Newlywed in the City

While shutting down my laptop at work today, I suddenly had a strong craving for the steamed ginger chicken served at every Chinese restaurant.  Lately I've been experimenting with cooking and trying to learn how to cook all my favourite Chinese dishes, so I went over to my Chinese co-worker to see if she knew how to make it.  She called her mom who was kind enough to explain how it's made. 

What you'll need:
> Chicken (whole or parts)
> Soy sauce
> Ginger
> Green onions (aka Scallions)
> Cornstarch
> Salt
> Oil

How to prepare:

1. Marinate chicken in soy sauce, cornstarch, salt, and finely chopped ginger and green onions.
2. Steam chicken on medium heat for 30 minutes.
3. To make the sauce, mix chopped ginger and green onions along with salt in a bowl.  Heat oil and pour in bowl.  If you hear it sizzle it means the ginger and green onions are slightly cooking.

I consider myself to be a very domesticated person. I'm no Martha Stewart but I can work my way around the kitchen, do laundry, and clean among other things. However the 2 things I could probably live without doing are laundry (especially folding and putting away clothes) and ironing.

At my parents' house I used to hate ironing b/c my mom had a really crappy iron that couldn't straighten a crease if you ironed the same spot over for a good 5 minutes. The iron would also turn off while in use and only techniques such as unplugging and replugging then pushing the ON button would turn the iron back on... if it was your lucky day.

With the new iron received as a wedding gift from our registry, ironing is a lot easier except when it comes to men's dress shirts. You know the kind where the material is a bit fancier than cotton and needs to be ironed a few times before every wrinkle is caught? It is also very frustrating when say you're distracted by the TV and accidentally create a crease which refuses to straighten out. Totally my fault, I agree, but that extra crease will add another 10 minutes of iron time.

So today I went to pick up Steve's dryclean-only pants at this drycleaning place I walk by everyday on my way to the subway. I always thought drycleaning was a waste of money since clothing can be washed at home. But I was curious so had to ask the price of drycleaning men's dress shirts. I was expecting $5-6/shirt but are you ready for this? $1.89/shirt! I could've jumped for extreme joy. This cost is definitely worth the amount of ironing time I will save.

I will never iron another one of Steve's dress shirts again unless in dire emergency.

Yay for cheap and convenient drycleaning services!

Every 2 weeks we meet up with our friends from church. One week we have a "fun night" where we dine out and hang out, and on alternate weeks we do a bible study night where we discuss various interesting topics. It sounds formal but it's not as it's more like a group of friends talking. There are 5 newlywed couples in our group and each couple takes turns planning and hosting a week.

Saturday night was a fun night and the hosting couple gave us 3 options, the first being having dinner at an Indian restaurant. I LOVE Indian food! Each dish is so different and flavourful and let's not forget spicy. Unfortunately Steve doesn't share my love of Indian cuisine. He had a bad experience when he was younger where he ate Indian food and it made him sick. Since then he's never had Indian food which is a shame b/c he's totally missing out.

The majority voted for dinner at the Indian restaurant and after much convincing, Steve decided to give it another shot. We had pakoras, butter chicken, goat curry, beef vindaloo, sag paneer, briyani, papadum, and delicious garlic naan. I was in heaven! Unfortunately Steve wasn't as he was only able to stomach the butter chicken.

I don't think I'll be able to convince him to go again but luckily I have my girlfriends and co-workers to call upon when I need my Indian food fix!

The other day I was taking the subway home with my 24-year old co-worker.  She started telling me this story about her mom's "old lady" friend.  When I asked how old was old, she replied "in her 30s or 40s".  Whoaaa... backtrack.  Since when were women in their 30s and 40s considered to be "old ladies"??  Me, being in my late 20s, totally resented her statement and had to correct her on the spot so she wouldn't go around offending other people.

Yesterday she stopped by my desk and said "okay, I got it".

Me: Got what?
Her: I know the term for women in their 30s
Me: What?
Her: Middle-aged women

I swear I could've killed her.  I don't know about her but I plan to live until I'm 88 and half of 88 does NOT equal somewhere in your 30s!

Her: Fine, so what's the proper term then?
Me: I don't know right now but it's definitely not THAT!  I'll think about it and let you know.
Her: Fine.

*sigh*

What can I expect from someone who doesn't even know who Donna Martin is, or who can't name a New Kids song from the 80s, or barely remembers The Cosby Show?

Youngins these days kill me.

On Saturday night I went to celebrate my friend's last night out as a single lady.  She's getting married at the end of this month and her bridesmaids planned a very fun bachelorette party.  We all arrived at one of the bridesmaids' house around 5:30pm where we were greeted by Rex, the naked blow-up doll with a large schlong wearing a cowboy hat.  A pole dancing instructor was also there setting up her pole in the living room.  The bride-to-be arrived at 6pm and the pole dancing lessons began.  We were taught how to do 8 moves around the pole where the instructor showed us one move at a time and didn't go on to the next until everyone did it. 

At first everyone was a little hesitant and shy but once we got into it, people's inner stripper came out and it was just so much fun!  After practicing the 8 moves once we each had to do a 2-minute solo where we competed with each other and combined all the moves together to make it look like one seamingless dance.  Ha!  Yeah right!  We weren't allowed to help each other and call out the moves so the dances were all choppy which made it so hilarious.  When everyone had a turn the instructor called out that the winner was my sister!  So we had to call her "stripper" all night.

After that we played a couple games.  We sculpted penises out of playdough and had to give the bride-to-be a sexy lap dance.  Good thing the alcohol was flowing freely and consumed at this point. 

At 10pm the party bus arrived complete with hardwood floors, zebra-fur ceilings, loud music AND a stripper pole!  Can you imagine how rowdy the bus was with 16 semi-drunk ladies (most pretending to be single) who were out to have a good time?  The bus took us to 2 different clubs where every other bride getting married this year were also celebrating their singlehood.  What's funny is that Steve went out the same night for a bachelor party and at the club they went to, all the men getting hitched were having their bachelor parties there too.

Throughout the night our bride-to-be had to find various men of our choosing (i.e. Man wearing a suit, man with the reddest face, man with white hair, etc) which was a little hard at the first club b/c there were a lot more women than men.  The rest of the night was spent dancing, drinking, and having a great time.

If you're planning a bachelorette party, you MUST do the pole dancing lessons.  Once you do it you'll certainly understand why women everywhere are opting to install one in their bedrooms!  

On Saturday morning Steve and I had an appointment booked for a side by side couples massage.  My sister and I normally go for massages once a month and our husbands felt left out so we decided to bring them along this time.  We booked a 60 minute full body massage and I told my massage therapist to focus on my lower back.  She was extremely good in the sense that her pressure was strong and never wavered but I felt she worked too much on my shoulders and not my lower back. 

I tend to tense up if the pressure is too strong around my neck and shoulders, and I think she thought she had to put extra focus there b/c my muscles were stiff.  A word of advice for those new to massages: tensing up is probably the worse thing you can do during a massage b/c if the massage therapist is working on the tense muscle, you're going to feel pain.

It still felt good but I wasn't completely satisfied after the 60 minutes were over b/c my lower back was still stiff and uncomfortable.  This was totally my fault though b/c afterward when the four of us were comparing notes in the car, I found out that it's not my lower back that's the problem, it's the part where my back meets my butt which is called your glutes.  Or the top of your glutes.  It must be the way I sit at my desk all day that makes my glutes sore.  I have the worse habit of bringing up my legs and sitting cross-legged or crossing one over the other... almost like the spine twist yoga pose but on my chair instead of the floor.  Next time I'm not going to ask for the full-body massage but a 60 minute back massage with a focus on my upper glutes. 

Unfortunately Steve didn't get the great experience I was hoping for b/c his massage therapist sucked.  Apparently she'd do a full 2 minutes on a left muscle and slack off and do 1 minute on the right.  And THEN she massaged his face with the eucalyptus oil (awesome btw!) right after massaging his feet.  LMAO!!!  Only Steve would care about that.

Luckily Steve's a sport and said he'd go back b/c I promised him I'd book him with Vicky who's probably the best massage therapist there.  She's the one who realized my glutes were sore and needed attention before I even knew it.  I'll probably book our next appointment for 3 weeks from now. 

Gotta love Steve's work benefits =)

The warm weather has finally arrived and it was the first time I could bust out my new Michael Kors sandals which I love to pieces. It was free hamburger day at my favourite burger joint but I was starving and one look at the long line-up was enough to make me turn on my heels and find something else to eat. Free or not, I will not wait for a ridiculous amount of time for food.

So Steve and I went across the street and ordered a rather pricey (but delicious)burger which we enjoyed outside on the patio. There was a slight chill in the shade but it was nice and warm in the sun. Felt so good to have some sun shining on my bare arms again after being cooped up inside all winter.

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Steve made me the most wonderful breakfast this morning. It was so delicious that I can't resist sharing it.

What you'll need:
> Sliced bread
> Eggs
> Peanut butter
> Syrup or honey
> Steve's secret ingredient: bananas!

How to prepare:
1. Spread peanut butter on 2 slices of bread.
2. Slice bananas in 1/2 inches and put on one of the slices of bread. Put other slice on top and squish.
3. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl.
4. Heat pan and pour in eggs.
5. Fry bread on both sides.
6. Enjoy with syrup or honey.

I have to admit the peanut butter kinda threw me off but it was so delicious so don't skip!

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How nice of one wedding guest and one wedding vendor to send me a thank-you card for the wedding thank-you card I sent them. Makes me feel so appreciated for those long days, nights and weekends hunched over the table and cramping my hand writing thank-yous to all our guests!

Thank-you.jpg