Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

A snowy day is gorgeous, a rainy day is scenic. However, when the two come together, it can be rather disastrous. Here’s the evidence:

Pretty winter scenes on a snowy day:

When the temperature fluctuates and works its way up, beyond the freezing point in the early morning, we get rain instead of snow. The volume of rain, in addition of the amount of melted snow results in puddles everywhere. Slush and rain, oh… how messier can it get?

Conclusively, traveling in the winter can be quite troublesome. Winter survival tips? Be sure to check the weather before leaving home. Snowing? Wear a winter hat. Raining? Wear a rain jacket and bring an umbrella. Windy? Put on a winter hat and a pair of winter gloves, and do whatever you can to stay warm!

Dress accordingly to get the most out of the splendid winter season :D

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!!! Another surprise from my Secret Santa ;)

Day 8 (Dec. 12th): A note was found beside the entrance door on second floor around 9:15 a.m. I found it so funny that I almost laughed my head off. It reads:

Day 8th (Dec. 12th): A gift was nicely wrapped and placed under a chair in the hallway! A Christmas wreath and fresh pine scented candle!!

I’m truly spoiled by my Secret Santa. He/she took me by surprise with all these unexpected gifts. Thanks, Santa!

1. To cook the noodles and shrimps, prepare a pot of boiling water. Boil the dried noodles on high heat for 10-15 minutes until tender. Add 1 tbsp cooking oil to prevent noodles from sticking together. Add frozen shrimps into the pot of hot water to cook.
2. Drain water off the pot. Place noodles and shrimps separately.
3. Heat up the wok. Add the rest of the cooking oil into the wok. When heated, sautee onions and then garlic on medium heat.
4. Place noodles into the wok. Add oyster sauce, dark and light soya sauces, sesame oil, and fish sauce, while frying the noodles.
5. Add beaten eggs, ground peppers, and red chilli powder. Fry the noodles till soft and tender.
6. When eggs are cooked, add the cooked shrimps.
7. Lastly, incorporate bean sprouts and green onions into the noodles.
8. Ready to serve!

I’d have used some Chinese chives instead of green onions, if I could get hold of them. Besides that, I’m pretty happy with the taste and presentation of the dish! Hope you enjoy it ;)

My Secret Santa showed no sign for the past two days. Guess what?? Here is what I got this morning at work – a note (again). I was puzzled for a second, before I was reminded by a co-worker about the weights for balance that we use at various labs. Ha…gotcha! I made a dash to where the weights were placed. Sure enough, my surprise gift was sitting on the counter!

Day 6 (Dec. 10th): A note found at the micro. lab entrance around 9:15 a.m.

Day 6 (Dec. 10th): Christmas cactus from my Secret Santa. How sweet…. Thanks Santa, for you’ve brighten my day ;)

神秘圣诞老人的心思，让我很期待圣诞节的到来。充满惊喜与欢笑的日子，只因有你的努力。谢谢你，圣诞老人！

一个提示
一句暗示
懵懂无知
迷茫错失

你的温柔提点
藏着秘密玄机
要我翻天覆地
伤动脑筋解密

你的心思 我都看见
心中感动 乐而不语

你的字迹 我能看透
乱中有序 几可乱真

你的手艺 还真贴心
给我造个 闪亮雪花

你的厨艺 还真不赖
甜巧克力 令人难忘

你的爱心 展露无遗
绿仙人掌 暖在心上

神秘礼物好神奇
无意之中都到齐
低落时刻的惊喜
好比滑稽儿时戏

神秘礼物很感人
咧嘴而笑无法忍
搞笑点子还真多
喜极不想再多说

神秘礼物花心思
悄悄送递无人知
真心诚意尽表露
感恩之情向谁诉

We often get so busy in life that we don’t bother thinking about what we want to achieve in life. Busy studying, working, socializing, traveling… Can we not pause for a minute and enjoy the scenic dawn, gorgeous dusk, colourful fallen leaves, and dazzling snowflakes?

There’re times where we really need to sit down and think. Reflect on the past, focus on the present, and look forward to the future. Things we find so hard to forget and forgo could just be specks of dusts to us, a few years down the road. Conversely, we want to grasp, value, and cherish for what we acknowledge as treasures in our lives, till the end of the day. Family and friends, visions of the future, faith, and passions.

Louis Braille developed an ingenious system of reading and writing by means of raised dots for the blinds at the age of 15. Alexander Graham Bell developed the basic ideas for the telephone at the age of 18. George Westinghouse, at the age of 19, obtained his first patent for a rotary steam engine. Why do people succeed in life at a young age? Have you ever wonder? Yes, it’s true that most of them are talented, or even being classified as geniuses. However, more importantly, they’re able to envision their future and go all the way out to materialize their dreams!

The choice is in our hands, no matter we’re happy or sad, life goes on. So, why not be happy and lead an enjoyable life? Life is just too short to dwell on pain and sorrow. Get up when we fall, and carry on with life. The best is yet to come, and we shall take courage to discover the goodness of life.

“Life is too short not to make the best and the most of everything that comes your way everyday”

~ Sasha Azevedo

We’re in the last month of year 2008 and Christmas is just around the corner! Busy looking for gift ideas? Busy getting some shopping done? Busy wrapping gifts? Most people are doing these for their families. However, I’m doing these for co-workers and friends. Buying gifts for being a Secret Santa, for Yankee Swap and other gift exchange. Sadly speaking, I don’t have anything for my family this Christmas. Why? You know it, the shipping cost is more than the cost of gifts! Oh well, Mom, Dad, Bro, & Sis, I’ll have something for each of you when we get a chance to meet up again. Sorry about that :(

Alright, back to the annual Christmas Arts & Craft Show that was held at the Fredericton Capital Exhibition Centre on Smythe St. from Dec. 5th (Friday) till Dec. 7th (Sunday). I was there with five other friends to check things out last Saturday. I vaguely remember attending this event once, perhaps three or four years ago.

These are what I’ve got, under $15: two cute Christmas ornaments and a kiln-fired stained glass pendant. Gifts to be given away! I’m gonna miss them…

雪人像白雪一般纯真，他的微笑犹如烈日般灿烂。堆雪人的大孩子有着一颗未泯的童心，在冰冷的雪天打造可爱雪人。再大的风雪也阻止不了一颗热忱的心灵，堆着雪人编织梦想。望着嘴角上扬的雪人，一切努力都值得。谢谢堆雪人的大孩们！

期待着有朝一日，我也能造一个跟我长得一样高的可爱雪人。看着你的微笑，我不禁抿嘴而笑。你啊，为这世界带来无限欢乐！

Marble cake has always been my favourite cake. I tried baking marble cupcakes this time, instead of a whole marble cake from two years ago. Yummy marble cupcakes! Better still, if they’re more moist. Something to improve on for next time :)

Peanut butter cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies are rather common. You can easily get them from the bakeries. If you love them both, have you ever wonder what would the cookie taste like, when you put them together and generate the ultimate peanut butter oatmeal cookies?

Here I am to try it out! I’ve made some changes with the original recipe. Presenting to you the peanut butter oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies!! What a mouthful :)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together shortening, margarine, brown sugar, white sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats, raisins, and chocolate chips until just combined.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the dough lightly with a spoon.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until just light brown. Don’t over-bake.
5. Yield ~ 36 cookies. Cool and store in an airtight container.

These cookies are very flavourful. If you’re the kind of person who likes a bit of everything and always wanted to try something new. This is the recipe for you! Happy trying :)

I was first introduced to quiche at the residence meal hall, in my first year of university. Thereafter, I tasted different homemade quiches and found them delightful. Below is a broccoli quiche recipe that I’ve tried:

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion (minced)
1 tsp garlic (minced)
2 cup fresh broccoli (chopped)
1/2 cup white mushrooms (sliced)
2 Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 eggs (well beaten)
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbp butter (melted)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Roll out the crescent roll to make pie crust.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, mushrooms, and broccoli. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. Spoon vegetables into crust and sprinkle with cheese.
4. Combine eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in melted butter. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes, or until centre has set.

Overall, this is a great recipe! I’ll probably make a thinner pie crust next time, or prepare it from scratch rather than using the crescent rolls.

Here is the definition of Secret Santa from the Wikipedia: a Western holiday tradition in which members of a group are randomly assigned other members to whom they anonymously give a gift.

This year is my second time participating in the Secret Santa game at workplace. There’re ten of us in this game. The game started this week and these are what I’ve received thus far from Santa:

Day 1 (Dec. 3rd): A clue found at the micro. lab entrance around 3:20 p.m. Hmm… anyone in this building could have done that. Anyway, the first answer that came into mind was snowflakes! Since it has to be breakfast cereals, I’d guess frosted flakes! Ermm… am I getting frosted flakes for breakfast tomorrow then?

Day 2 (Dec. 4th): Snowflake! It was found on the computer desk in the morning around 8:15 a.m.

Day 2 (Dec. 4th): Looks like my Santa is working hard. I got this clue in the fridge at the sample receiving around 3:10 p.m. Hah… chocolate it is! I’m getting some chocolates next!

Day 3 (Dec. 5th): A Christmas tin loaded with chocolate fudge found at the water fountain outside lunch room shortly after morning break, around 10:30 a.m. Thanks for the fudge, Santa! However, I’d appreciate it more if it’s less sweet…. not a big fudge fan though. Ferrero Rocher’d be way better ;P

I felt like preparing a Thai meal for supper yesterday, and best of all, I brought some for lunch at work and shared it with my fellow co-workers. They absolutely loved it!

Ingredients:
250 g dried flat noodles (rice vermicelli)
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 medium onion (diced)
1 medium carrot (finely sliced)
5 medium white whole mushrooms (sliced)
6 medium shrimps
2 cup bean sprouts
2 eggs (beated and seasoned with white pepper and light soya sauce)
110 g Pad Thai sauce
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 cup crushed peanuts
1 stalk green onion (finely chopped)

Directions:
1. Soak dried flat noodles in a pot of boiling water for about 15 minutes until soft. Drain off the water.
2. Heat up the wok and add cooking oil. When slightly heated, sautee onions over medium heat.
3. Add carrots and mushrooms and stir-fry them with oyster sauce.
4. Add beaten eggs. Continue frying.
5. Add flat noodles into the wok and fry with Pad Thai sauce, fish sauce, and light soya sauce.
6. Fry with the rest of ingredients: shrimps, bean sprouts, and ground white pepper.
7. Ready to serve by topping it with crushed peanuts and green onions!

上班途中的所闻所见。周五的清晨，有点忧郁；然而，却也难隐迎接周末来临的雀跃。

拥挤人群中
错过美丽的邂逅
忙碌生活里
错过日出的瑰丽
辛勤地工作
错过生活的乐趣
疾步而行
还是错过最后班车

再多的叹息也是徒然
错过的
就像蒸散无踪的水气

唯有最珍贵的
才能经得起时间考验
提炼出结晶
该珍惜的
其实就在眼前不远处

宁可挺胸仰望
也不愿回头一瞥
孰知苦候老树开花的煎熬
倒不如用心播种施肥 期盼幼芽的成长

低头顾影自怜
不如阔步向前迈进

与其缅怀过去
不如展望未来