Homemade Little Something For Your Valentine!

Month of expressing your love to your valentine (traditionally), parents, friends, and colleagues. For those who are still experiencing the bitter cold winter, what is better than a warm and sweet gesture to make your special someone something homemade and delicious? (For those who hardly ever bake or cook: Well, the thought of gifting counts!)

Are you making/getting something delicious for your loved one? I have pulled together some tasty little bites from Martha Stewart for you! Check it out!

Valentine Cookies, Brownie Heart Cupcakes, Pecan Linzer Cookies with Cherry Filling, Calimyrna Fig Hearts, Heart Pancakes, Heart-Shaped Meringues Filled With Passion Fruit Curd, Coeurs a la Crème, Meringue Heart Ice-Cream Sandwiches, Valentine Cake, Raisin Heart Pockets, Personalized Chocolate Pops, Grandma Friendship’s Raisin Pie with Heart Cutouts, Heart-Shaped Raspberry Napoleons, Spicy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, Chocolate Sweet Hearts, Chocolate Cookies, Shortbread Hearts

They are not only looking yummy, they are looking good too!

Photo Credits:
Martha Stewart

Happy BUNNY Year! (Lunar Chinese New Year)

Wishing all my dearest readers who are celebrating Chinese New Year:

GONG XI GONG XI

新年快乐 心想事成 身体健康 幸福开心

Toss For Prosperity - Yu Sheng!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

If you were to ask me which Chinese New Year dish I miss the most, I would say Yu Sheng
(besides my mom's home cook food, hers is still the best)! Yu Sheng symbolizes abundant luck, prosperity, health and all things auspicious.

The tradition is for all family members gather around and toss Yu Sheng up high in the air with joyful exclamations of "Loh Hey" or any other auspicious wishes. The higher the tossing, the greater the luck and happiness for all. The enjoyment of Yu Sheng during Chinese New Year is an age-old custom back in ancient Chinese tradition and culture.

So what's the history of Yu Sheng? Let us check it out from Spring Toss!

According to Chinese legend, the goddess Nu Wa spent six days creating animals out of mud, while on the seventh she created humanity. Ren Ri, the Day of Humankind, is correspondingly celebrated on the seventh day of Chinese New Year. To celebrate this day, the Chinese enjoy a special dish comprising seven symbolic delicacies which we know as Yee Sang. When Yee Sang is eaten, the ritual is to toss the mixed ingredients high in the air with a shout of "Loh Hey" which literally means to ‘move upwards’. It is symbolic of the wish for our fortunes to rise and expand during the forthcoming year.

Steps of preparing Yu Shang for the tossing:

The joyful toss!

It's officially a brand new year now (past 12am in Malaysia). My family and friends are celebrating the joyous Chinese New Year! May the year of rabbit brings everyone good health and great happiness! Gong Xi Gong Xi!



Photo and Video Credits:
Spring Toss
Youtube
Dorsett Hotel

Chinese New Year Celebration - Foodie!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Chinese New Year is around the corner. It is the time of the year where each household is getting busy to get ready for the New Year! Are you done preparing the house to welcome the New Year?

Photo Credits:
Sticky Rice Cake (Nian Gao) via China Ancient, Yu Shang via Go Eat Out, Chinese Mochi (Angku Kueh), Steamed Rice Cake (Fatt Gao), & Peanut Cookies via Bread et Butter, Chicken Floss Rolls via Jo Deli Bakery, Coconut Biscuits (Kuih Bangkit) via Carolyn Chan Blog, Chinese Love Letter (Kuih Kapit) via My Foodilicious Blog, Mandarin Oranges via The One Love Blog, and Togetherness Tray via Barbara Beery Kids Cooking Blog.

Beautiful Cocktail Dresses to Attend Winter Weddings!

Are you looking for some dresses to attend your best friend's winter wedding and yet conscious about the budget you can spend? Look into IDEELI.com today!

What is ideeli.com all about?

ideeli is the fastest-growing online members-only shopping site in the U.S. Our 3 million members enjoy limited-time sales featuring the most sought-after brands across the categories of apparel, accessories, home, beauty, travel and kids. Each event is designed by ideeli editors to offer an exclusive shopping opportunity with new brands featured each day at up to 80% off.

• Access to new sales in fashion, beauty and home every day.
• Designer brands at up to 80% off
• Extraordinary Giveaways
• $25 shopping credits for each friend who buys.

New brands are featured each day in sales starting at 12 p.m. EST. Sales last 40 hours, or until items are sold out. We also have weekly giveaways. They have a surprise start time and last 7 hours (in most cases). Our members are notified by email, Facebook and Twitter each time a new sale starts.

• Quality Guaranteed: ideeli stands behind the quality brand names and products we bring to you.
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ideeli is based in New York City. Our address is 148 Lafayette, 10th Floor, New York, NY, 10013.

Here are two from many other Suzi Chin's collections on sale today. Find out more for women's, men's, kids', home, and travel items on ideeli.com!

Snowing Day in Des Moines!

It has been snowing whole day long in Des Moines.
How's the weather in the city you are living right now?
I hope everyone to have a wonderful 2nd week in the new year!
~ Stay warm ~

Photo Credit: Antipixel

Cookies & Sweets To Celebrate!

In Malaysia, we have three different races - Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Sweets are presented during festive occasions, ceremonies, and any celebrations. They signify good omen, happiness and prosperity. Sound familiar with Christmas cookies, isn't it? We send good wishes to our friends and family via homemade cookies.

Christmas Cookies

When it comes to wedding favor, I was thinking why not to share homemade cookies/recipes with your wedding guests? We celebrate every festival with the yummy cookies, so why not make a special cookie to celebrate the union of two lovely individuals too? That could be the great homemade recipe to pass down to new generations to come. Heirloom cookie! How does it sound like to you?

Wedding Favors

Homemade cookies wedding favor is absolutely a good idea when you are going to have an intimate wedding (with smaller amount of guests and manageable baking time). There are many alternatives when it comes to packaging, either a jar, a box, or a wrapper. Cookies will look pretty in them. Another new alternative is to prepare the raw cookie mixture in a jar and have wedding guests to bake the cookies themselves (first hand experience is always the best)! I think that is fun. What do you think? Would you consider cookies as your wedding favor?

Here are some traditional cookies you will see during Raya, Chinese New Year, and Deepavali in Malaysia:

Malay Raya Cookies

Chinese New Year Cookies

Indian Sweets

Photo Credits:
1. Christmas Cookies: Martha Stewart Holiday Recipes
2. Wedding Favors: Stack of cookies via Wedding Source, Cookie gifts & ingredients via Stony Brook Cookie Co., Marshmallow Chocolate Cookie Wedding Cake via beau-coup.com, Paper bag favor labels via Betsy White, and Cookie favor in bag with recipe attached via Wedded Luxe blog
3. Malay Raya Cookies: Rempeyek via DiFa Snack, Almond London via Persatuan Peniaga, Almond Cookies (Biskut Gajus) via Afwaz Cooks, Coffee Ring, Chocolate Almond, Mama Carries, and Semprit via Treats & Trade, Chocolate Almond Cookies (Biskut Coklat Badam) via Mama Kitchen, Denmark Cookies via Treats & Trade, Biskut Dahlia via Duralis' Oven
4. Chinese New Year Cookies via Bread Et Butter
5. Indian Sweets: IndianetZone, Various Colorful Indian Sweets via UCSI Frontiers, Laddu via Sydney Morning Herald, Pista Burfi, Kaju Katli, & Rasgulla via JustFoodNow, Gulab Jamun via Easy Recipes, Mung Dal Burfi via Zimbio, and Kesar Peda via Mitho Limdo

Wedding Chaperon

I believe most Chinese in Malaysia are familiar with this profession called wedding chaperon a.k.a. Dai Kam Jie (in Cantonese). They have been seen in many traditional as well as contemporary Chinese weddings.

Wedding chaperon, is usually an auspicious married lady with living spouse, children, and grandchildren. She is also a quick thinker, has sense of humor, good at auspicious speeches, and well-versed in all Chinese wedding traditions, customs, and rituals. The wedding chaperon is traditionally hired by the bride's family to conduct traditional wedding ceremonies. In the modern era, I believe either side of the wedding couple's families can hire the wedding chaperon whenever they feel in need for one to perform the task.

Now that we all understand who a wedding chaperon is, lets look into what they do as a wedding professional!

Besides saying auspicious words and wishes, the most important requirement for a wedding chaperon is for her to provide guidance to the wedding couple. She will guide them through the traditional ceremonies and rituals such as the betrothal, bridal bed installation, wedding day prayer, and tea ceremony.

Let us further discuss the wedding chaperon's role in the tea ceremony. In most cases, we only think of serving tea to the elders in the family and that is it. Don't we? However, a wedding chaperon will make the ceremony merrier and interesting by introducing us to some unexpected items (will reveal what it is in just a moment). From what I recall from my sister's wedding, the wedding chaperon actually brought with her a pair of bibs for my parents (yay, the baby's bib but with some wedding-related decors on it!). It sounds funny but it carries a good meaning too! The bibs symbolize the long waited son-in-law for the bride's parents. Check out the pictures below! How cute my parents were?



The wedding chaperon not only presented a surprise to my parents, but there was another surprise for our relatives too. During tea ceremony, it is common for other family members and relatives (who are either older generation or relatives that are older than the wedding couple) to bring gifts to the newlyweds. As a token of appreciation, the wedding chaperon prepared some gold coins (usually a round-shaped chocolate wrapped in gold foil) for the newlyweds to present to the elders. The gold coins symbolize good fortune for those who wished or bought a gift to the newlyweds. What a loss if we did not hire a wedding chaperon for the wedding? We will not only miss out the fun, but also the meaningful symbols for the wedding!

Passion is an important key to becoming a successful wedding chaperon. It is the passion that motivates oneself to achieve certain level of competency in skills and knowledge of wedding traditions of different dialects in Malaysia. Knowing and be able to communicate in different languages does put a wedding chaperon in good place in the competitive wedding market. That way she is able to cater to greater amount of people and conduct various kind of weddings (not confined to just one market).

I personally think that this is the only profession/business that does not require a lot of media advertisement. A wedding chaperon becomes well known because of the words of mouth from their satisfied customers. A friendly and highly qualified wedding chaperon is highly sought after in Malaysia wedding market. To continue the tradition and retain the talented wedding chaperons, the valuable knowledge of wedding chaperon will then pass down to younger generations either through the mentorship program or some professional courses.

Are you currently looking for a wedding chaperon for your wedding in Malaysia? I have a list of experienced wedding chaperon profiles to share with you. Good luck in your wedding planning!



Source: Wedding.com.my
All pictures belong to author's personal collection.

Clock is kicking 12! Happy 2011!

Wishing all my dearest family and friends to have a good healthy year ahead!

Photo Credits:
Count down clock via Latest SMS
New Year Poster via Tutorial Lounge

Fairytale Wedding Portraits as seen in EAD

Thanks Elizabeth Anne Designs for sharing these beautiful wedding portraits in the blog! Do stop by EAD for the full post!

Photo by: Marie Labbancz Photography

Is 2011 going to be a big year for you?
Yours Moment hereby wishing you happy counting down to year 2011! Hope you have a great year ahead!