What have I done with my life so far? More precisely, what have I done with my life since 2009 since I started this blog?

Well, I have said that I wanted to re-launch another online store. I started my first online store in 2009 but after three months, I threw in the towel. I gave up too quickly so I couldn’t really tell you if my business idea was solid. I couldn’t tell you if my business could have been big. Do you sense the regret in my tone? My second online store was launched in August 2011. We loaded up the store front with products, did a bit of SEO, implemented our shopping cart, and did some advertising. I have fortunately made a few sales to keep me motivated and not give up prematurely. I hope to continue to build up my online store to bring in more traffic. Maybe in a few months or maybe even a few years, I will have the data I need to really gauge if my business plan is a good idea, and will decide then whether or not to continue to pursue this endeavor.

2009 was the also the time I started to be my own broker and invested in the stock market. Some people rolled their eyes and doubted my abilities. I am proud to say that since then, I grew my 401k account over 200% and it is still growing strong [knock on wood]. On other hand, I didn’t have such luck in my cash account, which I was hoping to serve as a second mean of income. All you can do is take things in stride. Don’t be overly excited for my triple digit growth in my 401k account, as the next day, it can be totally wiped out. Don’t take my loss in my cash account too harshly, as I have learned a lot about the stock market and investing in the process. I will take my experience and knowledge to hopefully grow even more financially in the future.

My daughter was born in 2011. I now have a boy and a girl. I am done. I am extremely glad to say, with utmost confidence, that I am done with pregnancy for the rest of my life. For some, it is happy experience. For me, it was a miserable experience. Pregnancy and childbirth was not my cup of tea. After all that hard work, I am blessed with a beautiful daughter. She looks exactly like her mom *grin*. I am blessed with a beautiful son and a wonderful husband. I have a great family. Surprisingly. Who knew that was possible after coming from such a dysfunctional family?! (Hi, Sis!)

I purchased life insurance for myself and my husband. A recent death of my coworker’s husband snapped me into action. I needed to protect myself, husband, and more importantly, my children in the event of death. It has been something that I knew I had to get. It has been on my mind when we purchased our home. It has been nagging at me after our last child was born. And it has been hitting me in the face with a baseball bat when my coworker’s healthy husband unexpectedly had a heart attack in the middle of an afternoon jog. Mortality is not something you want to think about. But keep in mind, life insurance is not about you, it’s about your loved ones. I am so happy and relieved to have gotten this process out of the way and to know that my family will be OK in the event of tragedy.

Those are my thoughts for the day. Thanks for reading.

Recipe Serves 15

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in pork roast (3 pounds)
• Salt & Pepper

Combine in small bowl:

• 3 15 oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano

Serve with:

• Flour tortillas
• Shredded lettuce
• Sour cream
• Cubed avocado
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Chopped tomato
• Limes cut into wedges
• Chopped cilantro

Trim excess fat off the pork roast. Liberally coat with salt and pepper.

Place pork in the base of your slow cooker.

Pour sauce bowl evenly over pork. Cover with lid. Cook on low for 8 hours.

When done, shred the pork using two forks.

Serve in warmed tortillas with shredded lettuce, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, cubed avocado, shredded cheddar cheese. Squeeze a wedge of lime on top and garnish with chopped cilantro.

I took a quick glance around our house and realized that quite a few of the items we got for our kids were used. And you can’t tell that they were used…unless you look in our wallets.

When it comes to buying stuff for our kids, we prefer second-hand when appropriate. Why? Two big reasons:

1. There are always anxious sellers

As parents, we buy and accumulate a lot of clothes, toys, and other miscellaneous items for our kids. Once these things are outgrown, they end up in the garage or in the back of a closet. Unless there are plans for more children, these items are never seen and used again. It takes up space and creates clutter so parents are eager to get rid of them. However, it is a bit hard to find these sellers. One website that I often use is www.craiglist.org. But once you do find these sellers, they are more often than not eager to get rid of others items and more importantly, at great prices.

2. Items are still in good or excellent conditions

Babies grow fast. Extremely fast. Parents would buy cute outfits for their little ones, only to find that the baby outgrown them already. They would buy walkers, play cribs, etc for their babies only to use them for a short period. Thus, you can find really cute clothes and toys for your baby that are still in great condition.

Look at this baby. She’s one happy little girl…probably from the fact that mommy is saving a lot of money.

Here’s a meal we had a few nights ago made with the slow cooker. It came out delicious. Give it a try!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs  chicken breasts (skineless and boneless)
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can artichoke hearts in water (drained)
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 2 cups of carrots (chopped)
• 2 cups of celery (chopped)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons dried cilantro
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 1/2 package of spaghetti (break into small strands)
• Chives for garnish (minced)

Directions

• Throw everything (except the spaghetti) into the slow cooker. I put meat on the bottom and vegetables on top. Set it on low or 8 hrs.
• Boil the spaghetti in a separate pot. Cook for ~14 minutes. Drain.
• When you are ready to serve, add a small amount of spaghetti in a bowl and ladle the slow cooker broth on top of it.
• Top it off with the minced chives

It’s a simple sauce to make. However, I can never get the right ratio of ingredients. Too much of one ingredient can throw the flavor off. I always end up adjusting the ratio, adding a bit of this and a bit of that. Before you know it, I have a gallon of a prepared fish sauce that still doesn’t taste quite right.

This is when I asked my cooking-extraordinaire mother-in-law to quantify each ingredient. Here’s her recipe and her unique unit of measurements.

This makes a medium size jar of prepared fish sauce that you can store in your refrigerator for months.

• 1 small rice bowl + 2.5 soup spoon sugar
• 3 soup spoons of vinegar
• I can of coconut juice (coco brand)
• I.5 can of water (fill up the coconut juice can)
• 1.5 small rice bowl of bottled fish sauce (the brand with three crabs on the label)
• 4 minced garlic cloves (optional)
• 2 minced Thai peppers (optional)

A month later, I dropped him off for pre-school. He walked in as calm as a clam but still held my hand tightly. He reluctantly followed his teacher to his play group, sat in the corner and cried quietly. He repeated the same three words, Mama di lam. Mama di lam (Mama goes to work) as tears slowly streamed down his face.

Fast forward to today. He can’t say Goodbye Mama fast enough before skipping off into the distance to hug his teacher.

My little boy is all grown up.

I walked out of the grocery stores with less grocery and less money in my wallet.

If I’m going to put a dent in my grocery bill, I need to be more proactive. Here are my newly adopted rules when it comes to grocery shopping.

1. Don’t wait till the last minute.

2. The other night, I sent my husband out to purchase a bottle of Ranch Dressing. He came home with a tiny bottle for over $5. I normally purchase a good size bottle for no more than $4. Most of the time, I can get it for under $3. So needless to say, $5 was way over priced. We ended up getting it anyways because we needed it that night for dinner. When you leave something to the last minute, there’s no wiggle room to look elsewhere for a better deal. Take inventory of what you need ahead of time. So when you are out and about and happen to run across a great deal, you can pick it up. Not only are you getting something off your shopping list, but you are getting it for a great price.

1. Take advantage of the weekly sales.

   We get paper advertisements from four different grocery stores in our area every week. They used to go straight into the recycling. One day, I decided to actually look through them, and lo and behold, I noticed items that I would buy at regular price were going on sale for much less. Why pay more when you can pay less? Now instead of doing my grocery shopping whenever, I wait to do my grocery shopping on the same day of the sale. It requires waiting for the day of the sale, but if you can, you end up saving quite a bit.

1. Combine weekly sales with coupons.

   This doubles your saving power! A jar of mayo is currently on sale for $2.99. That’s already a deal. Combine it with a manufacturer coupon for an additional $0.50 off and you can get thatitem for $2.49. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you can do that with most of the items in you grocery basket, then it adds up to a nice chunk of savings!

Happy grocery shopping!

Me: Time for bed.
Edison: Ok, Time for bed.
Me: That’s a good boy.
Edison: Yep, time to go to sleep. Daddy lie with Edison. Mommy go away.

He may not adore me, but hey, he listens!

I used to think that once I become a mom, I would be the best mom ever. I would have the most obedient children in the world. They would listen to my every command and do my every request. Parents all over the world would look at me with envy as they constantly compare their own children to mine.

I’m snapped out of my delusional dream as my 3-year-old son is shoving me out the door and telling me to go away. He spits food on the floor everywhere and every time he pleases. He refuses to pick up after himself after being told multiple times. Basically, he doesn’t listen at all unless he gets what he wants first.

Where did I go wrong? How could I, the disciplinarian, have produced such a child? Or could it be someone else’s fault? Maybe Grandma had too much of a parental role when he was younger. Maybe Daddy is too much of a push over.

Or it could simply be a defiant stage that he hopefully will outgrow.

I’m hoping for the latter and wishing for the best. Otherwise…I’m selling him on Craigslist.

Here’s my recipe for salt and pepper crab. You will find this dish in many Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. It’s a popular yet a very simple dish.

Ingredients

• 2 live crabs
• 1 cup tapioca starch (or all purpose flour)
• Oil for deep frying
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 2 jalapenos (sliced; de-seed first if you don’t like heat)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon MSG (optional)
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine

Recipe

Prepare the crab by removing the outer shell and the membranes underneath (those spongy looking things). Hack up the crab into small pieces. Also, remove the sharp ends of the claws. We don’t want any puncture wounds while eating, now would we?

Rinse and pat dry.

Lightly coat with tapioca starch.Tap off excess.

Deep fry the crab in batches until the outside shell turns bright red (about one minute). If unsure, it’s always good to undercook than overcook. The rest of the cooking can take place in the wok, if needed.

Remove the deep fried crab on a plate lined with paper towels. This will absorb the excess oil.

Heat up a wok and generously coat the bottom with oil. Sautee the garlic and jalapenos until fragrant. Toss in the deep fried crab.

Now, a little at a time, sprinkle in the salt, pepper and MSG. Toss the crab around so the seasoning, garlic and jalapenos evenly coat the crab. Stop. Sprinkle more salt, pepper and MSG. Toss. Stop. Sprinkle. Toss. You get the picture.

One last step that I learned from an expert. Before serving, take the cooking wine and slowly drizzle it on the inside rim of the hot wok. The wine hitting the hot wok creates a fantastic aroma. Now enjoy!