Taste

My friend MSN-ed me this morning. We were chatting as below. 

I am truly happy with the present (both meanings of the word). 

Awesome Monday

Back to work. 

Received 3 Ang Pows (red packets) in the morning from my boss and colleagues.

Awesome!

Back to work

Good morning everyone! It is my first day back to work after such a long break!

Hope you have a great day!

The Differences of this year's CNY

Remember I was predicting how this year CNY's will be for me (blog entry: Golden Predictions)?

Well, there is some slight difference this year. : )

On the first day of CNY, yes, we did go to church for the New Year's blessing. After that, we drove to KL for brunch instead of the usual Indian cuisine! Yes!!!

I suggested to have it at Lemon Garden, Shangrila Hotel.  Yup, the buffet spread there is really good (international spread and the seafood is fresh) and I highly recommend it. I made a reservation via a phone call while we were on the way there.

We reached the hotel before the buffet timing. So, we hung around the hotel and waited for awhile..

This was me playing with my BB.

Ah.......we 'checked in' at Lemon Garden once the clock stroke 12 noon. Check out part of my favourite buffet spread!

Ok, I didn't take any of these as I am not really a fan of it. Instead, I had a small bit of the cheese cake.

Looks pretty...

My starter.....

And this was me just fooling around with Bro after I was done with my 'feast'. I settled the bill and I know my RM400 (wiped my cold sweat...hehe, just kidding) was worth it because my family enjoyed it very much. That was all it mattered.

Boy, we had so much that day that I think I skipped dinner. Chinese New Year is all about food and gatherings!   : )

On the second day, we didn't meet up as we had our own agenda. But, we did watch all of the CNY movies in the cinema together. We had a fair share of time spent with our own families and on both of us.

How true is this?

Take a closer look.....

It caught my attention that something was floating in the fish tank at a restaurant . I took a closer look and.....

Goodness gracious! Holy Molly! It was a squashed up cockroach! / Siu Keong!!!!!! Eeeeeeeewwwww......

Luckily we didn't order any fish and there weren't any fish in that particular tank! 

Sweet or Bitter ?

I heard this song in his car and I find it very nice and touching.

The Night with lots of food and drinks

I got home at 4am (45 minutes ago). 

Leroy brought me along to his business associate's house for a CNY gathering. It was potluck, so we brought a bottle of Pinot Noir and RT's cheesecakes while the rest brought satay, pizzas, fried rice, roast pork (char siew) and spaghetti. 

The minute I reached the house, my mouth opened wide in awe. I got a bit shocked with the big house, right in front of me. It was so big that there was a mini round-about right in front of the porch and I am not kidding about it. I overheard her dad was telling one of the friends that the piece of land is 22,000 square feet big!

The interior of the house is very English. It's just amazing.

I took a quick snap shot of the hall when everyone was gambling in the room.

We had lots of laughter, food, drinks - and I meant from beer, whisky, brandy to wines. You name it, she has it. And it was my first and only time gambling this CNY. Well, at the end of the night (or shall I say morning), I lost RM10+ in total.

It was time to head for home after we had so much wine and alcohol flowing in our blood streams. I had a great time tonight. It was great to meet up with them again after so long.

And this was the Gong Xi Fa Chai decor outside at the porch. : P

The Love of Gabby

As the car reversed out from the porch; and as the gate closes....she sits there and look at that direction.

She misses anyone who goes out....

The Improved

This is my improvised version of the chicken burger with added cheese and fried egg.

We wish you a Happy Lunar New Year! 

(Gabby was camera shy as usual)

Reunion Dinner

This year we had our family reunion dinner at Toh Yuen, PJ Hilton. We had been having it at a vegetarian restaurant for the past few years, so this year we had a change. 

It is a must to have lou sang during Chinese New Year. Apparently this dish is not available in Hong Kong, so I supposed not many Chinese in the Asian countries get to have it. Lucky us.

Mama had also pre-ordered the dishes for the night.

After dinner, papa suggested to sip on a cuppa at the coffee house. Instead of having it at the coffee house, we enjoyed it at the lounge area. 

.....And I had my favourite, Caffe Mocha...Yum..

And that was it folks, it was our simple reunion dinner. Food was good, ambiance was not too bad, and most importantly is the family ties and everyone is present for reunion dinner.

Auspicious Day to Start Work

Today is one of the auspicious days for me to start work - according to the Chinese horoscope reading.

So, I am doing some work at home today (lazy to make my trip to the office even though it is nearby). One is to follow the auspicious day, secondly is to also reduce the stress when I really start work on Monday in the office.

@_@  blink blink, it is Friday already!

"My precious..."

I can't sleep despite I am not feeling too well. Maybe it is because I have been going to bed only at the wee hours for this past week.

Here is a short blog entry before trying to go back to bed.

Remember Lord of the Rings? How the Gollum say "my precious" and he was referring to a ring? His intonation is in my head.

I don't know much about diamond rings, but I love them. Which girl doesn't? 

I was talking to Leroy earlier and the conversation flowed to diamond rings. I described to him that I like my diamond ring to be the one with a simple square diamond, it can be round too, but not any other shapes like heart, triangle, etc... Straight away he replied me: "Princess cut?"

I was stoned for a moment. I didn't expect him to know the names of diamond rings. Shy to say and I asked him to show me a picture of a princess cut diamond ring (felt like hiding inside a hole; embarrassed).

Yes! Princess Cut is my liking. Simple and elegant.

Here are some samples of the ring's designs...

Nice right?

The Older Version of....

Beauty and the Beast. I stumbled across this when I was surfing for movies to watch on Youtube today.

I know this series is really old....1987 - 1990s...and it was my childhood series. It was way before the Disney animation was even created. I remember I used to watch it with mama when I was a kid. I watched every episode of it before I go to bed.

I enjoyed it so much....when I was a still so young....

Have you seen the series before?

A big hamper...

...... from my darling to my family for CNY....

How sweet.

Thank you!

New Year, New Clothes!

It is a Chinese tradition to put on new clothes during the Lunar New Year period. 

Yes, this guy did and the whole world knows it too! (price tag is still on)

It was really funny when I saw this. Couldn't help it but to snap this photo.

Burger time!

Feel like having a home-made burger?

Yup, I did and I made my own. That was my experiment.

I defrosted the chicken patties in the tub, to fasten the process.

And I soaked some fresh vegetables as I like my burger with some greens.

Once all are ready, I took out the butter made of olive oil to fry the meat.

With low fire, fry the patties till they turn golden brown.

While frying the patties, I toasted 2 slices of wholemeal bread.

Walah! All are ready for arrangement !!!

And it is ready to eat!

You can have an option to add in fried eggs, but I didn't. One thing that I've realized that I've missed out is 2 slices of cheese.

Yum...but I still enjoyed my simple burger.

....Sweet....

Check this out

Lion (Tiger) dance is modernized these days.

CNY Gathering at La La Chong

I met up with my sisters for CNY gathering dinner last night at La La Chong, Kayu Ara. 

I was the first one to turn up, so I got the table that we've booked for. Yup, as you can see, the rest had not arrived, thanks to the heavy traffic.

Our table is actually quite 'strategic'. It was located near the restrooms, and also the kitchen! So, there is no excuse for our food will be served late.

There were many tables occupied. As the usual CNY tradition, colleagues and friends will have 'lou sang' and 'yum seng' session to pre celebrate before all of them headed on separate ways either back to their hometown or traveling during the CNY break.

While waiting, I was sipping on my coconut water.... Sweet and refreshing.

 ...and munching on the nuts.

I had the honour to order the dishes as I was the first to be there. I ordered before the rest arrived so that we didn't have to wait for a long time for our food!

Of course, the night ended with full of laughters and joy.