I've been away from my kitchen for quite a while now. About 2 weeks ago, I was reading a Christian magazine that Mingli passed me and I came across an article about this American family who has an annual burger party to celebrate Independence Day. There are also recipes for burgers in the article. An idea struck me then...

Dennis, Eunice and us have always celebrated one another's birthdays by having a meal together. A way of showering God's blessings on one another. So, I suggested inviting them over for a simple meal... a homemade burger meal. I was quite excited about it since I haven't been cooking for a while. (^__*)

I was keen to try the "Sante Fe Turkey Burger" but I substituted with beef instead and made quite a bit of improvisation (or rather took away ingredients that I don't like). Very easy to make. Hassle free too.

Ingredients (serves 4):
600gm ground beef
1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (can't find it here and I used shredded Mozzarella)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup bottled salsa, with extra for topping the burger
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp of Worchestershire sauce (my own improvisation)

Method:
Gently mix the above ingredients in a bowl. Be careful not to overwork the meat as overworking it will make the patties heavy and tough.
Divide into 4 1/2 inch think patties.
Grill to the doneness of your liking.
Top burger buns with beef patty, tomatoes and salsa.

~ Sante Fe Beef Burger ~

~ Have a blessed birthday, bro! ~

We ended the day with.... durians!!!! We just had a durian party at Vincent and Lili's place last Saturday and my handsome hubs is craving for durians again!! *faint... Well, I was supposed to go for a Daughtry gig with him tonight but my ever thoughtful hubs decided to skip it as he thought it'd be too tiring for me. So, hopefully the durians made up for his "loss"...

...the love of brushing my teeth, that is. This has been one of the most dreaded activity since I found out that I was pregnant. A daily, must-do activity like brushing my teeth induces nausea, and many times it actually does make me throw up. I really hated brushing my teeth for weeks.

Jasmine, Winnie and Noi have been asking me to go buy kids toothpaste but I never got round to doing it.

I was chatting with my colleague Xueting sometime ago and told her briefly that I'm having this problem with brushing my teeth and I wanted to get some kids toothpaste.

Today, as I walked past her desk when I came back from my meeting, she threw me a cheeky smile.. and then I saw this note on my table. "For more flavourful mornings..." So sweet!!! She bought me a strawberry flavoured Kodomo toothpaste! She said she bought herself a grape flavoured one too! haha...

Thanks for bringing the love of brushing my teeth back! (^__^)

52.1mm | 12 wks | 24 Jan 2009

We saw our lil'B move today!! Lil'B was boxing and kicking as if telling us how healthy and active he is. It's so exciting seeing our baby move for the first time! Calvin and I were just mesmerized by the activity going on in my tummy. (^__^)

I've put on about 0.5kg so far. But it sure feels more than that. Though I still don't need to wear any maternity clothes, I'm already outgrowing some pants, skirts, shirts and bra! I've just started looking around for maternity wear, BUT I don't see any chic and cool designs around!! Man... I need some nice new clothes... SOON... before I really run out of things to wear from my current wardrobe.

Just 2 days ago, I had a massive gastric attack. I was working late again and Calvin was on duty. By time I got home, I knew it's getting bad. I wanted quickly to shower, go to bed and sleep it away. But even before I got to shower, I started throwing my dinner up. That was about 10.30pm. I was puking so bad that there were traces of blood in my puke. I looked at myself in mirror and saw that some capillaries on my cheek had burst. That was some real hard puking.. and I thought the worst was over. I quickly showered and went to bed. The minute I laid down on my bed, gastric juices started flowing up my throat... and the puking started again! And this went on until past 1am.

I suddenly remembered that I had asked for gastric medication from Dr Ho before and decided to take it. But as I opened the bottle, I thought to myself, "why didn't I claim healing from God?" So I closed the bottle and decided to build up my faith and pray. Went back to my room, stacked up the pillows, prayed and quite quickly, I fell asleep. I woke up again at 4plus and realised that the pain is gone and I'm able to lie down properly to sleep. Praise God for answering my prayer! Ask, and you shall be given!

Through my pregnancy, I grew closer to God and I relied on Him much more than I used to. And day by day, I experience more and more of His great love. I'm so grateful that God found me. Thank You!