I Love Holiday Season

No, frankly I think I should hate holiday season. It's always time where I stuff my face silly, and skip my dance classes. Which of course translates to extra pounds in unwanted areas because I'm simply adding on calories to my body without burning them off properly. Wait. I do burn them off, all this laughter with family and friends are good cardio exercises! ;) Hey, I just found a reason to eat more!!! *grin*

Fat One BBQ Steamboat Truck

Well, yesterday we had a nice family get together (well, YS invited some of her friends too, since she hasn't seen them for a long time). Ophie also invited her family to join us and unfortunately, TW's family couldn't come because of other commitments. In all we had about 30 ppl and thought it was a good idea to bring in a steamboat truck *drools* For days we pondered on what should be on the list of food in the steamboat session, and knowing the glutton among us *ehem* we almost ordered enough food to serve 70 ppl!!! Thanks to the good advice of Fat One steamboat, we reduced our order to quite a reasonable amount (approx. 400 sticks of seafood/meat/vege).

Extra orders for those not into steamboat and for the x-tra hungry ones

Mom was still worried that we won't have enough to eat, and decided to order some fried mee hoon and fried rice too. At first it still didn't seem enough, but by the end of the day, we were shocked to see how much we have overestimated our ability to chuck in food. We only managed to clear about 50% of the food on the steamboat truck and probably another 30% of the extra orders.

Just like the stuffs you see in pasar malam - only difference is
we get to choose what goes on the truck

It was nice too that they have some bbq sausages and meat to go with the steamboat, and also a pot of boiling tomyam soup to go with our favourite fried fu chuk and oyster mushrooms. Just thinking about it makes me hungry again. Fret not, we still have leftovers from yesterday's feast in the fridge to clear! These nice folks from Fat One Steamboat helped us packed all the left overs nicely, together with all the extra peanut sauce, sweet sauce, chilli and even the tomyam soup!

Birthday cuppies for my cuz complete with yoga poses :)

Also coincidentally my cousin's birthday falls on the Xmas eve, so we decided to surprise him with some cupcakes, made by yours truly and assisted by my 2 beautiful assistants YS and SS, along with our guest decorators Mr. Goo and Joseph... hehe...

We had a splendid evening, with our family members and friends, complete with scrumptious food and lots of laughter. Lovely :)

Look What I Found!

I went to Giant supermarket today to do some grocery shopping... and couldn't resist myself when I saw these!

M&Ms Christmas Mix and Orange Flavoured M&Ms

Arrggghhh! How could you not get them?? I can already imagine those yummy christmassy cake pops in my mind! *grin*

A Weekend of Food and Fiesta

Last Saturday our farmyard members decided to host an early birthday celebration for TW. Of course it was just an excuse to get together and stuff ourselves silly again. We had a nice dinner at Tong Tong, a restaurant just of 5 minutes walk from my place and after that we had a nice homemade mango ice cream (by yours truly of course) and a cake cutting session :)

That's us trying to blow the candle together
(though I really looked like I was about to suck in the cake)

Sunday it was Father's Day... and this time we thought we'd have a steamboat session, something we haven't done for quite a long time. From the morning I started to prepare the tomyam soup and porridge. Mom got the fresh ingredients from the market while I got the frozen stuff from Giant supermarket. WL on the other hand bought his favourite pork slices from the non-halal section at Tesco Extra.

The table ready for our steamboat session

Everything seemed to be in order at first. I had the table nicely set, we had plenty of food to put into the 2 pots, one for porridge and one for tomyam soup. I had an induction cooker that we could use and mom had another. We were happily getting ready to start when mom's cooker started beeping non-stop and giving funny error codes on the screen.

No matter what we did, the cooker would not stop beeping, and wouldn't even heat up. *sigh* In the end we had to make do with just one cooker and swapped the two pots whenever the other reached the boiling stage. After the dinner we had some durians by TW's family...and some pineapple from Ophie's family.

Halfway through the dinner I had to take a photo ...cheeezzze

There were also a plenty of leftovers. I had porridge enough to feed 3 persons and half a pot of tom yam soup. Fortunately for me, that'll be my breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 2 days :P

Happy New Year 2009!

This year's countdown was special, unforgettable, and it all took place in Pantai Cheras Medical Centre, room #2006. Dad was hospitalised the very next day we got back from Penang due to suspected dengue fever. Later we found out that it was not dengue but an unknown viral infection. We couldn't bear to let him spend the eve in the hospital alone, so we transformed his room into a party place, with balloon characters to make up those who can't be there (e.g. my sister in law, Ophi & Mr. Goo), along with Stitchie, Weewee, Polar, Bunny, Archer & Lucas (my future nephew).

An almost complete family photo

The hospital was probably not the best place to do a countdown, but at least the whole family is together (well, almost). All I wish for in 2009 is everyone to be happy and in their best of health. It is going to be an exciting year with a new family member joining us soon!!! :D

*Dad was discharged on the afternoon of 01-01-2009.

Holiday holiday holiday!!!

I'm back!!! School has reopened for more than a month already, and bro's wedding (which was very very happening) is also over, I am back to my normal humdrum life.......... NOT!!! Chinese New Year is coming and I have already replaced that Christmas tree with some nice red-dyed pussy willows. And then we are off to Hokkaido in less than 4 days!!! Hoorraaaayyyy!!!

ONE thing which I am overly excited about though.... this year we have to give out angpows! :(

Signing off.... have to get my bags packed :D

Present Exchange at SAL

Thanks to all the teachers for your pressies!

Mie: a cross-stitch napkin with my initial!
Lyne: a yummy fruit cake with lotsa walnuts...mmm ...mmm....
Sandra: a cute little mini xmas wreath ;)
Jenny: a montage of my photos with SJ, little princess of Joy!

Chef ST

I cooked up a feast for 15 today! A small Christmas get together with close friends and a majority have voted for a tapas rather steamboat. And so I made some tortilla española (wished I had some jamon to go with it), albondigas, mini pizzas, and even sushi!!!

Haha...it's really embarassing... the final result was acceptable but there have been a lot of rejects during the preparation process. Of course, those rejects cannot be presented to the guests, and where did they go? No, not in the dustbin... never waste food! They all went into either my stomach or TW's... he he he... now I see why some chef tend to look a little round :P.

Just a fraction of what I prepared for this small feast

Thanks to all who came and cleaned the plates for me. No leftovers! Hooray! It's possible that I didn't have enough food or they are just being courteous. Either way I am happy that there are no wastage........ except for that extra jug of Sangria in the fridge. I made 2 but only one was cleared. Most have opted for non-alcoholic beverages. Now... how on earth is the 2 of us going to gulp down the balance? :S

And oh, my cookies!!! I finally found people who knows how to appreciate my soft cookies! Muahahaha...

Next year we will have more houses to use as a gathering place now that most of us are married! :D Anyway, TW did ask if I would cook up another meal like this again.... and I replied..."Why not? Just not so soon, need time to recover!!!" Hehehe...

Cookies & Christmas Tree

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way......

I am SOOOOOOOO in the mood for Christmas... ha ha ha... TW thought it would be nice to brighten up the house a little with a Christmas tree, and so we went shopping for one :D Both of us was equally eager to put those decorations on the tree ... but I know we won't be so enthusiastic when it comes to putting it away later! Anyway it was deeply satisfying to see the end result :)

Ain't it beauuuuuuutiful?

Of course I can't miss out baking, can I? SS and I tried to be patissière and attempted to bake some cookies that taste better than Famous Amos. Frankly it didn't taste too bad at all.... with every bite one could taste lots of chocolate chips and nuts. There was one teenie weenie bit of problem though. I must have accidentally used a brownie or a soft cookie recipe... ha ha ha... Other than that it was perfect :D

Better than Famous Amos Double Choc Cookie...erm, I mean brownie

And it's so much fun making little presents for the upcoming gift exchange! Just can't wait!

Superheroes!

Spidey, Mr. Incredible and me!

It's the last day of school and we partied all morning with fairies, superheroes, princesses and pixies! Parents can be really really creative when it comes to dressing up their children ;)

We also did face painting .... and of course the artist was yours truly...ME! These children can be very demanding on what they want painted on their face and hands. Some even wanted me to draw on their leg...GOSH! I did spiders, rainbows (those are the easy ones), Superman, princesses, cars, the list goes on. Good thing they are not fussy, and as long as whatever you draw looks like what they want approximately, they are happy :D

The school will be closed for 4 weeks - teachers go 'Hooray!' and the parents' nightmare begins ... LOL!

Happy Birthday Aunty Shirl!

Thanks to Lyne who created this little surprise for me. Kam Siah!

Selamat Hari Merdeka ke-50

Selamat Hari Jadi Malaysia, saya bangga menjadi warganegaramu.

Tanggal 31

Bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh

Merdeka! Merdeka!

Tetaplah merdeka

Ia pasti menjadi sejarah

Tanggal 31

Bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh

Hari yang mulia

Hari bahagia

Sambut dengan jiwa yang merdeka

Mari kita seluruh warga negara

Ramai-ramai menyambut hari merdeka

Merdeka!

Tiga satu bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh

Hari mulia negaraku merdeka

-Allahyarham Sudirman Haji Arshad

Happy Birthday Darling!

Today we celebrated TW's birthday at Secret Recipe. We didn't want to get a whole cake (nobody's gonna finish it later), so we got him a set of Kid's burger instead (it came in 4 li'l burgers, just nice for the candles). Just a simple one to mark his 31st birthday! Sorry I had to advertise your age here Uncle Wong! tee heee heee.... :P

Pinkguins in Phillip Island

Our trip to Phillip Island - Couldn't resist putting up this photo first (though it's already way overdue). Will update story soon!

Colourful Yee Sang

Even before the CNY approaches, I have tossed the Yee Sang for more than 3 times already. This is a unique custom practiced extremely popular in Malaysia (well, and in our beloved neighbouring countries too) as a way to "toss up" good health, prosperity and good luck. However, for our case, its not so much for those reasons listed, but simply because we just adore the dish.

The dish is basically a salad containing vegetables like julienne carrots and white radish (and few others of I-dunno-what, pomelo, crackers, peanuts, and most importantly, the raw fish. Nowadays you can get variations like Salmon, Abalone, Jellyfish, and even Sashimi Prawns! Plum sauce is used for the dressing; and the sweet and sour taste makes it really appetising. :D Last year I had about 7-8 times of Yee Sang. I can probably break the record this year...ke ke ke..

When the Clock Strikes 12