I'm so herb-ppy

KJ knew that I wasn't feeling in the best of health recently (I got a flu, no thanks to the winter cold in New England!) and took the trouble to go hunt for some chinese herbs to buy and have them mailed to me.....absolutely sweeeeeeeeeet and thoughtful of her. Thanks. You know I love you :P

On the side note, I noticed recently that the parcels have all been opened up at the US customs for checking. So for those of you who are planning to mail me stuffs (a gal can wish right?!!! :P).....please take note not to mail anything weird like pig's head, cow's tongue, crocodile's penis or stuffs like that. No meat stuffs allowed - processed or raw.

Care package from mom and dad!!!

The package finally arrived, several days late, despite my parents sending it using the super costly speedpost express service. The delay was probably due to the customs checks. All the items were intact apart from the pork floss which got confiscated at the US customs :( Nevertheless, I'm still glad that the US customs did not return the whole package back to my parents in Singapore! At least I still got my chinese zodiac/fengshui magazines, beancurd skins (with accompanying instructions on how to use it!), dried beancurd slices & the mee-sua.

These may seem like strange things to some of you.....but to me, they are precious!

Back in Singapore, at the start of every new year, I'd buy the chinese zodiac publications to read. It's not that I'm particularly superstitious or anything....I just enjoy reading the forecasts and it has become a habit and yearly ritual of mine. I also love reading up on fengshui stuffs! :P

And during Chinese New Years, my mom would usually make vegetarian beehoon with dried beancurd as well as ngor hiong. Since I wasn't able to go back to SG to celebrate CNY with my family......I thought it'd be nice if I could make some of my mom's favorite CNY dishes over here. That's where the beancurd items will come in very handy! I know CNY is long over.....but the food will definitely bring back fond memories.

As for the mee sua.......first of all, I love love love love eating it....especially this particular brand which is more gooey in texture. Second, mee sua just reminds me of birthdays and of my parents' love! We didn't have big parties with tall cakes on our birthdays.....but instead, my parents would make mee-sua and red eggs for us. I remember there was one time when I was having a cold war with my parents and we didn't speak for weeks. On the day of my birthday when I woke up at 6am to get ready for work......there was a bowl of mee sua on the breakfast table accompanied by 2 red eggs. I was so touched!

Thank you MOM & DAD for the priceless things that you've sent. I love you folks very much! :)

We feel your love......

We are back after 30 days on the road........and this BIG bag of stuffs greeted us at the post office today!!! When the postmaster saw me......he asked if I had driven a truck to come pick up the mails :P

What wonderful surprises we got (post-Valentine's Day!) in all the packages.....we are so grateful for your kind thoughts and generosity. Despite the cold that the arctic front brought today, we feel warm and fuzzy from all your love.

I got these CDs just before we left for our month long roadtrip....and they came in very handy indeed. My gal pals (3 x HLs & SX) had seen/heard my very limited chinese music CD collection when they came to visit and decided to help improve my collection tremendously. The love song set that they bought came with 6 discs and 101 songs in total!

The package from KJ......so festive with the dui-lians and CNY decorations.....and she painstakingly wrapped each and every gift in different cutsy giftwrap...and every item even came with its own "love note". I'm extremely touched indeed........RG too....he loves the murukkus.
And a cutsy package from the cutsy WM!!! Love the unique sanrio CNY decorations and the CNY card that doubles as a table calendar (exactly what I needed but couldn't find over here in the states!!!!). Hello panda and pineapple cookies will be gone in no time I'm pretty sure of that. Rendang sauce I will save for a special occasion.

A lovely and stylish scarf from LX who always have such good taste in fashion. And I love the traditional paper cut rabbit......I'm a rabbit and it's my year.....woohoo!!!

Such a cute fabric carrier from PE and the wine charms will definitely come in very handy for our parties!!

A million thanks for your gifts, love and friendship. They mean so much to us. We love you and we can't wait to see you again soon.

Ladybird generation......

My best friend SN gave me this cute notebook which looks exactly like one of those old ladybird story books that I had grew up with.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!

Yes, I like all stuffs retro.....but ladybird books are much more than that.....they were what I lived and breathed when I was a kid.

My dad would buy me one ladybird almost every other week (ok, sometimes a few more if I were to whine incessantly)....and I would spent hours reading, re-reading and re-re-reading the books until I can memorise each and every word.

I'd gently and lovingly thumbed through the pages....admiring the beautiful illustrations....and then putting my nose up against the pages to catch a whiff of the lovely smell of a fresh new ladybird book!

Ahhhhhhhh.......the joy of holding a brand new ladybird book in my hands.....I can remember it like it was just yesterday.

While I subsequently moved on to read Enid Blytons, Nancy Drews and Sweet Dreams once I started primary school....I had never forgotten my sweet ladybird books. I kept them all in my cupboard for years and years (occasionally, bringing them out for some good'ol reminiscing) until my mom decided that it was time for me to pass them on to my young cousins (I was already in my late teens then!).

So my cousins inherited my very respectable collection of ladybirds and Enid Blytons (lucky them!). I heard my book collection had passed through numerous hands and it could still be in the hands of my youngest cousin who's already in college this year.

I really hope my cousins had enjoyed the books as much as I did.

So yes, I'm a product of the ladybird generation. To some of my younger friends (post 80s generation) who would always tease me for being so "old fashioned" and for not knowing how to use an iphone/ipad/ipod or for sending Christmas cards in the snail mail (you know who you are!)......I just want to point out that it's not because I resist new things/changes.....I just love certain old things and old ways too much to want to let go of them or forget them.

Gifts for the body, mind and soul......

Our belated Christmas gifts from ML & family!

It was well worth the wait.....'cos in the package are foods that can satisfy our cravings, coffee that can quench our thirst & warm us up, fabric that can keep my hands/fingers busy & movies that can enrich our minds and souls and soothe our homesickness.

What a heartwarming and very thoughtfully put together package! Thanks ML, SR, VR & AJ.....love you all.

Yes....it has finally arrived!

I think due to the recent snow storm that had half-crippled New York/New Jersey.....the US postal services have been very much disrupted.

I know KJ has been quite anxious to know if I have received her parcel.......well, here's a shout-out.....I JUST DID...TODAY!

It's a great gift......very thoughtful indeed. Extremely useful for a "globetrotter" (shameless!) like me....kekekeke...on second thoughts, "pig's trotters" might be a better term to use on me *eyeing my expanding thighs*

My THICK wads of cash (I wish!!), cards, passport, state ID, checkbook & pen all fit like a glove in the handy and compact travel wallet.

And it goes beautifully with my new wallet from RG.......they look like a SET don't ya think! KJ understands me well enough to know that I like "shiny shiny" (or bling bling) things.

And for sure......this lovely travel wallet and I are gonna find some beautiful places together!!! Thanks my dearest friend. I miss you.....and I miss your evil sense of humor! :P

Of chocolates and sunset.....

A dear old friend who lives in Hawaii sent us some yummy chocolates.

The Macademia nuts chocos are RG's favorite....while I absolutely love the "Crunch" one with rice crisps!!! I wonder if these 2 boxes are gonna last till tomorrow....... :P~

Drove to Ned's Point in Mattapoisett to enjoy today's sunset.....it was freezing outside so we just sat in the car and watched the sky turned from light orange to bright orange and then to a pinkish-purplish-blue.

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........

Our very first pair of Christmas stockings....

I swear my girlfriends can read my mind.

I had wanted to get ourselves a pair of Christmas stockings this year......and guess what came in the mail today? A pair of Christmas stockings "stuffed" with all sorts of goodies from my best friends LF & LY!

Thanks gals!! We love everything.

I'm gonna wrap RG's present later and put it into his stocking (green one). RG says his presentS for me can't fit into the stocking......let's hope he'll buy MORE presents to fit into my red stocking! tee hee......

The best gifts are thoughtful ones....and the gift of friendship - PRICELESS!

Got another small package from KJ today....and I almost cried when I opened it.

Neatly packed in the small envelope were 10 pieces of tau kee (hmmm...it's some kind of dried pressed soya product in flat thin sheets).

I don't even remember having told her that I miss cooking with tau kee??!! So I've no idea how she could possibly know.

I was so darn touched by the gift. It may be ridiculous to some to mail a packet of cheap tau kee all the way from Singapore to USA and to have to pay a hefty postage of many many times more than the actual cost of the item....but to me, it is no doubt the most precious and thoughtful gift that I can ask for.

Buying a gift is not about spending the most amount of money....it's about putting in the most amount of thought into finding/figuring out what the gift-receiver really wants and will appreciate. And KJ has obviously mastered the fine art of gifting!

This packet of tau-kee is good not only in the kitchen....but it also reveals that I'm being missed and cared for even from across thousands of miles away.

So thanks KJ...for your very thoughtful tau-kee gift and most importantly, thanks for your friendship. I miss you and I hope you had a great birthday!

Love package.....

Our "love package" with all the pretty little hearts got roughed up a little on its way here from Singapore. The man at the postal service counter was grinning when he handed me the parcel....I think he really liked the packaging! =)

Here are our belated CNY/Valentine's Day presents from ML. We love them all....thanks!!

More CNY goodies....

Received another parcel with more CNY goodies. Thanks KayJay!!! *muak muak*

You gals are really spoiling us with all these yummy stuffs. Don't think we have ever had so much CNY goodies even when we were celebrating CNY back home! kekekek...

I've hung up the four cute little dancing "lions" from Kayjay on our fireplace mantel....

...I actually like that they look kind of out of place on the very "western" mantel...an interesting juxtaposition of east and west coming together!

Here's the arrival of good fortune....through our main door. YEAY!

Chinese New Year goodies......

Got a surprise package and CNY card from my darling gal friends!!

Here's the ghim-dang-dang card from WM. What a lovely card to usher in the Year of the Tiger! *roar*

And then, I've also got a parcel that reads......
...from my best gal pals - LY & LF. And when I opened it......WOAH! I was blinded for a split second by the bright ghim and ang colors!! So auspicious!
Love the "fu" sign and the many yummy CNY goodies that came with it! (that's RG's hand, I made him hold up the sign while I took the photo). I was sooooooooooo excited about all the goodies (ESPECIALLY THE SEEDLESS PLUMS!!!) that I almost dropped my camera.
I hope you gals realise just how much it means to us to know that we are remembered during this festive season. And we feel so touched and loved by your thoughtful gestures! It's not easy for us to be away from our families and friends during this period but you gals have brought so much CNY cheer to us all the way from Singapore.

Thank you WM, LF and LY. Love you gals!

RG and I would like to wish all our families and friends a very prosperous and happy Chinese New Year.

Care package from a very dear friend....

I was surprised and thrilled to pick up a big box at the Post Office...and was over the moon when I opened it to find all kinds of goodies stuffed in there!

My dearest friend Kayjay had mailed me all kinds of stuffs to nourish my heart, body and soul! Each individual item was so nicely wrapped and came with a cryptic message on a card. SO SWEET!!!!

And she didn't forget RG too....oh by the way, RG gobbled up all the cookies the minute I opened the box =) He sends his heartfelt appreciation for KJ's lovely gesture.

While I loved everything that Kayjay had sent...my most favorite of all her gifts has to be the hae-bee! She's such a darling to know that I miss my hae-bee in my pumpkin kueh. Now, maybe I can make some of the hae-bee-hiam that RG and I both miss badly.

Thanks Kayjay. Love you...muak muak muak!

Gifts from home...

Today when I went to the Post Office, I was pleasantly surprised to find a note in our PO Box to inform us that there was a parcel awaiting our collection. RG and I couldn't wait to get home to open the parcel after picking up the rest of our mails.

Back home, we found a lovely pair of indian door hanging ornament in the parcel...a Deepavali gift sent to us by the very thoughtful ML (RG's sis) all the way from Singapore. We used to hang such ornaments back home especially during Deepavali.

This is the first year that we weren't celebrating Deepavali with ML and family and SV. The gift is a very special one as it not only brought a bit of home and our culture to us in the states...it also reminded us of all the happy times we spent together on every Deepavali.

Thanks ML for the lovely gift and the unique Halloween card too.