I made it!

I have always wanted to make my own bread/buns/rolls but never have the confidence. That is until I read Gert's blog (Chef Gertrude) on the Thanksgiving spread that she had recently. Among other yummylicious-out-of-this-world and eat-your-heart-out goodies that she made is the dinner rolls. I read through the ingredients and the how-to and knew that this is it! Finally something that someone like me could do myself without much work.



Here they are. My very own dinner roll, straight from my oven. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Macam-macam

I found out today that my friend's (Zue) mom passed away last Friday. Takziah to her and her family.

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Thanks to CatCat and Gert, im now, the proud owner of the roasting pan set from LinenAndThings costing only $9.99 after $5 mail-in rebate. No, im not gonna be cooking any turkey for thanksgiving since there's only the 2 of us and there's no way im gonna cook a 10-24lb turkey! So why did i buy the pan you ask? Because its cheap. *grin* Iv also told my mother in law and RasaMalaysia about it.

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Did anybody watch Amazing Race last night? Its already the 12th season but without fail, there's always somebody in the race who would cry and whine and act like a freaking 8-yr old when they cant do the task. Last night it was Lorena (or something like tht). The task was to milk a camel. They were warned not to make too much noise or sudden moves and thts exactly wht she did thus resulting in the camel kicking her bowl of milk. The cry makes you wish you were there to kick her arse! To make matter worse, instead of them being eliminated, it was Marianna and Julia who got booted. They were actually the 2nd last team to finish the task of milking the camel but I think they felt sorry for the whining bi*ch that they told her whc camel to go to for more milk. THAT cost them the race coz they lose the next task by a few second and got eliminated.

I really dont understand why is it tht in every season, there will always be some whining bi*ch. They already know the drill and im sure theyv seen the previous 11 seasons and yet when they cant do the road block and such, they cry and whine. Why? Why? Why? Arrrggghhhhh!!!

Ok im feeling much better now tht iv let the steam off.

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Back to gas price, as of yesterday, Sunday, it was 3.25. How much does it cost in your area?

Stirring Up the Uber-rich, Warren Buffet Style!

I was watching the early news on abc7 early this morning when something really caught my attention. I tell you, its BIG! The 3rd richest man in the world that comes with the name of Warren Buffet is causing a stir ... among the billionaires.

I have complained more than once about how high the taxes that we have to pay and its worst when you only have 1 income. Here, (where the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer) its the middle-income who suffers since a higher portion of their meagre income is taxed to support the poor. So when Mr Warren Buffet made the statement that he (i repeat, the 3rd richest man in the world) is paying a lower percentage of tax on the USD46m that he made last year than his secretary whom last year made USD60k, we know that we're being screwed BIG time. On another note, why is he only paying the secretary usd60k/p.a.? aiyo Mr WB, pay her more than that lah! :P

Apparently on his whopping $46m income last year, he was only taxed 17.7% while the secretary was taxed at 33%. I do find the tax rate for the secretary is a bit too high but im assuming the rate comes from a simple equation of gross pay-net pay which is after deducting the fed tax, state tax, health insurances (medical, dental, prescription, eye), 401k (something like epf but a lot less contribution fr both the employees and employers) and etc.

He then continued on and challenges his peers to do the same and compare their percentage of taxes with their own secretaries and/or workers. Well, they turned him down and one person even suggested that he has gone senile! :P

I googled about it and finds out that he actually made that statement in June this year at a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton. Read more about it here

Up, up and Up!

I always keep track on the gas/petrol price here since its not like Malaysia where the price is the same which ever stations you go or whatever state you're in.

We try to always fill up at shell station near our place since its the cheapest place in 10miles radius. As of last Saturday, Nov 3, the price was 2.99/gallon. We still have about 1/4 tank left so decided not to fill up. On Sunday, we drove by the station again on the way to Target. Michael was driving, of course. Suddenly I went, "Oh my god!" and he, "what? what happen?". "The gas went up 4c. Its 3.03 now!" and he, just shook his head. I know. I know. I didnt mean to scream or surprised him while he's driving. It just came out ok?

Anyways, we didn fill up the tank either since the price just went up the day before so its likely gonna stay that way for at least a week. Come Tuesday which is the day that we have to return the dvd at blockbuster and also the day that we really need to fill up the tank. Guess how much was the gas? 3.11/gallon! Can you believe that? It went up another 8c. An while you're at it, let me tell you something else. Yesterday, (Friday) it went up again to 3.17/gallon. In the span of just S.E.V.E.N. days, the price went up to almost 20c/gallon. Sigh.... If only cars can run on water.

Happy Deepavali

To all my Hindu readers and friends, Happy Deepavali!

Bigger is Better