mountain tragedy

almost lost max yesterday when playing in the snow.

we were on the mountain and the boys were playing on a steep slope when suddenly they went down and out of side. we started calling for max, thinking that he's the one with command training, but he didn't show up. so i started calling brady as well, knowing that usually he'd come when i call him as long as he knows where i am. sure enough after a few minutes brady showed up from the steep slope, slightly panting but walking towards me. still no sign of max though.

so i we kept calling for around 5 more minutes. nothing. finally my husband got pissed and took the truck to see if he showed up somewhere down the slope. i stayed there incase he showed up. i kept calling his name thinking he might got lost and don't know where to go. brady started to get whiny and wanted to get back down to max, but thankfully he obeyed me when i said no.

sure enough after around 10 minutes or so max showed up!! panting heavily and looking very guilty. i was too relieved to see him that it didn't cross my mind to spank him for disobeying us. i told him to sit, waiting for my husband but when he did, he yelp as if in pain. so i eventually had to clean his butt and back legs from gravels and small stones. and he eventually sat sideways with his right thigh on my shoes. while i was cleaning his butt a police car stopped by!!
it was so embarassing. but hey, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. right?

so he asked "is there something wrong?"
i said "yep.. this dog went downhill but i got him back now.. we're ok."
he: "where's your car?"
me: "my husband took it to search for him down the hill.. if you see him can you let him know i got him?"
he: "sure thing. becareful of the steep slope ok, it goes on for 5 miles..."
me: "uhuh.."

not 5 minutes after that my husband pulled over, still looking so pissed that he didn't even want to get out of the car to see max. and max didn't even dare to look at my husband. he knew he did something bad. hoho. so we got the boys inside the car and continued up the mountain just to see the view (and got a bonus. we saw a bunch of turkeys clucking and gossiping on the side of the street).

my husband was still angry with max when we got home but i was just glad we got max back. can't imagine what we would do if max hadn't climbed back to us. phew.

it's that time of the year again

another year gone by and whaddaya know, it's my birthday again. :D
gosh i'm old. but at least this year there's a major difference. but besides my marital status, nothing much changed. oh wait i'll take that back. yeah, things change, a lot.

for example.

- usually when i wake up mom and dad'd be ready to give hugs and angpao (hoho!).
+ this year, no one. husband has to work and he left early in the morning. he even forgot my birthday until he arrived in the office! lol. tried to give me a call but i didn't hear any rings cause i left my phone outside the bedroom (under his orders!).

- usually then after the hugs i'd eat breakfast and enjoy life as it is.
+ not this morning. i got severe cramp on my leg and couldn't fix it until around 10min. then i had to call my mom, and we chatted for an hour. after that i had to quickly put the garbage down the street. then i had to change the dogs water, pick up poops (trust me, a LOT of poops today!! it's like they want to give me a present or something..geez). pff.

- usually my maid'd already cook something delicious for dinner. most probably ifumie, my fave dish. or if not, then me and my parents would go out to dinner at a simple Chinese restaurant. if i were there i'd probably pick kuo thie or emi medan. hmm.. yummm.
+ well, today i gotta cook my own ifumie. not that i mind, but still.. it'd be great not to have to do anything on your birthday. :D oh and on top of the cooking, i also had tons of house chores to do. really.. i hate wednesdays.

oh well i suppose each birthdays are different. each year is better than before no matter what your situation or condition is. right now i'm content, happy and satisfied. i don't mind having to do all the things myself. at least i can have fun with hubby and the two dogs. :) oh and i'm still waiting for deliveries due to arrive next week. yayyyyyy. i'm so excited i almost can't wait.

just some videos from the grammys

1. i'm very lucky to have married a man who loves nature. you know you're in good hands if a man can treat animals and plants as he'd treat himself.

this video performance of the the tribute to michael jackson somehow made me cry. kenapa ya? yg pasti bukan krn michael jacksonnya sih... hehe.



2. pink for me is just a so-so singer. she makes good music, but i never really applauded her performance until this one. amazing! gotta give 2 thumbs up for whoever suggested this idea to her, and i'd give another 2 thumbs up for pink who agreed to it. simple performance and yet captivating. wow. (and i gotta admit she's got one hell of a stamina to sing while being spin around upsidedown like that).



3. i listen to a lot of diverse music from the 70s until .. err .. recent years. but hubby only listens to what he calls classic rock (that means any songs before the 80s). one of the song from hubby's collection i like is a beautiful song by simon and garfunkle 'bridge over troubled water'. i've actually heard this song before but i never really liked it until i got married. :P yeah yeah, husband influence. well anyway, i guess the key to making a good remake is a good solid song to start with. and this is one of the example. love love love this arrangement.

spaghettini with garlic and pepper

i've just tried this last night. it was pretty good.

1 pound spaghettini (i substituted it with those spiral pasta thingy.. 6-8 genggam for 2ppl)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (again, i substituted it with regular veg oil, about 1/4 cup)
4 large garlic cloves, chopped (more or less, depend on liking)
salt & pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (i added more)
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
grated parmesan cheese

and i added some chicken (thinly sliced) and chopped spam, although i think shrimp would be nice too.

caranya:
1. cook pasta until al dante (tender but firm), rinse with cold water, stand aside
2. in large pan heat oil (medium heat). add garlic cook until golden brown, then add salt, hot pepper flakes, pepper and flakes. then add chicken and spam, cook till brown.
3. add pasta into pan, toss to coat.

serve hot, adding cheese just before eating.

change of routines

this is what my daily routine looked like when i was still working:

08:00 wake up
08:30 read newspaper, or at least pretend to
09:00 get breakfast. either bread, fried rice, instant noodles, or buy porridge
10:00 bath and getting ready for work
11:00 leave for work (unless there's a meeting at this hour, then i'd get up 2 hours earlier than usual)
12:00 arrive at office, check email or newest office gossip
12:30 lunch
13:30 back from lunch, check more emails and do some work
15:30 maksor alias snack time, catching up on more internal affairs gossips
16:30 work
18:30 usually by this time i'm already ready to go home (of course, unless there's a shooting going on). but it depends, if i'm hungry i'd probably order the OB to buy some food.
19:00 depends. if i ordered food, then i'd still be waiting for the food. if not, i'd be on my way home.
20:30 already home, watching tv and talking to my parents or play with my two dogs.
21:00 usually chatting, read book, or watch dvd in my room
23:00 / 24:00 sleeping.

now that i don't work and become a full time housewife, my routine looks something like this:

07:00 wake up, get the dogs out for pee and poop time, then went back to bed
08:00 really wake up, feed the dogs some breakfast
08:30 get a short walk around the front yard with the dogs. they pee, i change their water, feed the birds, and if it's a wednesday get the trashcan down to the streets
09:30 get the dogs inside so they can play with their chewy while i grab some breakfast. usually choco milk with special K, bread, or instant noodles. and i surf the internet.
10:00 let the dogs out the backyard to play. continue surf the net.
11:00 shower, clean the bathroom.
12:00 fix something for lunch. usually left overs.
12:30 do some house chores. laundry, vacuuming, sweeping floors, and if i'm feeling up to it: mopping.
15:00 get dogs in for some play time, and watch ellen. scouring cookbooks for dinner ideas.
15:30 preparing ingredients for dinner
16:00 start cooking dinner for hubby
17:30 eat dinner (schedule may vary if hubby works day shift)
19:00 feed the dogs
20:00 watch tv
21:30 / 22:00 go to bed, unless hubby's not working, then i'd be watching dvd with him until around 01.00

once a week when hubby's not working we'd usually be out on a day trip (or longer). in that case there will be no house chores done at all. which means every wednesday i'm swamped with tons of laundry to do, dirty carpets and kitchen floors, and filthy bedroom floor. hff.

lately i've been so lazy i don't even want to cook something difficult. yesterday i cooked fried noodles (this is actually left overs from the previous night) and some spam filled chicken thighs. dunno why hubby loves this fairly easy recipe. once before brady came i made syomay and lumpia semarang. but somehow now i don't feel like messing around in the kitchen. maybe because i keep having to keep an eye on brady whenever he's in the house (he still need to be trained to sit and stay on his spot).

well anyway, if you're curious about the thigh fillet spam recipe, here it is:

ingredients:
chicken thighs fillet 3 pieces
spam potong kotak panjang tebal
mentega
char siu sauce
tepung terigu
tepung roti
telur kocok 1 butir

caranya:
chicken thighs di potong tipis jadi lebar2.
rub some butter, and some char siu sauce (from lee kum kee.. botolan) tipisss aja.
trus taro spam di tengah, gulung, ikat pake benang atau tusuk aja pakai tusuk gigi.
roll in flour (tepungnya bumbuin garam dan merica dikit kalau mau), cemplungin di telor, trus gulung lagi di tepung roti.
goreng deh sampe mateng, api sedang biar gak angus.

untuk saus (optional)
kaldu ayam (bisa diganti dengan air + maggi block)
+ hoisin sauce (again, lee kum kee is the best), garam dan lada dikit..
cicipin, kalau rasa sudah dianggap pas, thicken with tepung maizena.

kalau mau lebih kreatif bisa tambah bawang bombay tumis di saus, tapi rasanya gak perlu ya. udah cukup enak kok. hehe.

home alone

i'm getting lazier and lazier each day. gosh. anyway, here's a bit of an update.

1. brady got here. finally!!! yay. after waiting for months (or at least it felt like months although it's only about a month or so) we're finally able to pick him up from the airport/cargo building. he was a bit stressed at first, tapi dimengerti lah secara he just spent a whole day travelling inside a crate, alone. poor guy.

this picture was taken when we let him out of his crate to stretch before having to travel again (yep, he still need to travel at least 2 hours to get from tucson to our home.. ). he was so happy to get out of the crate that he really didn't wanna go back in. tried hard with four paws grabbing on to everything that can prevent him from going back in. :P


this is when he first met max. we let max sniffed him while he's still in the crate. once we know we can control max's excitement, we let him out. lucky we picked the brave one, he wasn't afraid of max. he was just a bit cautious because max is ... well .. huge. but max is gentle. at least we know he didn't want to (intentionally) harm the puppy. :P

and max took his big brother role quite seriously. he wouldn't let brady get badgered by the neighbor dog (max's girlfriend), but he wouldn't share his toys and chewy either. kept alllll of the toys and chewy to himself. aah, brotherly love.

this is brady snoozing after a moment of serious playing. it was raining the whole day yesterday (related to news #2) and the backyard was all wet and muddy so i let the boys play inside. it's better for me to clean the carpet than to leave my boys out in the wind and cold and rain. :P

it's so nice to see them together. at least max won't be bored to death anymore. now all i gotta do is teach brady how to sit, lay down, and stay so he won't have to follow me around all the time anymore, so i can do my house chores in peace. right now i still have tons of laundry to be done, clean the bedroom cause it was all so dirty from last night's rain,

2. semalem serem banget deh. hubby was at work, night shift as usual for the past 2 months, so i was left with the two boys alone in the house. nothing special except that there was a storm passing Arizona last night. so it was rainy for a whole day (strong wind picking up after dark). you could actually hear the wind howling outside, and caused the stuff in the yard to tumble and make noises against the house. then the lights went off. only for a minute, then it went back on again but it was scary as hell!! even the boys got scared. that happened 2x. and the tv's not helping either, with a weather update every 10 minutes warning everyone about wind, storm and flash flood. urgh.

lucky (for me) the storm landed up on the north side of AZ (i only got kecipratan aja), otherwise i wouldn't know what to do. heck, this house hasn't got any basement jadi kalau memang ada storm i won't know which is best: the archway between kitchen and livingroom (but it's facing a biiig glass window), under the dining table (but it sits next to a small window), or the bathtub (no window in bathroom, but it's not exactly located in the middle of the house either). anyway, i kept my phone next to me all night long, in case i need to call my hubby or 911. smart move, ey? glad i didn't have to do it.

bread and brady

although i've always enjoyed baking cakes i've never really play with bread making before. mom's more the bread type, not me. i don't like the kneading and waiting-for-rising process, it's too boring for me. but i do love the smell of freshly baked bread. and i do love to eat bread. no matter if it's store bought or mom-made, i simply love eating them.

when i moved here hubby showed me a new invention (at least, new to me..) : bread machine. apparently it's a magic machine that do the whole process of making bread, from kneading, rising, to baking all in one machine. wow.
so mom bought a box of bread mix to try the bread machine. it worked. so hubby bought a second box of bread mix (because he said we can't use the regular recipe for the bread machine). we love the fresh bread so much that he bought a recipe book from amazon.com: bread cookbook for bread machine, or something like that. :P he also bought flour, wheat flour, yeast, and other ingredients so i can make my own bread every day.

while it doesn't make the cute little buns filled with chocolate, jam or cheese, it does make a great loaf of bread. and i can still have my cinnamon raisins bread, whole wheat, french bread, portuguese bread, english muffin, you name it. it's all in the cookbook. interesting. i never knew they can make a whole book about bread machine alone. ha.

well maybe someday i'll be motivated enough to make bread the manual way (especially the ones my mom used to make), but in the meantime, this is sufficient enough. i'm still waiting for my first batch to finish baking and cool down (i mean first using the recipe from the book).

the bread machine's not the only high tech gadge hubby's trying to introduce me to. he seems eager to buy a slow cooker. if you've heard of pressure cooker then you'd probably guess that this pot do just the opposite of that. it cooks everything slowly.. so slow that it can take overnight to cook beef or chicken. this makes me think: why is it that westerners always do things slowly while the chinese like to do things fast? haha.

oh well i don't need a slow cooker just yet. i still have a lot of free time on my hand, why would i need a slow cooker? speaking of free time, i'm gonna get my new not-so-puppy-anymore next tuesday. FINALLY! i've been waiting for him for almost a month now! i'm gonna be busier when he arrived. more vacuuming to do, more mouth to feed, and more playing time with the two of them. i so can't imagine how busy i'd be when the baby arrived. :D

hubby also wanted to buy me a wii fit. it's not from being nice, but he thought i need it to lose fat from my butt. lol. true, i need it. now i won't mind the wii at all. at least it's better than the stairmaster. in the meantime i guess i'll just keep on baking bread (and a few other things).