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 +++.