HIATUS Over; time to Party!

Well, The Big V day is here and that means, our two-week shopping hiatus is officially over!!! Yeah!!! But sadly, we didn't do so well in the savings department as NEEDED health, school, printer and clothing expenses ate up what we saved from not buying our wants... At least we didn't have to dip in any extra pocket! I think I would consider this one a success as well!

To end the hiatus, we did need to go on a grocery run as fruits and milk ran out. On our way out, we have this left from our Winter Wonderland- a slowly melting snow fort that our next door neighbor's son, Pat did. Great job!

I-Dude and J-Pony loved every minute they spent in it (until I called them).Had to take a second picture.
See that little tilted snow on the left middle? That's a mailbox! LOL
They showed how they kept it up for Pat. Thanks, guys!

And tonight, since it's also Chinese New Year, we celebrated both with an authentic Chinese dinner, both homemade and store-bought!

Look at my little "firecrackers"! We celebrate in honor of my part Chinese heritage on both sides of my family. The kids are just lovin' all the cultural holidays we get to enjoy!

After reading up on my Chinese table etiquette, this is my own rendition. I used candles to represent the fireworks used on celebrating and the red for China and the black for the black stripes on a tiger since it is the Year of The Tiger! Pretty clever, huh?

I made shrimp & broccoli with hoisin garlic sauce, we bought eggrolls and pot stickers (no picture), symbols of prosperity and wealth. The clementines and chocolate for wishes of a sweet life this year. Of course the noodles are the Chinese symbol for wishes of long life.

Poached grouper with soy sauce... It has carrots, ginger and onions that flavored the soy sauce broth. Again, having seafood is considered wishes for wealth and prosperity.


I made both of these dishes. L-Infinity, Mr. Man and I, loved it! J-Pony and I-Dude ate as much as they can of what they can because they wanted this...


I call it, Chocolate Explosion. It's a package of German Chocolate Cake mix but I added chunks of 60% cocoa chocolate bar in the batter. I whisked the eggs before I added it in. The result was a very moist, rich cake with pockets of bittersweet gooeys! The frosting is Dark Chocolate Fudge with powdered sugar on top and I decorated it with the Ferrero Rocher chocolate balls and Dark Chocolated coated almonds! Yum!!!

Happy, happy Valentine's Day, from our family to yours...