Purrfect contentment.

I cannot begin to comment on how contented my sweet little kitties are. They have quite an easy life, surrounded by pure blissful ignorance. Being around them make it a little easier to take a breather when things are not exactly going well. Perhaps we could learn a thing or two from them eh?

Picking oneself up and dusting off.

My conversations with my closest friends and my family tend to be retrospective nowadays. Sometimes, there is more regret in my voice than I would like there to be. It would be easy to just say to myself, "Just let it go and move on...." But I feel that the lessons get lost if there isn't enough contemplation on my part. I guess I'm just walking the line between wanting to look forward and move on, and hanging on to what might have been.

Any rational person would tell you that it is unhealthy to hold on to experiences past, but then again, most people do so because those parts of their lives were all they knew at that time. Sometimes, the circumstances affect us so strongly because they were new high points, never before experienced and had heavy emotional investment on our parts. As Amy mentioned in our chat the other day, these experiences strip you of everything, and it feels like having to start from scratch all over again. No doubt, it is a painful process, and sometimes it feels better just to be in denial and cling on to that false sense of security from our warped memories.

My father always reminds me that life is full of challenges, and that we always need to be positive and look forward. My mother tries to convey the same message, but knowing that she's had a battle-weary life, it always comes across with a hint of bitterness. I try to learn from their experiences and try not to make the same mistakes. Then again, mistakes of a different kind don't make the pill any easier to swallow. So, in my poor mind, I juggle my own dreams, goals and regrets, along with those of my family and some friends. However, I have also learnt to understand, (but not necessarily accept) that sometimes things just happen and are completely beyond my control. Now, that's a jagged little pill for ya.

Cabin fever

What does one do when the weather is most unfriendly and causes one to be stuck at home? Why, cook up a storm, of course! (Hehe. Pardon the pun). We had a week of constant icy rain and snow, which really made up for a most foul environment outside. It was very cold, wet and you were likely to slip at least once on invisible ice just to make it to the parking lot.

Jon had to stay home on Wednesday because all the roads were iced up and it was too big a risk to head to work. We decided to make Hainanese Chicken Rice, which we were craving BIG time. In fact, I'll admit, I've been craving it pretty much throughout my pregnancy, and was only able to partially satisfy the gnawing pangs with really mediocre chicken rice at a Singaporean hole-in-the-wall eating spot in Plano.

Jon felt the same way and we just decided to go shopping a couple of days before (Thank goodness for early bad weather warnings!) for all the ingredients - whole chicken, chilli peppers for the sauce and a few other necessities to make the entire meal. Well, I couldn't find red cayenne peppers, which are the red chillies normally used in Malaysian cooking. (FYI, I have made another resolution to grow my own cayennes since it is close to impossible to find them here. Wish me luck!) So, I replaced them with a combination of red jalapenos, red cili padi, and a couple of habaneros, along with garlic, ginger and lime juice. WOOOO!!! Let's just say a couple of bites into the chicken with the sauce, and we weren't feeling the cold anymore. Anyway, I digress.......

Well, it took us a total of two and a half hours to cook the entire meal - chicken, rice and soup. Of course, I had to face another dilemma along the way - to follow the recipe to the T, I had to reserve some chicken fat to be included in the rice and the chilli sauce. *Groan! It was making me gag just to clean the chicken. To process the fat would just push me over the edge. BUT, I was intent on having a proper chicken rice meal and decided to suck it up and deal with it. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Jon was having a good laugh at my expense.

All in all, I have to say, the effort was definitely worth it. We had enough to last us four meals. Very good, considering it cost us probably about $15 for the entire thing.

So, anytime you anticipate being cooped up at home with nowhere to go, I suggest stocking up on some ingredients and going to town with some recipes. Happy cooking and good eats!