The Great Migration Happening Today February 6, 2009

Hi Every one, thank you for your fantastic support ever since I’ve started blogging,

Custard Bun think I should migrate again, to my own domain woow, this is a big step, I feel much upgraded now

Please visit www.shanghainesedumpling.com in the future.

Something Funny at Home February 5, 2009

Me: Hey did you burn your shirt while ironing?

Custard Bun: Oh nah, that’s just baked bird poo.

Me: What do you mean?

Custard Bun: I didn’t notice a bird poo while I was ironing, so now it’s flattened and baked.

Hello Kitty Hello Mac February 5, 2009

This got me excited today, yet again Den Den Den Den….. Mac Hello Kitty

Mac Hello Kitty

For more MAC Hello Kitty Product information please visit http://www.temptalia.com/mac-hello-kitty-collection-photo-information The blog owner did a fantastic job on all the details, so I’m not going to repeat what she said.  Keep in mind that there are more products than what the picture showed.

If you are a Hello Kitty Fan like me you have got to go and see them, so as soon as I saw the picture I’ve called the Mac counter at Myer Perth city – Phone (08) 9265 5600, just in case you got excited too , I’ve booked myself and a friend into their Mac Hello Kitty Launch Party on the 12th of March 5:30 – 7:00pm immediately.

Then I remembered there’s a new Mac counter at David Jones Perth City – Phone (08) 9210 4000, so I called them as well, they’re having a launch party too on the same day at the same time, but its more exclusive, you’ll need to pay $60 to confirm your booking at the David Jones Mac counter, I’ve also checked there will be food and drinks (but, still have your dinner, don’t think they’ll provide that much).  Then on the day of the launch party they will reimburse the $60 confirmation money into products.

So now I have decided to go to the David Jones one as they sound more exclusive and provide food and drinks. I wouldn’t want to climb over people just to have a look at those Hello Kitty products, I’m sure the booking confirmation of $60 will be easily donated to Hello Kitty

How to work a Black Blazer this Autumn Winter February 4, 2009

This is becoming one of “the key item” for the up coming Autumn and Winter in Australia. Every one should have a Black Blazer in their closet, but this season don’t just leave it in there to collect dust, make this runway item into real way.

This is how celebrities been doing it.  Nicole Richie does it casually with shorts and net heals for a casual coffee run.  I have to say this is not my favourite look on blazers, looks a bit too casual for me, but it works on Nicole.

Then Olivia Palarmo (She’s my favourite girl at the moment) does it with leather leggings and black peep toes, her jewellery and clutch turns the whole look into dressy evening.

Then you find Mirranda Kerr (She’s also my favourite girl at the moment) does it with simple skinny leg blue jeans, great for dates with Olando Bloom. Very trendy yet casual, and don’t look like you are trying to hard.

Also Victoria Secret model Selita Ebanks does it short leather skirt and boot shoe, with her killer legs, very sexy.























I love this look, I’ve taken out all my blazers at home getting ready for Autumn. But you give these looks a try, sure you can find an old blazer at home, don’t have to be black. You can also add layers to it, if you’re looking for an more constructed look then wear a shirt underneath, if a more punk look wear a T-shirt with big prints. If you would like to work this look into very cold winter, you can try turtle neck skivvy, thick scarves and boots over jeans.

If you happen to wear a blazer this Autumn/Winter send me a photo love to see how you dress it.

Yippyy my Lilash is here February 3, 2009

I was going to wait and update this post tomorrow, but I’m so excited about this product I can’t wait anymore, if the instruction didn’t say to apply it only once a day before bed you can see me piling on this product right now.

This is every girl’s dream to have long eyelashes, some of us are really blessed with long lashes already, but we just want them longer. I am Asian, we have the most stubborn lashes on this earth. We try clipping them, we try extending them, we also try to faking them. But none look as natural as your own long long lashes, after make up removal we all drop back to reality.

My lashes aren’t really long, but long enough to grab on to layers and layers of Mascara, but this is not good enough for me. Then one day I found this Den den den den…..Lilash

Lilash package

I ordered it from their website http://www.lilash.com/ just came in the post today all the way from America, this product is not cheap, but I’ve heard such good reviews I couldn’t hold my excitement anymore.

If you try to search for Lilash on Youtube you should find lots of search results, a lot of girls has been using this.

I’m going to keep a close monitor on my little lashes, some of my friends really want to try it, of course I’m doing a review first, so I’ll update every week or when I see a significant growth, who knows mine might grow like hair in a week (yeah…dream on).  I’m so excited, I can’t wait to put it on tonight. Apparently they should start growing or I could see some results in 4 weeks. You will only need one application at night before you go to bed and wait for the magic.

Here’re my lashes before and after mascara now. I’ll be back….

Lashes before mascara as of 3rd Feb 2009

Lashes after mascara as of 3rd Feb 2009

Just Saw BrideWars February 1, 2009

Bride Wars

(Click on Image to watch trailer from their website)

This is my honest opinion, I thought the movie was kinda boring.  Two girls want the perfect wedding they’ve been dreaming about since they were little girls. See this is the kind of movie you SHOULD NOT take your little girls to see, they might start collecting things for the wedding too.

Although I love both Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, that was the only reason to see this movie but the story line was really disappointing.  A bit unrealistic, I can sum up the whole story in one sentence: “2 best friends of 20 years, end up having bitchy fights for a wedding date, but end up to be best friends again”

With all those female shows out there like Sex and the City, lipstick Jungle and Cashmere mafia, yet another one Bride wars, yet talking about women, yet talking about how desperate they want their wedding, yet they’ve been dreaming about their weddings ever since they were little.

Strange…. Very strange

I would only give 2 Stars for this movie out of 5. One star for Kate Hudson and one star for Anne Hathaway.

Where’s the Print Screen button on Mac January 31, 2009

I’ve been using an ibook since 2006, I must say I love this little white notebook, look sooo pretty. But have you ever wondered what happened to the little print screen button?

I have never had the need to use print screen, for a whole 3 years, but ever since I started blogging, I do wonder where’s my little print screen button on my ibook?.

I found this on a Forum Apparently this is how to get print screen out:

command-shift-3: capture screen to file
command-fn-shift-3: capture screen to clipboard
command-shift-4: capture selection to file
command-fn-shift-4: capture selection to keyboard

Print Screen of my screen

Then there will be a file saved on your desk top. I tried all 4 functions but I didn’t notice the difference at all.

What a complication, why can’t they just do a little button on the key board? With F11 button or something, I never get to used beyond F6 on my key board anyway.

Maybe Mac will notice my post one day and change their key board

Saturday is Mask Day January 31, 2009

How to utilise simple stuff in your kitchen to make an exfoliating mask.

Mask In Progress, sorry the bread was not suppose to be in the picture

There are 4 things you need:

• Fine Sugar – as exfoliating beads
• Honey – to hold mask together, moisturising
• Wheat Corn Flakes – gentle exfoliater and absorbs moisture from the mask
• Rosehip Oil (that’s not from the kitchen) – good for healing

Trilogy Rose Hip Oil & Honey

Wheat Corn Flakes

These are closed up shoots of the Trilogy Rosehip Oil & Honey and the Wheat Corn Flakes, they’re all simple stuff.

If you don’t have Rosehip oil feel free to use Vitamin E oil, or Olive oil, or even baby oil.  With Honey, it can be any brand and the wheat corn flakes are actually my breakfast cereal.

1. Put 1 table spoon of fine sugar in a little mixing bowl, this is to use as fine beads as exfoliate. Please only use fine sugar, as you don’t want it to scratch your face, and if you don’t have sugar please do not use salt, as that much salt will dehydrate your skin.
2. Then 10 drops of Rosehip oil, you can do a few drops more but too much oil will make your mask too runny.
3. Also put in one table spoon of Honey, u can use the residue in your tea spoon to make a cup of tea cos you’ll need to let the mask sit on your face for 10 mins
4. Then break wheat corn flakes into very very small pieces, this is to suck up all those runny texture out of Honey so it’ll stick on to your face better
5. Mix this well

One Teaspoon of Honey over sugar and Rosehip oil

Mask Mixture

I put this mixture into the freezer for about 1- 2 minutes (make sure it’s not frozen), so that the mixture is all cold.

Then it’s all dirty hand work, you’ll need to spread this evenly on your face, while spreading you can do gentle circular movements to exfoliate your skin.  Cold honey is hard to spread but as it slowly warmed up by the heat of your face it will melt and absorb all the goodness.

Happy Masking

Now we’ll have to wait, I let the mask sit on my face for a good 10 minutes, I  can feel honey is warming up and absorbing into my skin.

While waiting you can make that cup of honey tea and watch some TV or listen to some music.

Then rinse thoroughly you can feel deeply cleansed soft skin, don’t just leave your skin like this quickly pat on your normal daily skincare routine.

After mask before skincare

This is the end result, this photo has no touch ups, no skincare and no make up. It’s a true photo of my skin.

Give this a try or if you know any other good home natural masks let me know I would love to try them out Email me at: shanghainesedumpling@gmail.com

Damage I did Last Week – 上个星期的败家 January 30, 2009

Last week I went out and did some damage to my cc again, I should not let myself go out, every time I go out I have to bring something home.  My mum used to tell me that when I was a kid, when ever I go out must bring something home, even if it was just a pencil.  See Shopaholic habits start from young.

Okie Here’s what I bought:

1. Korres Natural Products – Cherry Lip Gloss
2. Korres Natural Products – Pomegranate Lip Butter
3. Clinique – Lash Power Mascara Long wearing formula
4. Osis – Magic Gloss

Korres Cherry Lip Gloss, Pomegranate Lip Butter, Osis Magic Gloss, Clinique Lash Power Mascara

Lets start from the Biggest Bottle, Osis Magic Gloss

It  claims its a magic anti frizz serum 4 gloss + instant shine + Smooth silky touch + light hold and separation + washes out easily.  Create contradicting styles on damp or dry hair.

I have tried it last week, since it says it’ll style on damp or dry hair, I’ve tried this product on my hair in both conditions.  First of all I think this product is much better and easier to use on Dry hair, it’s just my personal experience, I find it’s shinier and gives the light hold it claimed to anti frizz hair.  I personally have very thick hair, a lot of the time I need to work in a lot of products, but this hair serum I find only one pump it solves everything.

Okie the down side now, is the slippery residue in between fingers,  I particularly don’t like products leaves a residue in between my fingers, which means I have to wash my hands every time after using it.  I might just be fussy but.

Korres Natural Products

Here’s a bit on company back ground from their website <<Korres Natural Products is a Greek company with roots in Athens’ first ever Homeopathic Pharmacy. Set up in 1996 with the aim to utilise its extensive scientific resources for the creation of beneficial and safe products, the company today offers a complete skin and hair care range, make-up, sun care products and herbal preparations. A team of experienced scientists worked closely to make this happen, sharing common goals and values.>>

I’ve taken a picture of my lip just applying the Pomegranate Lip Butter, its this very very sheer red pinkish colour, very natural, I find it’s colour working very well with my yellow pinkish skin tone.

Lip colour using Korres Pomegranate Lip Butter

This is a lip butter so I apply with my fingers, which does not give the stiffness of a lip stick, I’ll just type what it said on the little container, “a buttery lip balm that melts on the lips (Yes it does melt) and offers a shinny, tinted finish.  The combination of Shea butter and rice wax offers deep hydration and softness.  Ideal for chapped lips”

I’ve used this just as a lip balm, which adds on a tinted colour.  I really really like this product, they come in other colours too, I bought this from the KIT COSMETICS Counter in City Myer, this girl Chin Chin served me, she is apparently Custard Bun’s high school classmate, she gives the best service and never tired of explaining, I’ve asked so many questions, cos there are tones of different brand cosmetics there.

While I was at it, I also bought the Cherry Lip Gloss, this really does smell like cherry,  it said on the package that its a Sheer high shine colour lip gloss.  Cherry  oil hydrates the lip while vitamins E and C offer antioxidant protection.

Lip Colour using Korres Cherry Lip Gloss on top

I love this lip gloss, this is my new favourite thing, I wear this on top of the Pomegranate lip butter, this lip gloss is pink based but its got this purplish tint to it. It also has fine sparkles which makes lips shinny, I love bling.   Although this product didn’t claim itself having any lip plumping effect but I do find my lips plumper and supple. Absolutely love these two.



Clinique Lash Power Mascara

I’m really sorry to say this Clinique, this  was absolute waste of money, as we all know Clinique stuff isn’t exactly cheap.  It claimed its a long wearing formula, mascara extension visible (NOT).

This mascara is not good for Asian eyelashes at all, for those of us who have downward growing eyelashes, this mascara does not lift. For those who have thin eye lashes this mascara does not thicken, for those of us who want water proof or at least water resistant, this mascara smudges.  The only good thing is you can take this mascara off by just using warm water,  but really what’s the point, cos you’ll need make up remover to take off the rest of the face anyway. As I mentioned before this was complete waste of money.

Sentimental Treasures 传家之宝 January 29, 2009

传家之宝

Mum came over today, handed me this little satin green box, she said those things belonged to my grandma, she has decided to pass them onto me now.  I took out some other stuff my grandma has already given me decided to record these information, when I still remember them, this can be a history lesson for little pork bun when he grows older.  I really don’t think they worth a lot, but each one of them reminds me a bit more about my grandma.

Antique Coins － 古董钱币

I only noticed these coins in detail today actually, they belong to different kings in the QING Dynasty.  These coins in my family has a very very long and interesting history.

My Grand Dad is Manchurian（满洲人，满族）, which is a different race to usual Han race (汉族）in China.  Apparently my Grandma use to tell me he’s family belong to the Yellow Eighth Flag, which considered to be Royal back then when China was still in the Qing Dynasty (清朝).  Ever since the republic of China (中国解放), in 1949, there’s no more Qing, no more kings and obviously their money is no longer useful.  But my grand dad kept them, maybe just wanted to remind himself he still has Manchurian Blood.

Funny enough my grandma used to make Birdies (毽子) , I’m not sure if this is the real English name for it, but this thing actually look like a Shuttlecock, but instead of hitting it we kick using our feet. This is a common type of sport among children in Winter, sometimes the adults join us too . Every winter my grandma will hand make my Winter Shoes (棉鞋) and also make a Birdie ( I have one my mum bought from Shanghai in a shop, I’ll take a picture and show you guys one day), Birdies needed the weight down the bottom to be able to weight it bottom down when kicking it in the air, she use to put those coins as weights.

I never learned to appreciate them until recently, apparently they’re antiques now, and today I had a closer look at them, apparently they belong to 4 different Emperors who are Qian Long (乾隆）Dao Guang (道光) Kang Xi （康熙) and Xian Feng （咸丰).  The most unique out of the 4 is Xian Feng Zhong Bo (咸丰重宝), apparently this is the biggest among the 6 coins I have, I’ve just checked on Bai Du (百度) it said it might worth somewhere between 2800 RMB – 8000RMB right now, woow this caught me by surprise

Rings – 戒指

The far right one is from 1961， my mum told me it was my Grandma’s birthday, my grand parents and my mum moved from Dong Bei (东北) to Shanghai (上海) in the 1950s, my grand dad bought a colour changing stone in Shanghai, its blue during day light and purple at night, I’m not sure what kind of stone is that but I just think its interesting. He went to this jewellery store called Yong Xing (永兴) to set the stone on it.  They used 18c Gold as setting, what was used and what was done to the stone was all engraved on the inside of the ring. Very interesting, my grandma gave this ring to me when I came to Australia, that was back in 1990, she said to me “I don’t have much, this is a ring from your grand father, it’s yours now, so that you know we’re close to you.”

The Jade and the Opal ring are both from my mum, when mum had a chance to go back to Shanghai, she’ll get my grandma some jewellery, apparently there are other stuff too, but grandma has given them to other relatives already, I wish she didn’t, at least let me take a photo of them first.

Gold Cross Necklace  – 金十字架

My grandma became a Christian in the 1980s, I can’t remember which year exactly, but I was still in Shanghai. My mum gave this cross to her, there is no other significance, but it was very interesting to know all this now.

Earrings － 耳环

There are only two single earings, mum said a year before grandma passed away, she was too old and had Alzheimer and not sure what happened to her things, when my mum managed to go back and take care of her she has already lost a lot of her jewelleries.

When I look at all these I really wished I could know my grandma a bit more, spend some more time with her and listen to her stories, she use to tell me all about the wars, when the Japanese and the Russians invading China.  She also use to tell me all about when my mum was young, when I was young. Now its my mum’s turn to tell little pork bun all about when I was young and when he was young.

As white as paper January 20, 2009

Most Asian girls sticks to their daily whitening routine pretty religiously, including this Asian girl, my first milestone is to be as white as paper , after reading Barbie Xu’s whitening statement, she’s definitely my 师傅 (master), cos she wants to be as white as a light glob, those that lights up like day light and shining.

Last week I bought this new whitening range

Lancome’s Blanc Expert Neurowhite X3

Lancome Blanc Expert Neurowhite X3

As most people would expect Lancome comes from Paris, well so did I, but when I looked at this newly developed Blanc Expert range closely, it’s actually developed by Lancome’s Japanese lab, which tested in Asian skin, but that’s not what attracted me to this range, actually when I went to Myer to buy a new whitening skincare range I wanted to buy SKII, but the counter lady was so unpleasant to deal with I have decided to shop around and buy something else.

Then I found Lancome, they had a male customer service person, he’s soooo nice, and very cute when he started telling me how to put those skincare products on correctly, so there you go customer service does count , doesn’t matter how good the product is.

I’ve used it for a week now, it’s time to give them a review， I bought 4 items, did nearly $350 damage to my credit card. But hey I gota look as white as my paper! lets start from the left.

1) Ultimate whitening, anti-dark circle eye treatment – 15ml

This little bottle of eye cream will whiten eye area, and also reduce dark cycle, I have used it for a week, can’t feel much difference, to start with my eye area is not very dark, usually when a whitening range claim itself to whiten eye area it targets itself to two types of users

1. Dark Circles from sun damage, or residues from makeup, which they have darken pigmentation of the skin, those are easily fixed with a good whitening eye cream
2. or dark circles comes from bad blood circulation underneath the eye area. Usually people with hay fever or usually have a blocked nose would have a purple – blackish patch underneath the eye area, looked like a bruse, those are clear indication of bad blood circulation.

Obviously I’m the hard to fix 2nd type, usually I would need certain ingredients in an eye cream to stimulate the circulation of blood to make my dark circles better, but currently or as far as I have seen on today’s beauty market there isn’t one could do the job unless if I go through plastic surgery.So to start with I didn’t  have much expectation out of this little Lancome bottle, which then it’s exactly what I expect, the texture is very soft, easy to melt and warm up in between fingers, after patting on my eyes I do feel they’re brighter and has a lifting effect, to look closely I found light reflecting particles, which is why my eyes looked brighter, but my actually dark circles did not get better, but as I said before I didn’t expect too much from this little bottle, as my dark circles are hard to fix, so I would still recommended it others who’s looking for an whitening eye cream.

2) Ultimate whitening hydrating emulsion – moist – 75ml

Its just one of those normal daily day time moisturiser, it’s got a very light milky textures, absorbs by skin very easily, didn’t notice I had a dramatic difference in whitening, but it feels very nice on skin. The down side is it didn’t have SPF so I need to use sun screen on top, I would probably recommend this as a normal daily moisturiser, but not a good whitening moisturiser, as it claims.

3) High Potency Whitening Spot Eraser – 30ml

I have been using this tube as a spot eraser as well as essence, after I used it at night I can feel skin is brighter and more even textured. I would love to tell you more on the ingredients but I threw away the instructions, next time I’ll remember to keep them, but this essence does seem to work, my darker spots are not getting dramatically lighter but the smaller ones are lighter and lighter.  But this tube packaging is not the best to use, as it was very hard for me to figure how much is enough for my face, it’ll be good if its in a pump. I would recommended it to people with light spots, if you have lots of dark sun sports this would probably be a bit expensive.

4) Pore Expert 3D-Collagen Cx

This is not exactly a whitening product, this is a pore refiner, as we age our pores are getting bigger and bigger and losing collagen to support the elasticity of our skin, don’t forget those teen age acne opens up pores too, so people with oily skin usually have larger pores.  But pores are something that can never be closed, so the best it’ll get to is to shrink them as small as possible, but they will not disappear.  As the years go by I can feel my skin is not as firm as a few years before but I don’t have large pores, so when it comes to pore care I’m very particular with what’s in the ingredient.  I quite like the texture of this product, it’s not like usual pore refining products they have this semi clear muddy feeling, so when the product is applied it’ll fill up your pores make them smaller rather than actually shrinking them.  The Pore Export from lancome don’t give that muddy texture at all, I can smell alcohol in there but not very strong, so the product actually gave me the really shrinking your pores feeling instead of fill them up.  I would recommend it to most people who likes to refine their skin, but if you have acne pron skin type or oily skin type I would probably ask you to do more research, as this product has alcohol, which easily drys skin which then makes your skin to produce more oil to compensate the dryness.

Well here goes my review, over all I would give it 3 1/2 stars of out 5, their essence is above average but its the most expensive out of this product range, and only 30ml, nice but pricey…

Rash Battle Update January 21, 2009

Little pork bun’s face has been clearing up yeahhhhh !!!, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing all those angry rashes not clearing up. I can deal with the physicals, but worrying continuously if he’s suffering, is he going to be alright is really mentally draining. I didn’t use or do anything special, I continue to bath him in warm water, and soak him for quite a while, then with in the next 5 mins I quickly apply Goat’s milk moisturiser. Every morning I use warm towel to wipe he’s face, then Goat’s milk again, and all of the sudden yesterday morning its all cleared up on he’s face, what a relief.

I have to say Goat’s milk cought me by suprise, I started using it with doubt, but it does seem to be working, this 200ml tube cost only $18.95, I got the Moisturiser, but it comes in bath and soap as well, it was on Australian TV for its relief on eczema.  After applying to baby’s skin it became very moisturised, and leaving a light protective film.  When I bath him at night after a whole day of applying, I can feel this slipery film on he’s skin its not gressy just like a water based cream easily removed by rubbing he’s skin a little bit in the water. He’s neck and chest is still red and dry so I’ll keep on going with the goats milk and how it all goes.

Then now I have he’s bottom to deal with, we went and saw he’s PAD yesterday, she said he’s nappy rash has turned into something else, cos it was a nappy rash, then there’s the heat then nappy + heat, then there’s some infections, then there’s thrush, so its a combination of everything, the rash area looked quite bad.

I started applying Sudocrem 2 days ago, as soon as I applied it I can feel the nappy area is dry, but after 2 nappy changes I find he’s rash area started pealing, it’s pretty bad pealing, feel so sorry for him, huge chunks of skin coming off he’s bottle and leg part.

He’s Pad prescribed 2 types of creams

Antroquoril & Clonea

1) Antroquoril – this cream has light steroid in there, which we’re very unsure about, it’s a prescription only cream. I tried to search for it on the Internet, there isn’t really much information.

This cream is to used all over he’s body, as he’s got little bumps and dry patches and continue use for 10 days, twice a day, if the skin rash has all cleared up then stop

2) Clonea – its an anti fungal skin cream, which is used for he’s nappy area, doctor think he’s nappy rash has gone really bad so this cream is used on he’s nappy area every time after change.

So there’s the Antroquoril every morning and night, then Clonea every nappy change then on top Sudocrem, after careful consideration, me and Custard Bun have decided not to use all these yet on Little Pork Bun’s bum.

We’ve only used Sudocream for 2 day, and I’ll continue using it for a week plus all the nappy free times and see how everything goes, if he’s rash isn’t gets better then we’ll start those chemical stuff.

3个月的亲子心情 January 24, 2009

一般我都比较习惯用中文写博格，连续几天的英文流水帐让我觉得自己的英文水平实在是太差了。好象有好多感想都表达不出来，怎么回是。。。都已经还给老师了吗？

Anyway, 话说3个月前， 在一个阳光明媚的中午， 上海小笼包跟奶黄包混合了个小肉包子出来，肉包子刚出笼的时候还是很害羞的， 虽然已经被包的紧紧囔囔的，但还是很没有安全感，所以他决定用一只眼睛偷偷的看我们，偷偷的看这个世界。

week1-b

肉包子的皮儿一般都是雪白雪白的， 但我们家的可能有马来西亚风味儿，变成有史以来最黑的肉包子，但是里面还是香香的。当然他还有上海风味儿，嗓门大，象在吵架，但还是有自己温柔的一面。每天都变一个样，早上看是瘦肉包子， 晚上看就是个肥肉包子， 明早看是又肥了的肉包子，我跟他爹是左看右看，上看下看，原来肉包子肥的真不简单。

week4-q

很快一个月过去了，因为这一个月里肉包子都在睡觉，只是在喝奶的时候提起精神来看看， 外公说“他在养精蓄锐”，外婆说“多睡睡好长脑”，爷爷说“公公来了”，奶奶说“我来看你了” 时间过的特别快。每天消耗的奶日渐增多从在医院小小的20ml到80ml，看样子小肉包子里的小细胞在膨胀呢。

week6-c

当春天慢慢进入夏天的时候我们家的小肉包子也步入第二个月，夏天真热， 小笼包热了， 都流汤了。 奶黄包也热了， 都流奶了。 肉包子也热了都流油了。但肉包子大部分时间还是在睡觉。但突然在第七个星期的时候肉包子裂了， 开个口笑了。但同时小肉包也发了一脸红红的疹子，但小肉包子没觉得自己难看， 还是每天美滋滋的傻笑。 他笑了我们也跟着笑了。。。

week8-m

接着肉包子也不嫌着， 8个星期后就决定在任何事情上需要发表一下自己的看法，激动的时候还得大叫两声。 喝奶了之后还能提起精神看看玩儿玩儿，什么都爱看， 什么都爱说，就是拿本书给他，他就看天花板。说说他吧， 就给你一脸无辜的样子，好像自己什么都没干。还是离不开傻笑， 一家的包子一起傻笑。

week9-c

现在长的更大了， 记得有一天早上爸爸发现他一夜之间变大了， 是个大小肉包子了。脸变成熟了，但没感跟小笼包提，怕她说自己大惊小怪。当小笼包看到肉包子的时候忍不住叫了出来，”他怎么又大了“ 说完小肉包子还是傻笑，我们在他的小床边也一起傻笑了。从此以后小肉包子意见就更多了，你说话吧， 他在旁边还老时不时的答应着，睡觉前还老跟小兔子小熊聊聊天儿。心情好的时候就哼哼小曲儿， 唱唱小歌儿。心情不好的时候就发发小脾气，耍耍小赖皮。

week10-g

前天刚给他买了新的奶瓶能装330ml的，240ml已经不能满足小肉包子了，因为今天在这个时间他3个月了。

Ena’s easy Chinese Cooking January 28, 2009

Steamed Fish Fillets

I’m not good at cooking at all, but since I’ve declared myself as a full time house wife this has become part of my many tasks. Making sure Custard Bun is not getting any chubbier is my daily duty.

I have decided to do Fish as a main dish 3 nights in a week.
I don’t know any other ways of cooking fish but I learned this from my dad, it’s really easy to do.

First you need 2 pieces of BASA FISH, in Australia you can get them easily from Woolworth, they’re not very expensive fish and in white colour. I wash them before steaming, and use a paper towel pat dry, then lay them flat in a plate.

Then you need to put a steam tray into your normal pot and then put that plate of fish in there and that’s it. Depending on the size of your fish I would usually say 15 minutes of steaming is just right. Fish is still soft and tender, not too “old”, texture is just right and not too raw. Don’t forget to set yourself a timer for 13 mins ( I’ll tell you why we only setting the timer for 13 mins)

Okie that was the first part, in the next two minutes we’re going to do the sauce, then during steaming.

1) Grind some ginger, I like to use a lot of ginger, so it’s up to you how much ginger taste you want in your fish. But keep in mind more ginger takes away the fishy smell.
2) Then chop up some spring onion, I only use the bottom part, don’t cut them horizontally, you need them long, they’re for display as well as for taste reasons.

Then in the last 2 minutes of steaming

1) Pour in one cup of cooking oil, bring that to boil, then pour in one cup of superior light soy sauce (生抽）, and 1/2 cut superior dark soy source (老抽）you can get them in a Chinese store easily, then bring all of them to boil.
2) Then quickly throw in the ginger and the spring onion, just lightly flip them, don’t need to over cook them you’ll just need the ginger and spring onion taste in the soy sauce and oil.

Then once your fish has finished steaming, take out the plate carefully, watch out it’s very hot, then pour your sauce over every single corner. Then Waaallaaahhh , you have Chinese style Steamed Fish Fillets.

Chinese Medicine and Baby Rash- 中药 January 22, 2009

Little pork bun is born in a Chinese family, we tend to use alternative medicine before heading to those chemical stuff and also Custard Bun’s into health food, so we try our best not to use chemical stuff until the worst condition. I sometimes tend to be a bit more inpatient, I tend to want results fast, but lucky Custard Bun keep on reminding me how important it is to keep him from those chemicals, he’s still got a long life ahead of him we don’t’ want him to get immune to medicines when just a child.

Today, I have the feeling to blog about the two types of Chinese medicines we used when Little Pork Bun was only 7 weeks old, it’s very light and not harmful.

Dried Lonicera Honeysuckle

Dried Licorice Root

When he first had the rashes was at week 7, a bit too early to use any medicine on he’s face, but we can’t just leave it untreated, cos rash seems to get worst. My mother in law told me about Honeysuckles or Lonicera (金银花), which is a type of flower commonly used in the practice of Chinese medicine. We found them in the local Chinese stores, they come in dried flowers. Every morning, I grab a small hand full of Lonicera, and 2 pieces of dried Licorice Roots (甘草), poor in 400mls of water, brings it to boil then seam them in the pot until there’s only 1/2 of the water left. I used that on orally as well as on he’s face. Apparently Lonicera has a very “cooling” effect, my mum mentioned back in the old days in Shanghai, people use to buy Lonicera water in glass bottles prepacked, have them during summer time to avoid getting heat rashes and body being over heated. Just like how we drink coke but much healthier. It also helps with constipation, better digestion, but because its famous for its “coldness” people don’t tend to use them in a long term, as it’ll make your stomach dependent on it for digestion.

With dried Licorice Roots, its also got that “cooling” effect and also it clears rashes, pimples or acne. Also is good for people with digestion problem related constipation. After boiling, I pour 20mls of Lonicera and Licorice root water per 240mls in he’s milk bottle, he’s milk will turn in to darkish grey colour, it suppose to be that colour cos the the “LL” water is like tea colour.

Then use the left overs as a face wipe, this water must be used warm so if it did cool then you’ll need to heat it up, not with microwave, as it kills any type of Chinese medicine, it’ll need to be heated up in hot water, like how we warm milk bottles. I also wiped he’s eye with it too, as Lonicera was also used as an eye cleaner back in China. During all this Little Pork Bun actually had conjunctivitis, in he’s left eye, he’s GP prescribed antibiotic eye drops to use for 7 days, I used it on him for 2 days then was very afraid of using it in the eye, then I wiped he’s eye with “LL” water for a week, it did seem to get better but not completely gone, then i used antibiotic eye drop for another day then every thing’s gone, at least i didn’t have to use antibiotic in he’s eye for 7 days.

He’s rash got better and it didn’t spread anymore, I can see a clear result 2 days into it, as Chinese medicine is meant not meant to have an instant result, just like yoga, if we contribute one drop of water a day in a big pond, we might not see anything in one or two days, but in the long run it does make a difference.

At first I was very unsure about it, cos those names are only heard of but never used ourselves, then I did more research on the Internet found a lot of mums in China are using it for baby rash, they drink it, wipe it, even bath in it. But the key is its not for long term, don’t drink it for a whole year.  With Chinese medicines if they have a cooling effect should be used during summer, as it cancels out with the heat or if they have a heating effect should be used in Winter. Hope this is helpful.

I forgot to mention, this is not only for babies, even adults could drink them too, but probably need to use a big handful

Here are more information about those two types of medicines.

for more information on Lonicera – Honeysuckle (金银花) in English and Chinese

for more information on Licorice Roots (甘草) in English and Chinese

A Dog Photographer January 23, 2009

I think this is worth a mention, Erin Vey, a dog photographer. She has recently become my favourite photographer, well other than my husband.

I love dogs to start with, but her work really brings out the best in them. I love her big dog Gracie, she’s so big yet so innocent and cute. She updates stories of Gracie very often, if you are a dog lover go ahead you’ll enjoy reading them.

How I came across this photographer blog was because I had a King Charles Cavalier, I absolutely adore Cavaliers, everything about them was cute. My husband one day saw some photos of Erin took for this Cavalier puppy. I loved it so much I book marked her blog so that I can go back and revisit that little puppy, then I saw whole bunch of other great work.

Anyway enough talking here, go check it out.
http://www.erinvey.com

Memory Lane into my Chinese New Year January 25, 2009

Today is Chinese new year’s eve, we call it 大年三十 in Chinese. Officially we’re saying bye bye to the year of Mouse, I know usually people call it the year of Rat, but I’d like it call it Mouse, cos Mouse sounds cuter, I’m using my female brain again.

The Chinese always stay up for the new year’s eve, they call it 过年 literally mean living through the year. There use to be a mystical story about the “Year(年)” it suppose to be some sort of beast, attacks people and children, so the all the food were prepared for the “Year” to eat so it wouldn’t attach anymore people. We also light up fire crackers which makes loud sounds to scare away the “Year” beast. We also stay up whole night just to keep on guard or watch out of the “Year” beast comes by. This is all mystical, I never believed there was a beast, I don’t even believe there’s Santa so that’s just me I guess.

But can’t complain about the food and atmosphere,  I still remember when I was young we save up a whole year’s excitement for the New Year’s Eve, all of the kids get to stay up late at night (over 12am midnight). I would love to go back to when I was a child how exciting just remembering the good old times…

1) New Clothes (新衣服) – The Chinese believe to celebrate the New Year fully we’ll need everything thing new. Also during the 15 days Celebration we’ll be visited by families and friends and we’ll have to go out and visit them we must look as decent as we can.

2) New Hair (剪头发) – The boys cut their hair short, girls will trim their hair, we believe it’ll cut away all the bad luck from last year and start with New good Luck this year.

3) New Year Snacks (年货）- This is another tradition we do weeks before, my parents use to go out and carry kilos of Sun Flower Seeds (瓜子), peanuts with shells (花生) 糖 (lollies）and whole bunch of others.  The reason for these is because during the 15 days Chinese new year celebration we go to relatives and friends house, or they come to us, to say “Happy New Year” but we say it as 恭喜发财 it’s a way of showing our respect to the oldies and relatives.  If any of the family didn’t have enough snacks will considered to be rude, I have never seen a family ran out of snacks during the 15 days Chinese new year celebration.

4) New Year’s Eve Dinner (年夜饭) – This is something I loved and the most important meal in the whole year.  This is also called the “团圆饭”, in English this mean a “Get Together Meal”， every one has to turn up at this meal, far distant relatives,  aunties or uncles working else where, or students studying overseas,  Children married or have a life in another state, doesn’t matter where they are on this earth, they all have to come back for this meal.  But of course there are certain people can’t come back due to their work duties like people in the Army etc, they all get mentioned and accredited during the New Year’s Eve TV show, which I will mention later

when I was still in Shang Hai, which is about 20 years ago (man I sound old hehe) I can feel we’re in the new year atmosphere maybe 2 or 3 weeks before the actual day, families start to prepare all those preserved fish, duck, chicken, everything you can think of. Especially in Shanghai, we eat a lot of cold dishes before the main hot dishes, which is a bit like Entre in the western culture.  So we will apply salt all over them, wind dry those poultry weeks before the new year for them to be ready in time.

I have a very small family, my mum is the only child as well as me, my only relatives comes from my dad side, when we celebrate Chinese New Year meal we have roughly about 15 adults and 5 children, separated into 2 tables, the big tables are for adults and the smaller tables are for children.  I still remember we usually doing steam boat as our “thing” for New year’s eve, where’s at my Nana’s home they usually cook 15 over dishes.

We will eat and eat and eat and drink and drink and drink until every one’s tummy is bursting out of their shirt

Oh I forgot to mention, we must have Fish (鱼) as a dish, the pronunciation of fish in Chinese is Yu which is the same meaning as left over. The reason for us all to eat fish is we would like to have a great year, not only enough but we have left overs I know sounds a bit silly, but I like these little tacky things, makes me fell a lot towards my culture.

5) New Year’s Eve Celebration TV Show (春节联欢晚会) – This happens every year, even now. We eat our dinner with this TV show on and count down with this TV show, this is the biggest show in China, if any celebrities got invited by CCTV to have a performance on this show then they must be big in China.  Now looking back although they are such old fashioned “土”shows, but this a tradition in China. It’s a must watch for us, even we’ve been here for so long, my mum would rent video tapes of this show a few days after Chinese New Year, we gather around in front of the TV still enjoying our little show, gives us a sense of belonging.  Now days CCTV has put this show on live stream, some of my overseas student Friends they didn’t manage to go home for Chinese new year, they would gather a group and watch it live on their laptops (how cute).

6) Dumpling (饺子) – This is probably a Northern China tradition, my grandma is from Dong Bei (东北), so dumpling is one of their best skill. On the new year’s even night, my grandma would do about 300 dumplings, I know this sounds a lot but apparently my dad could eat at least 50 in one go.  She would put in a 5c coin into one of the dumpling, who ever ate that dumpling with the 5c then that person would considered lucky, or a lucky start for the year.

7) Fire Crackers (鞭炮) – This is illegal in Shanghai now, but back in the old days we use to buy heaps and heaps of fire crackers, sometimes little boys can’t hold their excitement over fire crackers, they would separate a few of those red little fire crackers from a long string of 100s, they don’t have much colour but they make the loudest sounds.  Girls would buy those have colours or a flower or something, since the celebration atmosphere start 2 weeks ago, children will start “stocking up”.  We all hope to show the best fire crackers on the new year’s even night.

The fire crackers about 15 or 20 seconds before the count down, my Nana’s place is like a little village which lives 10 families, we always wait anxiously for one of the family to start first, then all of my cousins would rush down stairs to start lighting up our own fire cracker. I use to be a real Tom Boy, I use to hold those fire crackers in our hands and watch those colourful flames shoot up the dark sky, then splash into fire rain drops.  In the last 10 seconds the whole Shanghai city would light up with fire crackers, the noise we all make is like fire crackers symphony orchestra.

8 ) Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆) – After the fire crackers, which we’ll be already in the New Year, we’ll all gather around and eat glutinous rice balls.  In my family we usually use sesame past but some families use peanut past, this is desert type of food, we would eat it after the count down, usually adults would prepare them already but sometimes during the Chinese New Year Celebration TV show, they all get around talk about their lives for the whole year and make some more Glutinous Rice Balls.  This is another reminder for us to get together again next year not one person short we need to be 团团圆圆.

9) Jump Behind a Door (门背后跳长高) – This is a tradition in my family, I’m sure some of other families in China will tell their kids to do that too.  My dad told me that just before bed we’ll need to jump a few times behind a door, when no one’s looking, I’m telling you its pretty hard to find a door with nobody cos so all of the uncles and aunties are around.  But I remember to do so every year until I’m out of the age of growing, the only door I found was the toilet door.

10) Happy New Year – 拜年 – This is first thing on the new year’s day, we get up sometimes still in our pajamas, we’ll say happy new year to grandparents, and parents, they’ll give us red packets (红包）in return with money in there.  In my case my mum always say she’ll keep those red packets in a “safe” place for me, but eventually they all magically disappeared

11) Red Packets – (红包，压岁钱) – When I was still in Shanghai after we received all of the red packets on the Chinese New Year Day, we put it under our pillow and slep over it for a night, I was told by my dad that it’ll keep us prosperous for the upcoming year too.

12) Glutinous Cake – (年糕) – This is a very sticky cake, its sweet as well, the meaning behind is it for us to all stick together very cute isn’t it.  We eat this sticky cake so that we could all see each other again and again and stick together as a family.

Then we do this all over again for the next day and the next day until the 15th day.  We eat Glutinous Rice Ball again, to remind us to get together again and again.  Us Chinese are very family orientated, we eat and do everything together, which is not enough we eat some glutinous rice balls and cakes for us to stick together even more.  I really do like this little tacky tradition, well Happy Chinese New Year!!

Does it really Worth the Pain? January 27, 2009

For us who have had a baby, this must be the most controversial question we ask ourselves. Are babies really worth the pain?

I’ve had a little pork bun 3 months ago and it was a Cesarean birth, usually people say Cesareans recover slower, mine recovered as usual but just from yesterday I have started having this twitching pain from my lower spinal cord down, it wasn’t that bad just made me walking a bit uncomfortable. Then today sometimes it’s so painful I had to stop what I’m doing and wait for the pain to go away.

Every time I had some sort of pain I will think about little pork bun. A year ago I was still free as a bird, although married, still living life to the fullest, but now we have one extra little baggage. Our family count is 3 heads now We can never go anywhere with out thinking about him again. Like a friend said “My life is changed forever on the 24th of October”

It was amazing seeing my stomach getting bigger and bigger, seeing him waving to us at 13 weeks, feeling him moving, from little movements to big swimming like movements, then boxing match movements. And now this is all in front of us, all the movements I use to feel in my stomach is right in front of us now. We can’t complain, he is cute, but comes with great responsibilities. Every time we tried to have sometime to ourselves he keep on remind us “Don’t forget meeee!!”.

Sometimes I think it’s strange how we all ended up, I used to say I don’t like babies, but when I first felt him moving, it reminded me how maternal I can be. I also said having a baby is a very PAINFUL process, yes it was painful but when I saw little pork bun smiles, I’ll forget all about the pain. I used to also think babies are noisy, but when he first started communicating with us I actually think babies are cute. I used to think babies are so troublesome, but when I saw him fixing his eyes on me where ever I moved, I think it was all worthed it.

Favourite Make up of the Month January 28, 2009

I get sick of things very easily, so every month out of my whole pile of make up I have my heavily used items for the month, it’s time to do a review on them.

Nars, Paul & Joe, Kevyn Aucoin

NARS NARS NARS

As I was told by every one, and also the Japanese makeup artists, Nars is the best makeup you can get right now. Their shadows really show colours and I couldn’t hold my excitement towards it, so i did AUS $75.00 to my credit card again at Mecca Cosmetics Garden city for this little neat black package.  I’ve picked this colour (April Fools), this is probably one of their lightest duo shadow, the colour on the left is a beautiful gold lightly shimmering colour, glides on eyelids very easily and the colour next to it is a Ash Green colour, with a bit of gold shimmer together, the two goes together beautifully.

Paul & Joe

This is their limited edition items from last year spring, I wasn’t very into this shadow before, I bought it purely because it’s packaging is so cute, lipstick was good thou, its got this light chrysanthemum smell to it,  but now I actually really love this shadow, I use my fingers to apply this shadow, each of the little dots can be used individually or use a big powder brush mash it together. I know the dots seems to be very small, if you have big fingers I would suggest you to use a small brush.  The Light brown colour goes on my eyes as a base colour, then the orange dots are lid colour and the dark brown as contouring colour. It gives the most natural make up as if I’m not wearing any, but as I said this is a limited edition, most probably they don’t sell this anymore.

Kevyn Aucoin

This is a face contouring powder in Medium. I’ve been using this for a while now, its colour is just right for our Yellow based skin tone and when its applied it doesn’t give that dirty effect as most contouring powder do.  I was also very surprised by its lasting power, last week went out on a really sweaty summer day and I thought this contouring powder is going t run down my face, but surprisingly it didn’t and still looking as natural.  If you tend to have a round face like me and need some contouring, I would defiantly recommend this.

For more products from Nars, Paul & Joe and Kevyn Aucoin