How to make bumbu rujak

How to make bumbu rujak or Indonesian Fruit Dip (Jakarta fruit dip) since a lot of people asked me how to make this dip :D

Alright, you will need:
3 small chillis
Peanuts (I use dry roasted)
Gula Jawa
Tamarind (asem)
Shrimp Paste (terasi)
a pinch of salt (garam)

1. Crushed chillis with peanuts

2. Cut Gula Jawa thinly so it's easy for you to crush it (ulek)

3. Add shrimp paste and tamarind (as desired amount)

4. Add lil bit water, if you add too much water add more gula jawa

5. Add a pinch of salt

6. VOILA! done :D taste it if you think not spicy enough add more chillis :)

Bye Bye iMac

So I decided to move my iMac to my sewing closet room, since it's cooler down there. I'm so disappointed with my iMac :( I thought she will stay with me a little bit longer or maybe forever like my power mac G4. Even tho I don't use it anymore, but it still runs if I hook it up.. just slow..

Anyway, I decided to fix my husband HP Media desktop, it needed power supply unit replaced. So I bought it for only $26 and it's up and running now.

Also, I bought a new 20" monitor too, amazing how cheap a monitor cost these days. HP LCD monitor only for 109 bucks (including shipping) that's amazing.

Now, my iMac still alive in my basement, I only use it when I sew. :D

When I have more money I will buy the power supply for my iMac, i think that's why it's broken.

Coling Fan

Alright, I bought a "Thermaltake Mobile Fan II External USB Cooling Fan" and we shall see whether it will work or not. I simply put the fan behind my iMac G5 and see what will happen, maybe I should turn the computer off by the end of the night too.. so let it cool down and rest.. poor my old iMac :D

The other news on my computer kids..

I bought a power supply unit for my husband's old computer (not really that old) and I managed to replace it and now the computer is reformatting. At least I know it's alive now :).

SO IF this iMac decided the fan won't cure her narcoleptic problem, I will replace her with a PC! did you hear that Ms. iMac G5 I'm so pretty 20" screen!!!! I will replace you with a PC!

Alright that's that.. and an adapter replacement for the macbook pro also coming, so hopefully that one will work with my macbook.

ALL DONE! :D so total I already spent:

Power Supply + cord: $20.98
Cooling Fan: $13.08
Power adapter cord: $17.99
USB Wireless Adapter: $11.69

Total so far: $63,74
for 3 computers :D YAY!

iMac G5 overheating

Alright, so this mac that I have, iMac G5 20" with iSight, my husband bought it in 2005 as my bday/Christmas presents.

I didn't know that the product has some recall a year after (or maybe 6 mos), and I missed that. So now my iMac is narcoleptic, she always fell asleep whenever she wants to. Plus the HD already failed on me 1 time, so I replaced the HD by myself, and I think one of the reason it has the sensor that I removed too..

anyway.. I'm going to see her temperature today and see, what's the end of the day temps are. I already bought a cooling fan.. and see whether it will works or not.

Here's her temp at 10am:

Kitchen remodelling

We finally going to do this!! we really are going to do it.

First thing first, we are going to install over the range microwave, and this is the microwave we will get :) so excited!!!

Next week, the Granite Transformation sales person will come over to finalize my order. But the project itself won't start till early October. :( oh well we will get a new stainless steel sink and a granite counter top.

We won't get new stove & dishwasher till next year tho.. Oh well.. one step at a time :D

WoOhOo

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I officially going to Cary, NC for Ramona's Wedding.. this is going to be my mini vacation without kids and husband! woohoo... I'm so excited :D

Good luck for my mother in law & Carson with 2 kids, 1 toddler who likes to make a mess and a baby who doesn't take bottle and use me as a human pacifier :D

HAUHAUAHUAHAUAHUAHUA

It's been a while

Wow.. it's been a WHILE!

I'm a mother of 2 girls now.. and loving them so much!! I think from 1 kid to 2 kids wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I mean it's still hard... but not as hard as I would imagine. I thought I would cry my eyes out everyday, trying to survive. But the reality is, I can do it :D.

Since I already know what to expect, so everything is look more easier. Especially comparing Cae to Carissa when she was a baby. Carissa was one tough baby I can tell you that. But Cae is pretty laid back.. sleeps alot.. and if she's full, diaper clean, no gas, she just likes to chill :)

Last night I decided it's time for me to go back to work. I need the extra income.

I've been married for almost 5 years now, and it's still hard for me to ask for "pocket money" from my own husband. I grew up in a family where we don't ask for money from anyone (including my parents). My dad gave us allowance since I was 6 yrs old, and it's daily allowance. So it's up to us whether we save the money or we use it to buy stupid stuff (like candies).

Then when we were in Junior High, the allowance became weekly allowance. By High school we have monthly allowance. So I hardly ever asked for money from my parents. Because they already given us certain amount and we have to make sure we didn't waste them all and have savings.

ANYWAY, so I hardly ask Carson to help me paying my credit cards or my car payment (unless I don't really have any income). Until now, I don't like to ask him for money (unless he offers me :D).

That's why I need to go back to work. I have some jobs from home, but I don't want to count on it too much. Since it's not a steady income.

I just purchased a patio furniture for our front porch :) They will ship it to our house for only $25 :D

DO NOT BUY Samsung Glyde SCH-U940

It's the most HORRIBLE phone out there!! believe me!! the touch pad is horrible, i can't read text messages most of the times because I can't use the touch screen!!!

I am 32 weeks pregnant right now.. IF my water broke or I'm in labor and I can't make a call.. I'm gonna sure SAMSUNG seriously!!!!

ANNOYING PHONE EVER!!!!

2 kids or more?

I was thinking out loud about this subject. Some of you might be not agree to what I said here. But this is my blog and I can say whatever I want right :D

Anyway, I was looking at some people who has big family.. more than 2 kids.. Sometime I'm amazed how the mom can do it without any helper from nanny or driver (in US).

I was thinking and debating whether I want the third child or not. After thinking for months now, I decided I think 2 is enough. Why? Because I want to give the best for them, make sure they have all the best from both parents.

Like for example, Carissa.. our first child.. she has all the best possibilities that she could get. Great early childhood education, great attention from both of us, I think we can afford 2 kids with great education. I don't think we can afford more than 2. I don't want our 3rd and 4th to have lousy education and attention from us IF we have the third and fourth.

I just want to give them the best of everything....

Home Sweet Home

Hi All! :)

I know it's been a while since I updated this blog. So the new news is, Erica & the boys already moved out last weekend. So now we have the house to ourselves again.

After they moved, we will still keep the basement bed down there for guest. I bought a new bedding from Target. It was on sale for only $55! Great deal.


Also, we are preparing the baby room right now. Tomorrow my mother in law will come to repaint the room :). So excited!

Today I cleaned the laundry room.. it's been a while since I cleaned it. It's nice and spacious again :D

I will take picture the before and after of the baby room :). I'm so excited about the baby room :D The color would be blueish white with soft sage green on the bottom half.

Dream Kitchen Upgrade

No idea why but suddenly I have the urge to upgrade my kitchen. It's pretty brand new, but we didn't custom build it. We're the second owner, anyway I was playing with the kitchen builder from Lowes.com site and got addicted. This is the exact size of our kitchen. As you see I don't have that many space to work with.

BUT i think adding a peninsula would be a great idea, so Icha can help me cook :) and eat while I'm cooking. No idea when are we gonna be able to do this.. but I bet if we can replaced the countertop to black granite and stainless steels appliances and sink. Our house value will increase.

Hmmm.... isn't it look nice tho??!! come on... :D I wish that I could win a lottery right now :D

Cendol!!!

Such a hard work just to make this authentic Indonesian Dessert called Cendol.

Based on wikipedia, cendol is:
Cendol [pronounced 'chen-doll'] is a traditional dessert originating from Jakarta, Indonesia[citation needed], but is also popular in Singapore, Malaysia[1], and Southern Thailand (where it is called lortchorng singapore ลอดช่องสิงคโปร์). The dessert's basic ingredients consist of coconut milk, starch noodles with green food coloring (usually sourced from the pandan leaf), and palm sugar.

It took me about 1/2 hr to just make this lil wormy jellies!!! hahahahaha. So proud of myself :D

New Desk!! Finally!!

I was looking for a decent computer desk forever! before we used the spare kitchen table that we had since I was in college as a computer table in out kitchen. But it's rounded dining table, so it's not that pretty.

1 Month ago, I saw an ads at Target this black anywhere desk table for $75. But they always out of stock, everywhere! so finally I got the rain check coupon, and bought it today :). It's easy to ensamble and looks so pretty!! :) LOVE IT!!!

Allrecipes.com

Here's another tips for you fellow blogger out there.

I realized how sometimes we went grocery shopping without any meals plan for the week, we ended up buying stuff that we don't use and became a waste of money!

So I use Allrecipes.com to actually create menu for the week, and once you're done putting together 10 or 12 meals for the week, and then you can click "print shopping list" button. Allrecipes.com automatically generate the shopping list for you! it's amazing!

Believe it or not, this way you only spend about 50-60 bucks per week for 2 meals per day. For 6 people is really cheap.

For tonight I made Mexican Chicken and it is so good! here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 (3 pound) chicken - cooked, deboned and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 8 (6 inch) corn tortillas
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl combine the chicken, onion, garlic, 2 tablespoons chili powder and salt. Add the tomatoes with chiles and the Cheddar cheese. Mix well. (I stir-fry it instead of just mixing them)
   
3. Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with corn tortillas. Pour in the chicken mixture. Pour soup over all and spread. Sprinkle with additional chili powder for topping. Bake for 40 minutes or until bubbly. Let cool and serve with dollops of sour cream.

Men... you can't live with them, can't live without them

Sometimes I wonder why we love our husband so much but yet we neat picking them to the T. When they do good stuff for us, we think "oo yeah he's nice... BUT wish he will do it more often". Or they do help us with clean up or dishes.. but YET we still think he does it once in a blue moon.

I just don't get it why we do that? maybe not all women like me, but c'mone girls.. admit it!

Sometimes I do prefer do it myself because I have certain stuff with certain way to do it. But at the same time you want them to help out more. *sigh*

So hard... everyone said men are the simplest creature. Yes they are, but I don't like telling people what to do. I always think it's suppose to be a common sense.. if laundry hamper is full it means take it downstairs and do your laundry. Nope.. guy prefer to see a full hamper and overflow to the floor and wait till they're out of boxer or socks. Then they will ask "Honey, I ran out of white socks" and maybe he was just informing me, but all I heard is "WOMAN! do laundry!"

*sigh* Do you know the dishwasher is next to the sink in the kitchen? REALLY??!?!! yes!!! they design it that way, so once you have done rinse the dishes.. you can put it in the dishwasher right away! OH MY... hormone.. I'm blaming all of these to hormone.

I love my husband to death... *sigh* why women has to be so critical. Sometimes I wonder why can I be just like men... where I don't need to care about the dishes piles up and it can wait. Or they can navigate to a messy room without having any intention to pick up the mess.

Okay I'm done ranting... I bet Carson will be mad at me when he read this post.

My First Mowing Job

 

 

Tired of waiting for Carson to spare some of his time to mow.. I decided to give t a try. It looks so easy when Carson does it.. So I got the lawn mower out, tried to turn it on.. twice.. didn't work.. this time I press the red thingy and pull the string. It works! yay.. so I start pushing.. gosh.. it's heavy!!!

1 round... and I was thinking.. it's hot and there's no way I can do this.. but I'm that kinda person who doesn't like to stop working half way done. So with 2 breaks I finally finished the back yard.

Now went to the front yard.. at least our front yard is much smaller than the back! thank God for that! There you go.. my first time mowing our lawn :) not too bad huh!

SF Trip

Last weekend, I went to SF with my brother to attend one of our friends wedding.

The trip was great, the wedding was awesome... overall it was fun.

But there are some ridiculously crazy about big city. I think it's just because I live in a small town too long. But I don't regret it.

Here are some facts that I thought it's ridiculous:
- Toll fee to enter SF is $4.
- they only have 2 main bridge to go outside SF
- parking meter cost $1.25/hr (while ames only cost 25 cents for 1 hrs and 15 mins)
- Speed limit say 50mph but people drive 80-90 mph
- You have to pay for parking at the hotel even though you stay at the hotel

Okay I have to get carissa from her class.. I will tell more story later. :)

My new family :)

The boys finally moved in with us!! :) okay let me give you the background story behind all this.

Carson's sister and her two boys lived in Waterloo, Iowa. The town is not a really good place to raise a family, too many crimes going on and honestly the Ames school system is WAYY much better than waterloo. PLUS Carson loves these 2 boys so much that he wants them to go to school in Ames so he can help them with their education and sports.

At first I said YES the very first time Carson asked my opinion about them moving in with us. I grew up with my dad always took people into our house. So for me to take a family (our family) to our house is not a problem at all. We even took a stranger before (Vone :D hahahah) for 3 months.

So anyway, now the boys take over our basement (but I still have my sewing room) and Erica will sleep in the guest bedroom. So we all good.

I thought living with boys will drive me nuts, but Blayke (13) and Marcus (10) actually did pretty good at picking up after themselves and they do help alot with entertaining Carissa. Cooking for an extra 2 mouths also not a problem since I used to have my catering business feeding over 10 people at once.

So my life doesn't change that much since there's no big chance for me beside picking them up from camp and make sure Marcus takes his medication. Blayke is 13.. he's good to go man.. :D hahaha

BUT Carissa schedule a lil bit messed up at the moment, because she's just TOO excited about seeing the boys and always wants to play with them all the time.

Carson became very busy too entertaining the boys and take them to practice wrestling or go doing sports stuff so I can still have my "me" time.. which is very nice of him. Love you sweet heart!! :)

so far so good I should say.. :) and I DO love to see people eat what I cook!! :) hehehehe

Ooooo what a pretty dress...

especially for only 80 bucks.... hmmpff... I asked Carson whether I can get the dress.. he said, "Sure, you can wear it while you're cooking and cleaning the house" PFFTT!!!!!!

Another Kidney Infection

Few years back, I think in 2005 I got a kidney infection. It wasn't fun at all. Then Yesterday I have been having the same symptoms.. my prev. dr. already warned me, usually people that already got kidney infection once, most likely will get it again.

So I had a strong feeling that I am having another kidney infection. It's bad... the shivering.. the chill.. the teeth grinding.. it's bad...

I decided to go see a dr. this afternoon and they took some blood test for white cell counts and my urine test.

The dr. walked in to the room and told me, yeap you have a kidney infection... oh my :(

now i'm nauseous.. and can't eat at all today :( *sigh*