My Life On The Move – Current Location: Houston

I set out to Chinatown yesterday in search of ingredients to cook rendang. Yes, I am making beef rendang. I found a recipe online and have decided to make it tonight. I hope the dish turns out well.

While out hunting for ingredients like galangal, grated coconut (not an easy find here), kicap manis and lemongrass, I found some of my favourite things.

#1 Favourtie – Longans! They cost $2.99/lbs. (1lbs is about 450 grams)

#2 Favourite – Jerky for $6.69 (aka Yuk Kon) and Meat Floss $1.49 (Yuk Si)

#3 (something I have been craving) – Jeruk! (preserved fruits) $1.09

It feels great. On top of that, I bought egg tarts (freshly baked at this bakery run by Hong Kong-ers), red beans to make red bean dessert soup (I can’t wait) and loads of junk. There were fresh rambutans but I didn’t buy any as it was expensive. I will not pay $15 for 25 pieces of rambutan!

Oh, I love going to Chinatown. It feels so much like home, especially when I hear people talking in Cantonese.

Adam and I would like to have a more active lifestyle. We now plan to do some form of sports or exercise over the weekend. We did some kayaking while we were on holiday in Austin and Fiji and we absolutely enjoyed it. We would like to do more of it before we decide if we should each get a recreational kayak of our own.

I Googled kayaking in Houston and came across this company that is assigned by the city of Houston to organise kayaking trips along the Buffalo Bayou in downtown so we signed up for it and went on Sunday.

We were scheduled for the 11.30am trip for a group of 8 people. We got there and were given a brief of our trip up the bayou. We got into the water by 11.45am. Some shots we took.

After paddling for 3 hours, we reached our destination all tired with soggy bottoms. Got into the car and decided that the best thing to do is to get a cold drink. Yes, the pub it is then!

We went to a British pub, the Richmond Arms and had some drink and snacks. I ordered the American Snake Bite which is a mix of Guinness and Cider (not American at all, I know but that’s what it’s called). I liked it! Adam thinks it smells nasty and didn’t even tasted it but I liked it. I think my drink looks really nice too.

That was a great Sunday. We will do it more often. What have we planned for this Sunday? Mexico City!

Welcome to my new blog!

I am tired of using the one in Friendster and needed a change, so here it is!

At the beginning I way toying with the idea of giving each guest a cupcake as a representation of the wedding cake. And then there was the idea of having a 3-tier wedding cake. Then my wedding planner reminded me that with the meal, there’s dessert served. So I finally decided that we will have a 1-tier wedding cake.

I wanted my cake to be simple since I wanted to get a cake topper. My wedding planner warned me that cakes at The Andaman might not live up to standards, so we ordered the cake in KL and my wedding planner took responsibility in making sure that the cake land in Langkawi safely.

Since the cake has to travel, our options were limited. So the final decision was to have a butter cake covered with fondant. Fondant will be white with pink lacing at the bottom to match the theme colour a little.

I bought a cake topper in Houston. I told my wedding planner that Adam has not seen the cake topper and I am actually hiding it from him. So the plan was, when it came time to cut the cake, the wait staff will wheel the cake out.

This is what came out.

Adam was laughing when he saw the cake topper. I just thought it would be fun to have something funny rather than the normal bunch of flowers on the cake. I think everyone else there loved the cake topper too.

The cake topper is named ‘Oh No You Don’t!’

As you would have known, the wedding is over. We went on our honeymoon and have been back to Houston for more than a month now. Alot happened before the wedding and I didn’t get to blog about it as my computer died on me, coupled with Adam’s busy work travels, I was not able to blog about anything. I will however try to fit in as much information on this blog about the wedding eventhough it’s over, I just assume you will be interested to read it =)

I know there are so many things to write about! Our outfit, flowers, themes, Adam’s stag-do, my hen’s night, the honeymoon preparation, song choice…etc. I will write them one at a time and hope that you will still be interested to read about the prep work leading up to the wedding.

My last blog was about Adam’s outfit which he found at Emporio Armani. A month or so after he bought the suit, we went back to find a shirt and maybe a pair of shoes.

The shirts and a pair of shoes that the sales assistant in Armani set up for us to pick from before we head to the changing room (which our champagne!)

Adam tried on these (and more)….

And we both loved and picked this, with the shoes.

Adam looked dashing on the day of the wedding!