Pineapple Jam

1 Whole Pineapple (Remove skin, core and crushed) (semi-sweet preferred)
8-10 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 DL water
1 teaspoon Cornstarch (mixed with 1 tablespoon of water)

Method:

Boil the pineapple in medium heat stirring constantly until soft (approximately 45 mins). Add water and keep boiling until pineapple looks slightly brownish while constantly stiring to avoid the pineapple from burning at the bottom of your pot (another 20 mins). Reduce heat to low and add sugar (cook for another 5 mins or so). End it with the Cornstarch mixture and let simmer for another 5-10 mins until it looks pastey. Leave aside to cool for at least 30 mins before placing it into a jar. Keeps refrigerated for approximately 5 days. If preservatives were added (according to package instructions) It could last from 1 month to a year....*

* I don't recommend preservatives, hence I only make enough to last a few days or to make a few tarts ;). You can always double or triple the recipe for making bigger batches.

Nearly burnt the apartment down -___-

This stupid person....me....nearly set the apartment on fire. I was in a rush in the morning to prepare to go to the Dr's I had a pot of mung bean dessert and I decided to heat it so I can have a bowl. Running after papers and all and dressing and packing I left the stove on...Thankfully our trip didn't last as long as it would have since I forgot some papers and didn't follow procedure before going there for my blood tests. We got home and then was shocked to find the apartment smelling like burnt food. So my dear hubby dashed to the kitchen to turn the stove off. I felt so bad I had left it on. Even if I was tired there was no excuse to be so careless... I normally am not but for some reason my brains aren't quite the same as they are...stress? trauma? I don't know... I had so many changes lately that I think my body and brain is just a bit worn out.

Now all we can do is try to air the apartment in the cold of winter and hope the smell goes away before one of us gets a brain tumor from this horrible stink. I'll buy some deodorizer tomorrow as well as a cheap purifier if I find one but nothing is cheap in Finland so I'm just going to have to keep cleaning the walls and closets and all until the smell has vaporized. If it was summer I could open all the windows but now all I can do is air it once in a blue moon so we don't freeze. Lesson learnt again...not my first burnt pot, hopefully my last....My poor poor pot...My favorite pot too ;___;....As long as my dear hubby is not mad at me (he was though...he was more worried about the dog and everything and that we didn't have a home to come back to for Christmas). Sigh... Can't always be puuuurrrrrfect.

Peanut lost it's Peanutty look...but at 11 weeks +++....

....peanut starts to look more like a baby. If you look at the left bottom photo you'll see that he/she has a big bald head and some arms and legs. He/she's approximately 5 cm and seems to be growing well. I had taken one blood test today and since I forgot some papers, I have to make another round to get the other tests. Apparently fasting is also needed night before. ARGH! Okay no problem I'll get the hang of this soon. Just don't like needles..they aren't really my best friend.... <__<. Anyways Peanut's doing alright...growing correctly...has a pair of eyes, nose and mouth...Two arms and hands and funny feet...It's really active and bouncy....It was so peaceful when it went back to sleep. I guess it didn't like being spied on every now and then...Oh well...at least we know Peanut's doing alright and there is enough room for him/her.

The Decision is here! I'm a Finn!

What a strange feeling! I'm now a Finnish Citizen...What does that mean for me? New passport in a country I've lived quite a long time in. It took me a while before I took the leap but whatever, it's worthwhile. I don't really have much waiting for me back home except a number of old friends I'll miss. Thanks to the internet era I can still keep in contact with them ^___^. I can always visit them and they can always come visit me. As for family they are always welcome to stay as long as they wish :). Just as long as I get my privacy every now and then ;).

The fact that some things are working out great and some things are just plain weird is strangely good. At least not everything is purely great so that life doesn't feel surreal. I hate my little hut of an apartment but it serves its purpose as a sleeping quarter, I barely spend time at home these days with work and all. I just feel sorry for the poor puppy who has to be long days alone and has to sleep in the living room during the nights. She needs to be trained to be alone soon the baby comes and will be taking her sleeping space in the bedroom. We're still waiting on the decision for a land to come along from the town (it's not free, it's still rather hefty price to pay) so that we can get a move on things and deciding the house package and what not.

Today is technically last day of work before my Christmas vacations begin. I'm looking forward to recharging my ever working body (being pregnant and all) to a state where after I wake up from sleep I feel refreshed and not as though a bus has hit me and reverse to make sure I died <__<. I had lunch with the group of people I work with but barely see, it was refreshing to get out and do something different (not to mention running away from the horrid canteens we have :P). Hubby still has to work on Monday 22nd Dec and Tuesday 23rd Dec. He says it's okay and he's quite a tough cookie. He has been my saviour these past few months, I wouldn't have been able to take all this without his support. Although I don't always show my appreciation and am quite often in a cranky mood (or a horrendous witch), I do love him and I do care about him. Of course I feel sorry after being cranky and perhaps saying things out of anger I didn't mean to, apologizing to him afterwards feels weird and somewhat embarrassing. He's been a sport with it all.

He's the most patient man I've ever met. Has the temper of a saint (or lack of temper :P). He can annoy me with his sports but hey, what's a man gotta do? ;-). In any case he's been Nemu's main walker these days as I feel like a boat on dry land. Half the time my feet are like balloons and my back feels like I've been carrying tons of rocks. I have alot of changes going on in my life and all of them has been rather positive. I'm content....no wait...I'm happy...what the hell was I thinking? I'm VERY HAPPY! I better go get some shut eye as I have to visit my ob-gyn tomorrow for an Ultrasound (Hello Peanut! Mummy will get to see you again...^___^) then also the dreaded test for down syndrome. My fingers and toes and what not are crossed. We have someone in the family that has this misfortune although he's doing quite well, however I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to cope with raising a child with down...Then again I start to think what if I had a choice to terminate...do I have the strength? Maternal instincts kicked in quite early for me so it would make it hard but I guess the decision will be made with my strong hubby who will be loaning me a shoulder to cry on if the decision would be fatal.

Let's not dwell on the horrors of pregnancies and hope for the best. ^___^

Wishing you lots of love and joy this Christmas!

Hugsy Hugs,
Jacey

Christmas is near

Another week has past and I feel my belly growing in size. Peanut is reaching 11 weeks plus and will soon get another preview on Friday. Doctor's have counted it to be the 12th week. However I get different numbers from different doctors. I'm just happy Peanut has stopped giving me too much trouble, apart from sleepless nights that's going to last me 18 + years. I was going to upload some doolally pics from a party but couldn't do so since we didn't find the darn USB jack for the Ultra II card reader >__<. I got pissed at my Darling Hubby though it wasn't really his fault. It was probably my own :P. I have an excuse I'm a woman with raging hormones (yeah keep chanting that and maybe you'd believe it yourself :P) In any case...I've been just lately trying to do as much as I can and as much as my poor battered body would allow me to. Cooking has been a big passion for me these days if I don't work pass 16:00 I'm usually up to the task. However making rounds to pick my husband up after work makes me rather wearie... I know I'll write another post before heading off to my Jingle Bells holiday... Just incase... Merry Christmas with an Anne Geddes Wallpaper baby pic to all!

Work it is....Just 2 more loooooong weeks.

It's time for me to go back to work now that this momma is feeling a bit better. No more strong nausea and baby tauren is behaving rather well. In a couple of more weeks hopefully I can feel baby tauren move. It is going to be exciting. I started to panic about confinement because I don't know what I should do. I've been reading about it alot and there are so many different tips and things you cannot do after birth.

If that wasn't bad enough, I started to have the fear of giving birth. Kind of bad timing when you're already carrying the spud close to 3 months. I guess the fear will go away a little at a time. Right now it just seems to be just one fright after another. I will try to becareful these few days as there are slippery times ahead. I don't want to jeopardize baby tauren's safety. I'm hoping that in January things will start to pan out a bit better.

Christmas is coming close and my dearest sister is coming to visit me. I'll be preparing roast turkey per her request as well as Nasi Lemak :). I have some great Nasi Lemak recipes lying around on scribbled paper that I should actually make a site with the recipes in them. She also requested rendang daging and fried chicken (She thinks she'll be able to finish this <__< I have my doubts!). Anyways if I make my usual portions minus the fried chicken it's doable however I feel that this is not going to be the case. I can make a big pot of sambal and freeze it. The last time I thought I was going to make Nasi Lemak again it took me 1 1/2 months and my sambal although in the fridge started to look dodgy although it still smelt right, I threw the darn thing away (What a waste of my dried chillies ;___; and assam!)

I'm also contemplating on Bak Kut Teh and some chinese soups. I haven't had those in ages and I'm starting to miss them. First I need to confirm with the Elders...the almighty you cannot do this and you cannot do that during pregnancy people.... Apparently being oblivious about your own pregnancy is perhaps better than having to worry about how it will go. Right now it's time for Momma to go to bed, I have a consultation appointment with the Clinic that will take my health measures and discuss what my options for birth are (far away hospital or the midwife school (is that even a real word?) <__<)

In the meantime...Jacey's frozen box has Lor Mai Kai, Fish Ball, Pork Balls, Roti Pratha, Yau Char Kuai, Char Siew, Nemu's sausage :P, Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream, Tofu Ice (hmmm dodgy), Fish Tofu, Tau Pok (tofu), Some Pandan, Some strange herbs and some meat. Other stuff like french fries and ice are not so interesting :P

I don't even want to know what's in my fridge...Last thing I remembered was ten gallons of Tropicana juices :P...Love this during food aversion.... :D Alrighty...!!! Off to bed to snuggle with the hubby ^__^

Peanut's got a new mugshot

As I just got back recently from the clinic with the new mugshot, I haven't had time to highlight it. According to Debster, I don't really need to highlight since she knew exactly what she was looking at. So let's see. If you get lost on the way I'll upload another one with highlights. ^___^

Peanut at 9 weeks +++.

Can't eat can't sleep....(Not for the faint of heart)

Yesterday was horrific for me as I spent half the night awake with pukey feeling. After I got a few hours nap. I got up with the same pukey feeling. I couldn't eat anything that smelled more than paper. Even Nemu being 10 meters too close caused some problems. Stinky armpits in the elevator was another thing that got me barfing in the snow while walking Nemu. I manage to hold it all the way to the park. Oh joy! <__< People must think I'm drunk.

In the morning I had one grape!!! That was fantastic...the second one didn't go in :/. I tried oranges...blegh...Pears...blegh....Apples...blegh....Then I called me mum to complain. She said try to eat anything (just like the doctor said) so I tried peanut butter. That stayed quite well so I got adventuress and decided I'll cook one MAMA brand instant porridge....The rest...erm well...didn't go so well... <_<. Let's just say I spent this day hanging my head over the sink or the toilet bowl. What a sexy position! <__<

I'm happy that dear Tony will hijack Nemu for a week :). This may save my poor nose a little. I'm hoping that I will be able to eat more today. My food aversion stopped around 22:30 last night when things stayed in. After the doctors, we went to fuel, then I ran into the video rental store to get some gummy candies and an Ice Tea. I took a sip of the Ice Tea for fear that it might go out in the car O_O. Also one or two gummy candies! So far so good. Then we went for a pizza at Jumbo, I couldn't eat more than 2/5. I manage to hold the pizza in until I got home then wasted about 1/4 of what I ate. I thought not a bad amount at least most of the pizza stayed. Then I finally decided to take a sip of mango/apple juice. Also took one of my multivitamin pills with the juice. So far everything stayed until I brushed my teeth. Half of the liquids came out. Sigh...I was depressed...so I went to bed after brushing all the stomache acid away again....

Let's hope today's a better day as I'm meeting the baka bunch for Little Christmas Dinner :).

The tire had to blow...now.... -___-

What an exciting day to have a blown tire in the highway... Luckily I wasn't driving and wasn't alone at that point. If not I wouldn't have known what a preggie lady could do :/. I'm all out of whim and energy and yet I cannot sleep. This is starting to bother my work performance. I have to find the energy somehow to keep going. I'm hoping this new project will bring new meaning to me :). Baby's behaving like a baby should at this point, keeping me awake at nights and making me a zombie all day through.... Anyways I'm hoping that I'll finally nod off and fall asleep. I'm still having the slight nauseas feeling that I cannot seem to kick off. If this doesn't stop soon I need to visit the Doc to ask what on earth is wrong with me.

That's me over and out!

PEANUT'S FIRST PHOTO SHOOT!

I know I know...Nothing much to see but for the first time I saw life! Peanut had a heartbeat and it looked sooo cuuuuuute! (Yeah every parent says that :P) It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! (Alien-y and big headed blob for now) Soon it'll have buds for arms and so on...It's really exciting!!!! :D I'll update in 2 weeks when I get a new mugshot.

A Heartbeat!

What an amazing thing to witness!!! It brought tears to my eyes. I was a bit pessimistic going in thinking there will be nothing but just my imagination but when I saw the heartbeat...all doubt has been erased...Now I need to take good care of myself and just live normally and do some minor exercises to keep fit. I think I can do it...although some days it feels a bit tougher when you barely sleep at night. Nemu on the other hand has been quite curious with the changes, I suspect she knows alot or at least feels alot. It's hard to read the little one....Will post more later ^___^

Over and out!

Peanut Tracker....

Okay, so it's not such a great name for a kid but at this point he/she will be called 'Peanut'...at least to me. My husband begs to disagree with such preposterous name. It's my ticker and I shall name it however I want! Tee hee hee! I've had a slightly hard time charting this so I'm getting confuzzled as we go along. I'll get a clearer view on when I'm actually due so I can make changes to the ticker. In the mean time...Peanut is growing...slowly and steadily just as long as cranky mum doesn't do stupid stunts.

Long time no post?

Heh...Sorry for not blogging in a while...I've been battling all sorts of issues that I did not have time to write this... I found out that I'm preggers! Hooray for me! Oh no wait....but then again we're not sure if this one's a keeper... Oh well... I'm happy and I'm trying my best not to do any extreme sports so that the little chipper will stay. I'm going for my first preview of the "Peanut" in 2-3 weeks. It's so exciting I cannot wait! What will it look like? hmmmmm?

Teh Sambal Ikan Bilis (Loosely Anchovies)

Original recipe:

1 Über large Onion
1 dl of Anchovies (dried and salted kind you can find from Asian stores)
1 clove garlic
6 shallots
3 Tbs of Tamarind Juice (Make this out of tamarind paste, the kind that has still the seeds in them)
10 large dried chillies (soaked)
Prawn paste (I would not recommend this) (optional)
Salt and Sugar up to taste

Method

• Fry the ikan Bilis until crisp and put aside
• Grind the prawn paste (ewww) together with shallots, garlic, deseeded (why the hell?) dried chillies. Slice über onions into rings.
• Heat about 2-3 tbs of oil (don't use olive and don't even try margarine <__<)
• Fry the grounded paste until fragrant, then add sliced über onion rings.
  
• Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar
• If it seem to get a bit too dry you may add a few tbs of water
• Cook, stirring occasionally until gravy thickens.
• Add Ikan bilis and mix well
• Serve with steaming hot Nasi Lemak

El-Modified version

1 Über large Onion
1 clove garlic
8 shallots
3 Tbs of Tamarind Juice (Make this out of tamarind paste, the kind that has still the seeds in them)
10 large dried chillies (soaked)
Salt and Sugar up to taste

Method:

• Grind the shallots, garlic and dried chillies (not deseeded) together. Slice über onions into rings.
• Heat about 2-3 tbs of oil (don't use olive and don't even try margarine <__<)
• Fry the grounded paste until fragrant, then add sliced über onion rings.
  
• Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar
• If it seem to get a bit too dry you may add a few tbs of water
• Cook, stirring occasionally until gravy thickens.
• Serve with steaming hot Nasi Lemak

Teh Veggie Curry! (vegan friendly)

1 clove garlic (big clove or single clove garlic)
4-5 shallots
3 tablespoon of cooking oil (not olive oil)
1 1/2 tablespoon of water }
2 tablespoons of curry powder (preferably the Malaysian type ;) ) }For mixing
1 litre water
Salt to taste
1 cm Ginger
1 dl coconut milk
2 carrots
1 big potato
1/2 cauliflower
1 zucchini
1 Aubergine
1 block hard type tofu or few pieces of fried tofu
(you can replace with any vegetable you wish as well)

Method:

Chop garlic and shallots to itty-bitty pieces. Put the water into the curry powder and make into paste (not soup PASTE!) Then fry the garlic, shallot and ginger mix in the heated oil in low heat until fragrant. After the garlic, shallots and ginger mix is ready, fry in the paste. Make sure the stove heat is very low when frying...fry for 5 mins. Pour the water a little at the time until the paste dissipates, about 500 ml. Then add the coconut milk. Now add the vegetables that take a longer time to cook first putting in the zucchini and aubergine. Add a bit of salt at a time. Then add the rest of the water and leave it to boil on low heat for another 10 mins with lid on.

A sunshine away

I woke up this morning cranky...wondering how this day would go. As I look out the window while trying to concentrate on my billions of documents I notice that this day is rather gloomy... It didn't bother me much because I love gloomy weathers, but for some reason this autumn-y afternoon I felt some chills down my spine. Rather depressive.

Anyways, I headed out to my daily task not thinking any further what the day will be like. I thought hey it's Friday after all, what could go wrong? Ahem...yeah famous last words... There are things that bothers my mind that no one can possibly understand. If you had x-ray vision all you'd see in me is turmoil (no I don't mean the warlike kind of turmoil, silly! More like a ball of yarn getting immensely tangled with no way to untangle but to cut bits and pieces off it). Well that's just me...I feel tired at this type of situations...Hence I'm sleepy...I just want to sleep and not wake up....It would be perfect if I could have 20 hours of uninterrupted sleep eh? ;) Okay back to work with me...I really need my entire presence to complete these massive amount of documentation. Blegh :/...

First blog

I normally write notes and not blog but today I decided to give this a try....Is it working?

Testing...1....2.....3.....