave me the kindle and I don't want him to think that I don't like it anymore).

However, if there's an author that might save me, it is Malcolm Gladwell. My brother introduced Blink to me a long time ago and it got me hooked. I then proceeded to read his other works. Last month, he had a new book out, David and Goliath, and I was super-pumped. So I bought it. Now it's sitting on my table along with two other books. I may skipped the other two and start reading this one first. 

My in-progress reading materials are:

1. 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child

I already know bilingualism can be achieved for children in general, mostly because I've seen many of my high school friends speak Chinese fluently with their parents at home, in addition to being fluent in Indonesian (fist language) and learning English as well. While I am super positive about this, my husband is not so sure how it's done. So I need this book to convince him and to actually know how people usually do it. Of course the child's first language will be English, but I can start bright and early, but slowly, to introduce him to Indonesian. The great thing was that all of his concerns (i.e., he'll be confused, he'll not be good in English, he'll not be as smart, etc) are tackled as myths right away at the beginning of the book.

2. Little Bee - Chris Cleave

Before I finished reading #1, I found this book in the bargain section at Barnes and Nobles. This is an older book which received good reviews. Although I feel a little too late to read this, but it's better than never. However, my bookmark has not passed the first chapter yet.

3. David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell

I went to B&N on Oct. 1st, thinking that they would have it because it was the launch date, also thinking that it would be displayed up front, I left the store empty-handed. I went back again the next week and asked if they had it(I didn't ask the first time, just because...) It's in the best seller location, let me show you, she said. It was is the left corner of the store instead of by the door or in the middle. Why would you call that bestseller location? But, I found out that it's still cheaper at Amazon (obviously). So I just got it yesterday. I really hope this book will bring me back to life!

Master Bathroom Update #1

If anybody compares me and my husband, it is clear that he is more hard-working. (I don't say that I'm lazy). So when it comes to my ideas for a house project, he's usually down with it, as long as:

1. It adds values to the house

2. It's not too crazy

To say the least, my great idea of secret bookcase entrance was rejected. Not sure why. But several of my ideas, such as chevron pattern on foyer wall (this should have been a blog post), pot filler in the kitchen (we had to frame another wall before the drywall work could be done), the yellow side garage door, to have accent wall instead of backsplash in our master bathroom were accepted. Sometimes he even becomes more obsessed with it that I am. I guess somebody needs to do it (him) and not just to talk about it (me). 

The tiles that we picked out are the same styles as our floor tiles (Daltile San Michele - Dorato). We bought them when we bought the materials for finishing the first floor, which was in April. But, we didn't finish tiling the first floor until July, I'd say. Thus, we started with this project last month and we finished it in 3 days! That's a record!

He started by measuring up the wall and the tiles. Counting how many rows and columns we needed. We also knew that we wanted to have the cut piece at the bottom, not at the top, because eyes are usually drawn to the top. He then attached a piece of wood as our guide. The starting point as well as to make sure that they were level. He applied a thin set of mortar and started putting the tile. Since the tile size came in about 12 in x 12 in (1/8" spacing), we also taped the joint between the tiles.

It took us about three hours to complete the part above the wood. That also includes the cutting time. We then waited a day to make sure they were hardened until we unscrewed the wood and continued on with the bottom part.

The next step is to fill in the grout. We matched the grout color of this wall with our floor tiles. Grouting was not hard, but took time because he needed to step up and down the ladder. I then followed him with wrung out sponge to wipe the excess after 10-20 minutes.

 The last thing to do was to come back the next day and wipe out the haze caused by the grout sand. And here are before and after pictures:

I personally think it looks amazing (of course I have to stand by my ideas :p) But I do feel a spa like master bath. For bathrooms, we use Bianco Romano granite countertop and a dark maple cabinets.We obviously still need to find a vanity light and two small wall mirrors for each sink (and to put trims around the window!). But I am really happy with the way it turns out so far. 

Alright, I'm gonna go and think about his my next project!

DIY Friday: Nautical Glass Coaster

A while back, my mother-in-law passed this link along to me: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/good_day_wi/thrifty-thursday-rope-crafts. The project seems to be pretty easy and God knows I can only do easy DIY projects. Also, I really would like to add more nautical touches to the house. I pretend that our lake house is a beach house, minus the beach. 

It took me a week to get the materials I didn't have: the rope and the cork coasters. I went to Farm and Fleet and Hobby Lobby to get the materials, respectively. Then, it took me another week to start it. I'm blaming my baby, again. I become this really lazy person, which is weird because he is very active inside. So, as you may guess it, it took me another week to finish four of them. Ha! 

My mother-in-law also texted me that my father-in-law picked up a lamp that was thrown out that would be perfect for this project. Do I dare to imagine how long it will take me to do the lamp? 

At the beginning, I hot glued the rope before I placed it on the coaster. But it was a stupid idea. I realized that I could hot glue the coaster instead and wrap the rope on it. Much faster.

The nice thing about this coasters is that they are durable. I can use them outside, which hopefully will do fine under Wisconsin's summer season.

Go Badgers!

Throwback Thursday: Eight Years Later

Eight years later in 2013...Just me trying to be cuddly with Lucky who's not having it. 

Let's rewind.

"Pick you up at Memorial Union." - A. A. G.

I am skipping my story how I got here and the trips we took to Niagara Falls and Miami. I am leaving those to my memoir ;)

MY mother, aunt, uncle, grandfather, and I flew to Chicago from JFK and took the Val Galder bus to Memorial Union, Madison where my brother was supposed to pick us up. We arrived in Madison on August 15th, 2005. Moving day. Bad bad choice. My brother's uhaul had broke down earlier which delayed him a little bit.

 Fast forward later that day

We got to the 2-bedroom apartment I'd be sharing with him. He then went to return the uhaul truck with my uncle. My mom and my aunt started organizing stuffs and then about 5 pm they asked me to go buy food at this Korean place. By this time, my mom had been to Madison several times. But, noooo, they wanted me, the girl who just got here, didn't know anybody or anything, and who just figured out the money bills to go by HERSELF? Yes, just because I spoke English. Important note: At that time, I barely spoke English. Not to mention knowing the culture.

Off I went to point A to point B as shown in figure below. They gave direction: "Just walk straight until you find it. Here's what you need to order." It's 2 blocks away. Easy peasy. 

My Checklists:

1. Arrive safely at the restaurant ü

2. Order Beef Bokum ü

3. Pay correctly ü

4. Have a conversation with a Korean for the first time ü

5. Don't mess up no. 4 û

6. Get home quickly û

When I did no. 4. Basically it was me answering Yes/No to whatever the waiter asked. He was interested in asking me question because obviously I looked new in town. 

Well, he asked me if I was new, in which I said Yes. 

He asked if I was Korean, I said No. 

He asked me where I was from. "Indonesia." 

He asked me if I was studying in college, in which I said Yes. 

Now, he should have stopped. But he then asked me again if I was an undergraduate or a graduate student (I think, I was not sure what he asked). In which, I said, "Graduate." Too funny. Remember the Important note above?

I blamed the universe for not giving me the opportunities to dive into the American culture beforehand. At that time, I still didn't know I made a mistake by saying that. Getting to point no 6, on the way back I kept thinking if I answered something wrong. I kept on walking and for sure I missed the apartment building. I kept walking for 4 or 5 more blocks until I thought, "Hm...It was not that far...Where am I??!!" I walked my way back and guessed the building since there was this one with an open door.

Now.....The thing is.....I didn't bring any keys with me......Thankfully, it was moving day, where people tend to prop the main entrance door open to move stuffs easier. Otherwise...............I don't know. Sitting outside and crying? I didn't even know the door was locked automatically. 

Nevertheless, my brother laughed so hard when I told him about my "graduate" answer. It was his joke for quite some times.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures in 2005. I used Friendster instead of Facebook. So all pictures are gone now. Even the one from high school. This 2005 picture was taken in September. We were about to have a surprise birthday at Union South.

Another milestone in Madison was my 21st birthday. The picture was taken at Capitol Centre Market. My first legal alcohol. Not happy about winter birthday though.

Cheers to more and more exciting stories,