Sunday hike

On that one precious day off for John, we decided to spend it by hiking up East Canyon. We hiked 6 miles out and back, up to 2700 feet in elevation. I've done these hikes a few times, but this was the second time I made it to the very top. This was a rather easy hike (for everyone else) but we sure had a tough time getting up there. We are so out of shape! :( We need to train more often especially with our Hawaii trip coming up in 2 months. the trails there are 10 X more strenuous!

beautiful view from the "secret" spot

this tree has 4 little stools for people to sit and enjoy the view. hence, we named it the secret spot. The plan was to bring a picnic basket and blanket on our next trip back ... I highly doubt we will follow through with the plan. It was hard enough for us to hike this far up, let alone with a picnic basket!

John brought a souvenir home with him...

burnt! :-)

some questionnaire (part I)

Thought i'd give this questionnaire a try.

CURRENT

Current mood : : Relaxed
Current music : : none. my tv is on.
Current taste : : ?? not really sure what this is.
Current hair : : my front hair is pinned up.
Current clothes : : t shirt and adidad dri-fit shorts
Current annoyance : : my feet are tired frm kneeling on the floor too long.
Current smell : : food. I just made mabo tofu.
Current thing I ought to be doing : : going to target to pick up my prescription.
Current desktop picture : : none. my laptop is on the coffee table.
Current favorite band : : no one in particular.
Current book : : not sure if cooking magazine counts?
Current cd in stereo : : i don't own a stereo. it's 2009.
Current crush : : zac efron. i just watched high school musical.
Current favorite celeb : : flips between ashton kutcher & zac efron. current: zac. see above.
Current hate : : John is still at work. -_-

DO I

Do drugs? : : heck no!
Have a dream that keeps coming back? : : no. i usually forget in the morning.
Read the newspaper? : : no. it's 2009.
Have any gay or lesbian friends? : : emm... not sure if she counts?
Believe in miracle? : : yes.
Believe it's possible to remain faithful forever? : : yes. i hope so.
Consider yourself tolerant of others? : : you kidding? very!
Consider love a mistake? : : no.
Like the taste of alcohol? : : not really. but i like the after effect.
Have a favorite candy? : : depending on mood.
Believe in astrology? : : used to. not anymore.
Believe in magic? : : only when i watch magic show.
Believe in God? : : yes.
Have any pets? : : no but i want a puppy so bad!
Go to or plan to go to college? : : not now. been there, done that.
Have any piercings? : : yes. 2.
Hate yourself? : : sometimes. who doesn't?
Have an obsession? : : if john counts, john.
Have a secret crush? : : no.
Care about looks? : : who doesn't?

To be continued...

chocolate madness

I've been craving for chocolates. I usually don't really fancy chocolate that much... once in a while i'll have some here & there but never this crazy. Rocky road has been my favorite ice cream flavor lately (i've always loved plain vanilla ice cream). Anyway, i attempted to bake a chocolate cake couple weeks ago and it was a success! With the help of John & my little hand mixer, I baked Chocolate Torte from a recipe book that my mil gave me. I love to eat cake, unfortunately not the cake from the store here. They are generally too sweet to my taste. I like the "chinese" cake where the cakes are "spongier" and less sugary. Anyway, I .. okay, "we" baked our chocolate torte and it tasted so GOOD. I am not boasting (i don't usually boast, i am humble ^^). It looked ugly... like really nasty but it tasted yummy and that's what i care about. Being a newbie in the baking industry, i don't have many baking gadgets yet. In fact I don't even own the ever so popular kitchenaid stand mixer, where i heard each household must own one. I know... i need to get one of those... i'm looking into it. i was doing fine with the little hand mixer i have until we borrowed the stand mixer from my mil. According to John, it is definitely a must have. I know why he said that, so he doesn't get dragged to the kitchen by me each time i bake. :) He has been helping me with all the baking i've done just cause it is much faster with his help. He is responsible for the mixing process, while i pour stuff in the bowl. So of course with the stand mixer, we can eliminate that hand labor.

So, the cake that i baked. It was so good, that i decided to bake the same cake for easter weekend at Debbie's house. Sure enough, when i was just ready to show off my baking talent to the family, the second cake failed.... miserably! First of all, i should have baked it the night before but instead i chose to bake it the same morning. I slept in that morning and with only 2 hours and less to spare, the cake turned out horribly. I didn't leave enough time for the cake to cool off before i put the frosting on (if i am a baker, i would known what a horrible disaster this would cause). About 1/2 way on the drive to the house, the frosting melted and the cake became lopsided. When we opened the cake box, with everyone surrounding it, .... "ta-da!". Silent. I quickly told john to put the cake in the fridge. so embarrassing.... of course, to not hurt my feelings, during dessert time, everyone said it was good. O.O That's why i don't like to offer my food to "public". I am afraid that it doesn't taste good or i could possible poison somebody.

The following week, i baked chocolate cupcakes. They looked pretty, but tasted alright. I still prefer the cake. I am planning on making chocolate chip cookies this weekend. See, i told ya... i am diagnosed with chocolate madness!


i told you it was ugly. that's my chocolate torte in case you can't figure out what that is. :> I just kind of dumped the frosting on it. Using a spoon to make "swirls". remember? i don't have many gadgets to work with. that's the best i can do... pretty pathetic looking i know. I kept asking John why the cake looked totally different from the picture on the recipe book!

yes... i have some layer thing going on in there. looking professional there huh?

the cupcakes before the "accessories"

I decided to invest in the colorful sprinkles to dress them up. What a difference it makes.

look what he got me?

nasi lemak from Penang! I was surprised! John has been traveling to Fullerton a lot, at least 3 times a week. It is a horrible commute especially during rush hour.

One night, he didn't come home until 9 something and he brought me this! This is the best gift ever. Of course I am surprised because if you know John, he doesn't know how to give me surprises. And he doesn't usually do stuff like that. The traffic must be really bad. haha... that's why he stopped. To avoid driving during rush hour. I'm just kidding babe... :) That was really sweet.

Of course I already had my dinner that night. So i packed it in my little pyrex tupperware for lunch tomorrow! It lasted me 2 meals... I ate it for lunch & dinner! Delish! :-) Next time, I would rather have him come home earlier cause that little detour probably cost him an extra 45 min on the road.

i've been busy

Netflix has been keeping me really busy lately. With the unlimited plan (1 dvd at a time, unlimited), a chinese kiasu like me would of course try my best to make "FULL" use of my money already spent. Whenever I receive the dvd in the mail, I rush to finish it the same day and try to mail it back the next day. Actually receiving netflix dvd's in the mail kind of reminded me when I received mail from my pen pals when I was younger. Same kind of feeling... giddy & excited each time I open the mail box. Wondering what my next dvd would be.... yes, it's the littlest thing in the world that keeps your adrenaline rushing. :)

We have done pretty good so far. In average, we get 2 dvds a week. With $10.99 a month (extras for blu ray), I must say it's a pretty darn good deal, considering 1 dvd rental cost about $5. However, lately I am pretty bummed by netflix service. Changeling has been on the top of my queue for more than a month now, I am still patiently waiting for it. I am thinking about switching to blockbuster if I sill do not get it within the next 2 wks. The waiting time is pretty ridiculous. With the same plan at blockbuster which cost $1 more, I can exchange the dvd up to 2 times in a month in the store. This would make the dvd rental process a lot quicker. So it's pretty much a wash. I am giving netflix a couple more weeks before I call our relationship off.

So my time is mostly consumed by Dvds, tv shows, making dinner, hiking, gym... alternately throughout the week. John's work schedule is back to crazy hectic hours. He's back to working 6 days a week, usually 12 hours a day. :~( So we only have 1 full day in a week that we can really get to do something different together. Oh well, somebody's gotta bring the bacon home... ;P Plus, with our hawaii trip coming up in June, we need the extra cash as much as we could! Yep, some sacrifices need to be made.... John's hard labor. :D

On a side note, I've been working out more often than I usually have. Whenever John is available, we would hit the gym. If he's not, I'll go hiking with my co-workers. With the amount of time I spent working out, you would think that I would lose some weight. Heck no! I've gained slight weight, which is sick! I am hoping it's the muscle weight that I gained, but somehow my gut feeling is telling me, I am no longer able to eat whatever, whenever I want. That would be my last resolution... Please please please... I just need to work on maintaining the weight. Hopefully I don't have to give up food. It's a torture for someone who loves to eat like me. I've been dying to get my arms toned like Samantha Harris (DWTS host). So each time I go the the gym, i work on arm exercise machines. Somehow, it doesn't work on me. It's either I didn't work hard enough (which is most probably the reason) or I didn't work hard enough. My arms still flap like jello each time I move my arm. Darn it! I blame it on the gene! *.*

source

source

Samantha Harris has amazing toned body. She had a baby and was back in shape in no time! The pictures doesn't do justice people! Watch her on DWTS. The world is unfair....

Happy Birthday!

No, not me, not yet. It's my silly blog! I cannot believe that at 2 years, my blog is still standing, strong and going. :) lol! I started my blog on April 4, 2007, exactly two years ago. Inspired by a very special girl, I decided to start one of my own. Didn't think I would keep this going until now. She still continues to inspire me, although she doesn't blog as often now.
I still remember when I first decided to start my blog, I was wrecking my brain trying to think of a special name for it. Read here for how it all started. :) Well, my blog is still up and running, although I don't blog as frequently as I would love to. Compared to Janet & Jocelyn, I am doing pretty well. hehehe... We all started the blog in the same era but their blog is long gone! Haha... that's because they now have much better things to do rather than continue blogging silly pathetic stuff like me. :>

Anyway, I am still a blog stalker, as John always said "whose life are you stalking now?" :O) As to my silly blog, I will try to continue to keep this alive & running.

Here are some pictures to celebrate! With the "jumping" pictures becoming so popular, I of course would not want to be left out. So we attempted our "jumping" pictures as well. Emm.... it didn't quite turn out the way it should, so here's the Mallard's version of the obligatory jumping pictures:

i tried to touch my leg, so i could curled up like an "O". Failed. Need more yoga classes. Look how much more i need to bend???

forget it.... just reach up as high as i could!

drumroll please..... for John's "jumping" picture....
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ta-da......!!!


john was like ..."okay, let's go, this is so dumb!"

my whale watching experience

turned into a disaster! Last Sunday we went on a boat to go whale watching with the Hallack family. I was so looking forward to it all week. I was advised by my coworker to take a seasickness pill before I go on the boat just in case. I was thinking about it but finally decided I may not need it. I was sea sick once about 5 years ago... other than that, I've not had any problems with the ocean. I should have listened. :( I was sick as a dog. I threw up like 4-5 times. :\ Each time when the boat stoped and started rocking on the ocean, I threw up. I felt so sick, my stomach was queasy... I didn't feel good at all. But hey, at least I saw some whales. We saw 7 humpbacks!!! .... i think... haha, although i was so sick, i managed to at least force myself to focus each time the whale surfaced on the water. Here's some info on the humpbacks if you are interested to read more and more here. I don't know much about them to explain much. +.+

We also saw many dolphins.... sea lions as well. Too bad we didn't get any good pictures... but we have some cool video. I am not sure how to upload a video to my blog yet... i'm not going to try. :P too lazy for that. our boat

my dapper-looking husband :P

before the crazy throw up... all excited, still looking very sleepy

jasmine was so happy and excited to see the whales & dolphins. She wouldn't stay inside. She stood by the rail almost the whole journey.

staying inside, eating my pretzels snacks....

dolpins... we snapped it too slow. they jumped out of the water in 2, very cute.

And then we saw some whales,

see the water coming out from their blowholes?

the birds fighting over the leftover food from the whales.... fish!

The experience was somewhat awesome aside frm the seasickness. The whales were huge.... they were as big as our boat. We saw the baby several times, whose mother stayed very close to keep an eye him/ her. It almost seemed like they were playing with us, teasing us, coming under our boat and re-surfacing once in a while to blow water our from their blowholes. We were told by the captain that the mother was watching out for the baby, making sure that we are harmless to them.

Next time I go on a boat in the ocean, I'll be sure to take some seasick pills. :D