Superman Ruturns!

I brought Emma to church for the first time today. I was a little worried she would be fussy and noisy there but she turned out to be fine. She slept for the first 1.5 hours and woke up. After I changed her diaper and fed her, she was awake but quiet. Then she started to cry during the last half an hour so I had to walk out and calmed her down. It was not too bad though. It was so nice to be able to take her out and meet friends. I could not wait to take her to church next week. She will receiver her baby blessing soon!

BTW, she always makes funny poses when she is sleeping. This classic pose is called by her dad "Superman Returns"!

Dinner with Friends

This Saturday, we had dinner with Wonnacotts family. It was a great night, wonderful food, wonderful conversation, wonderful people... We enjoyed it very much. Emma was sleeping on the sofa most of the time. She was such a good baby that night!

Cooking Diary - DIY Lobster Meal !

Cooking Diary- "Scaring" Fish Head Soup

Integrates:
Two fish heads
Chopped green onions
Water
Salt

Preparation:
1 Clean up fish heads
2 Fry fish heads with oil until it changes color
3 Put fried fish heads into boiling water
4 Boil for half an hour and put chopped green onions inside
5 Done

Baby Is Fun!

Emma is a week old now. She is such a fun little thing. I can spend hours watching her sleep, yawn, burp, smile, cry, make all these funny faces. I am always amazed by her cuteness and sweetness and just enjoy spending time with her. She sleeps much longer and better now so that I can do my own things occasionally:)

Emma, mommy has a song for you:

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the rough in ready years
Me
I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is

She
She, oh she

Our Angel- Emma Dong!

The movie "Babies"

Just watched this movie today with my mother-in-law. It is cute, ingenious, funny and exquisite. OK, I admit I get a little bit bored in the middle of it for like 10 minutes but I love most of it. It is a documentary film that describes the first year of four babies coming from very different cultural backgrounds: Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and San Francisco.The film uses no interviews, no narrators, just pure imagery to communicate with the audience. It works great since the babies speak for themselves. They look different and are raised in very different environments but they all end up growing into happy, healthy, adorable toddlers. It is sweet to watch the whole process. I know I am going to experience this in real life so soon. Baby Emma, mom is a little scared...

Cooking Diary- Pork Ribs Soup

My mother-in-law cooked this amazing pork ribs soup for us today! It tastes fantastic and very nutritious as well. I have to share this since it tastes special and is very very easy to cook!

Ingredients:
5-6 pieces of pork ribs
1 tomato
1 potato
salt

Preparation:
Wash pork ribs and put them into boiling water to boil for 1 hour
Chop tomato and potato into big pieces to put them into the pork ribs soup
Add salt and boil for another half an hour
Done!

Cooking Diary- Teriyaki Beef

Ingredients:


1 green pepper
1 onion
2 cups of shaved steak
Hoisin sauce, salt,vegetable oil

Preparation:
Cut up one green pepper
Chop up an onion
Stir-fry shaved steak with vegetable oil until it turns brown and put aside
Stir-fry chopped green pepper and onion with vegetable oil for 3-5 minutes
Mix shaved steak, green pepper and onion together and add hoisin sauce, salt into it. Fry together for 2 minutes
Done!

Cooking Diary-Salmon Fried Rice

I am 38 weeks pregnant now (finally)! Doctor asks me to eat more fishes so I decided to cook Salmon Fried Rice tonight.
Ingredients:

 

2 pieces of Salmon
2 cups of mixed vegetables
1 egg
some salt, black pepper,
1 cup shredded cheese
3 cups of cooked rice

Preparation:
Chop salmon into small pieces and mix with egg.Add some salt and pepper.
Heat sesame oil in a large skillet or wok. Stir-fry salmon and put aside.
Stir-fry mixed vegetables and put aside.
Stir-fry cooked rice. Put salmon, mixed vegetables in the rice and fry together. Add salt, pepper or other seasonings you like.
Put salmon fried rice in a glass pan and add 2 cups of shredded cheese on top of it. Bake at 300 for 5-8 minutes until the cheese melts.
Done!

Cooking Diary-Random Dishes

After my mother-in-law came to live with us in December 2010, I am so glad that I have someone to cook with, which makes the cooking process more enjoyable. She is a great cook and can cook very authentic Shanghainese dishes. I have learned too much from her. The followings are some random dishes we cooked and they are very yummy!
Honey Shrimp


Bacon Scallops with Vegetables


Wu Dong Noodles

Cooking Diary- Pineapple Fried Rice

Last time, I won my first cooking award with pineapple chicken wings. This time, I am trying to cook a new dish- pineapple fried rice. Please forgive my obsession with pineapples, I just love the sweet and sour taste and bright color of this fruit!
I order pineapple fried rice at a Chinese restaurant once (though I think it is a Thai dish) and it looks like this :

I really like the idea of using half of the pineapple as a bowl and putting shrimps and nuts inside the fried rice. So I copied it and cooked my version my pineapple fried rice at home. It tastes fantastic! Mine looks like this:

But I was cooking for six people that night and used up three big, fresh pineapples. What a meal!

Cooking Diary - Frist Cooking Award Ever!

I have never cooked before I came to U.S.A. Well, I fried eggs and boiled instant noodles occasionally but I do not think that should count. In college, I got a apartment with a kitchen and still cooked occasionally. Then I thought cooking is just for fun but not for survival. My then boyfriend (now husband) was a better cook than me when we were dating. He got his 2-3 killer dishes and he cooked for me a lot (I wonder why this rarely happens after we got married).He taught me some basic cooking skills that I still use today so he is technically my first cooking teacher. After we got married, there was a period of time that I was so excited and ambitious that I tried to cook something new every day. But soon, I just stick to several easy ones and repeat them day after day. Long story short, recently MIT CSSA(Chinese Students and Scholars Association)held a cooking contest and Jack encouraged me to participate. I was not taking it too seriously and thought there must be many much better cooks among the students. I presented my dish- pineapple chicken wings that night and surprisingly won the second place! Wow! I was thrilled. The award is a blue iPod shuffle. To me, it is the most beautiful iPod shuffle ever. I can not believe that I would win a cooking award in my life. I think my mom will have a good laugh when she hears it. She still does not know that I can cook other things besides fried eggs...

Baby Shower in 2010

Thanks my friend Mikaela for planning a wonderful baby shower for me in December 2010. I have only been to one baby shower before and am still a little confused about the whole thing.My husband is surprised to know that there is such a thing that you just need to show up and receive gifts as well : ) Anyway, it turned out great. I am so grateful that these girls came over and showered me with these baby outfits, toys, lotions, gift cards, etc. I am surprised that they even helped me write down the gift list and organize the gift bags. Thank you all for being so sweet to me!

Fun Trip to New England Aquarium on New Year Eve

On the last day of 2010, we decided to do something fun and special so we planned a trip to New England Aquarium. I saw one of my favorite animals-penguins there. A lot of penguins! These black and white little things are too adorable! We spent at least 20 minutes watching them walking, swimming, playing, sleeping, etc.Then we saw millions of other pretty sea animals and plants that we have never seen before (or we just forgot having seen them when we were little). There were a lot of children around us and we felt just as excited and curious as them. Later in the afternoon we went to our friend Amgalan's place for New Year Eve dinner. Guess what we had? Japanese noodles and sushi! Those sushi are beautiful and I do wish I took a picture of them. Anyway, it was a good trip, a good meal and a good day. We ended up going to bed early on the last day of 2010 and missed the count-down and fireworks at midnight. The good thing is that I did not forget to write down my new year resolution before sleep.
Bye, 2010! Hello, 2011!

Christmas Caroling in 2010

We always want to do something special on Christmas Eve but never find the right opportunity to serve. On the Christmas Eve of 2010, we are invited by our friends to sing Christmas carols at Epoch Senior Center. This is a new experience to me so I am very excited. Unexpectedly, we were struck in the traffic jam for half an hour that day and I almost thought we missed the whole event. Well, we finally made it and had a wonderful experience celebrating the holiday with those senior people. I do hope they enjoyed our company since I did enjoy theirs.

Baby Diary - Welcoming New Life

Life is a journey and I am so glad that I am not alone. With all the ones I love and cherish so much, I really want to grab every moment of life and live it to the fullest.

Life is a dance and I always remind myself to count the steps of happiness. After being married to a wonderful man for two years, a baby girl is joining us in the coming month- January 2011. I can not express how joyful and excited we are to welcome this precious life to this world. Our life is not a dance for two anymore; it is for three, and more...