Friday Night

After gluttonous indulgence in food outside, we decided to have a meal at home tonight. After all, we want to clear the food in the fridge before we can stuff more inside it during our next grocery shopping, hehe. My sis-in-law and I decided to have a non-rice meal. We had dumplings, roti bawang, spinach and salmon wings. Here an "overview" on how our dinner looked like. My bro even said we're having what the northern Chinese normally have - flour-based meal.

But I'd like to introduce salmon wings. It's soooooooooooooooooooo nice!!! Undescribable!!!!!!

Nothing much I could talk about home cooking. It is definitely much healthier. Goodness, I feel so bloated after having so much food lately. It's time to meet up with my "advisor", Mr. T. If you don't get it, nevermind. :P

Western Cuisine

Before I came back to Dunedin, I had been telling Henry about delicious western food I used to have here. I think he didn't put much expectation as he still favours local Malaysian food more. I have longed to dine out at Lone Star for its fabulous food. My prayer was answered.

Everyone's deciding what to order, with that humongous list of menu!!

Without further explanation, you can tell how excited I was, awaiting my food~BTW, have I gained weight? *shoot*

This is the soup of the day - Thai Green Curry, yeah, it's hot baby~

Wow, this is absolutely my love - the ribs. You wanna know how tasty it is?

See, the faces you see here ain't deceiving, man, it is THAT tasty!! Watch out, this is just the warm-up!

The Spanish Lamb Rack, the most tender part of the whole lamb, that is.

This is the salmon. I didn't get to taste it. My bro-in-law ordered this dish. *shy*

Shanks of the Memory. Though I've tasted better shanks elsewhere, Henry actually gave his thumb up for this.

The steak ordered by my brother. He forgot what the name of the dish was. But it doesn't look too bad to you, does it?

Here comes the NZ Farmed Venison. I quite like venison after my "virgin" encounter few years back. Ordered medium-rare but my sister said she might want to swap with me so it was medium-well done. Guess what? She refused to exchange after that as she had that Spanish Lamb Rack!!!!!! What la, totally spoiled my venison when it's not done medium-rare!!!!

Should always have dessert if you're dining at a western restaurant. No any particular reason. Simply love the ambience of having one there, hehehehe...tonite's special was the lemon pie, absolutely heaven, with the whipped cream, it's complete!!!! I AM COMPLETE!!!!!

Of course, there were hot chocolate and drinks but they weren't worth mentioning after all these. The bill was merely a NZD230. Who said you can't have good food for a good price?

Yeah, Lone Star, you did it again!!! *Jelly Beans applaused*

Korean Cuisine

I have been missing this place for a long time. For nearly ten years I have been to various korean restaurants, yet there is none that can compete with the one I had in Dunedin. Once again, I forgot to take a photo of the food when it arrived. I simply couldn't resist it when it's in front of me. So basically, you're looking at the not-so-complete sizzling BBQ Chicken.

B.B.Q. Chicken

This is the well-known Bibimbap. Spicy hot. My sis-in-law's fave. Should have taken it before it's eaten.

Henry ordered Spicy Seafood Rice Noodles.

They have this free side dish whenever you order a plate. And it's endless refill!!!!!! Don't you love them?

Winter Views

In case you don't know who jamesyhs is, he's my wedding photographer, who did a fabulous job. The honour of mine is he's my brother-in-law, hehe...

As for stuarttie, he's my biggest bro, who loves photo-taking too.

Isn't it cool to have bros who can take great photos?

As for me, I'm not as dedicated as they are. They could stay outdoor to take pics while it's snowing heavily. I could only take it from inside. Perhaps, wait till I've got my own DSLR....

P.S. Just an amendment, photo #3 and #5 were taken by my sister, Lorraine, yeah, James is the husband.

Dinner in the Snow.

It has been two years since I last cooked a proper meal, and that was when I was living in England alone. Tonight, I did it again! It turned out to be only four guests, instead of the reserved meal for six. Well, that will still do. I managed to kill four stomach with one feast.

I used to cook crispy-skinned chicken a few years ago. The critic was well-received. Some even asked where I bought it from. Haha. A very positive encouragement for a rookie like me. My sister has made a request on that particular dish for quite a while so I thought I'd cook it for her. To my own shame, the dish didn't turn out as well as I would have expected, albeit still edible. The main point is, my sister didn't make it to the dinner as the roads were all covered with snow, she and my bro-in-law couldn't drive up to bro's place. What a miss!!!

Anyway, I decided to deep-fry the dumplings which had been in the fridge for quite a while. Sampo and Kimchi. Kimchi dumplings were nicer because they were finished till the last drop. My sis-in-law reassured me that the deep-fried dumplings were definitely better than the boiled dumplings. I was enlightened.

There should be a vege dish in a meal to maintain the healthy balance of a meal. So I stir-fried lean meat with cabbage so that the cabbage wouldn't look too dull on its own. Personally I think the lean meat was a bit smelly as I didn't have ginger in it. *bummer*

But then, after two years of silence in cooking, I still managed to pull through the test, hahahahahahaha....

P.S. Yet to upload a close-up of my crispy-skinned chicken - when it has a complete coat of skin on its flesh, that is, hehehehe...

My "secret recipe" for boiling the chicken - H.O.N.E.Y.

A 2.4kg chicken for six.

Are you grossed? I'm a bit...

This is the lean meat.

And I stir-fried it with "yu lu" - fish sauce.

Deep-frying the dumplings.

All done, with the completion of a bottle of SARSI. Baby Elijah: I still have my rusk to munch on.

The question of the day: What is the full name of the drink SARSI? Whoever can answer it will win......So, what do you think you should win which can still be posted to you legally? Perhaps this comes the second question of the day?!? :P

Happy Happy Birthday to Kaigoh

It's a very special day for me as it's my favourite Kai-goh's birthday. Kai-goh means god-brother in Cantonese. Though I couldn't celebrate it with him, I'm sure he still had a great birthday this year.

As you can see, Jackson's good-looking AND friendly. He's a very understanding and sweet guy. I'm sure his friends can vouch for me, but they don't know me, haha. He's always there when you need someone to talk to. He's got a good pair of ears, and a sincere heart. Funny to say that, he called my mum "Kai-ma" (god-mother).

I must say my encounter with HK people have been nothing but sweet-as. First, it was Eddy and Rainbow, then it was my Kai-goh. Despite the indecent rumours, I still think good about the HK people. ^_^

Nevertheless, I still wish I could give my Kai-goh a present in person one day.

Happy Birthday, Bro!!!!!! Keep rock'n~

My Favourite Season - WINTER

I thought I wouldn't have a chance to see snow again this year as it snowed on 7th June 2007, two days before Henry and I arrived in NZ. I was wrong. I was awakened by Henry's hullaballo over the inches of snow in Dunedin this morning. After hours of excitement, Henry's still outside while I'm blogging at this moment. Just as now, it starts snowing again. Despite the bloody coldness, I love my winter.

As what normal people will do during a snowy day, Henry and my sis-in-law, SW, started to work on a snowman. From the photo, it seemed quite impressive during the early stage, didn't it?

Later did we know, SW reconsidered the location of her snowman. Thus, here's the end-result of the "outrageous" snowman. Yeah, the outrageous snowman stormed away.

Well, they appealed. They said they could have done much better, if it were not for the relocation. So, I granted them another chance to vouch for their craftsmanship.

*photo to be uploaded soon*

Just a couple more photos to show you the breath-taking scenery in snowy Dunedin.

Elijah with his mum.

The way lead to the garage.

View from the house. Taken by my brother Stuart. You should click on the photo to see the enlarge view.

A week in New Zealand.

It's been over a week now that I landed in NZ. Lucky to say, I did many things within this week. It's mostly satisfying, entertaining and challenging too. Sorry for not updating the blog. I have been very slack lately. The weather's too cold and I feel like staying put.

As most of you know, I love food. I have been eating a variety of food, which I can't compare with the ones in Malaysia. Like the real HK dim sums, the authentic Italian cuisine, the Vietnamese food which we can't find in our part of living in Malaysia.

Now, the best thing I have ever done in Auckland was learning to play board games (mainly) when we went there last week. Thanks to my hosts, Eddy and Rainbow, that I finally found something besides scrabble to kill my time :P We played the original edition, which is based in the USA. I actually went to buy the German Board Game - Ticket to Ride (marklin edition, based in Germany). It cost me $89 but it's all worth it. Seriously. The rule of the thumb of the game is to build as many routes as possible throughout to earn points. I'm totally in love with it. We had a chance to have a go with another German Board Game which is as fun as "Ticket to Ride". That's my next collection of the year. Will tell you more about that next time.

To cut my lengthy entry short, I'll show you some of the photos as a summary. Will upload more photos in the next entry to come. Oh yeah, Happy Dumpling Festival!! ^_^

My favourite nephew, Elijah - turning eight months old in five days' time. He's absolutely adorable! He smells good, too. Ahhh, baby, what can you complain about? ;) Henry's in love with him too. I'm a bit "scared" now, if you know what I mean.

The first meal we had in NZ - HK dim sum. This is my favourite of all times, "Fong Zao" (chicken claws), but might not be for most of you out there. That's not the only thing I had for lunch. Look at the photo below.

It was too bad that I didn't get to take photos of all the food. I was busy fressing about, hehehe.

Living room is very important in a house as it's the gathering point of all guests. I like this living room, clean and simple. All we need in a living room is the sofa and the hosts have it all right!

The second point is the dining room. Once again, clean and simple. All we need in the dining room is the dining table and the chairs which go along with it. Nice.

The kitchen is just next to the dining room. It's comfortable to see such a clean kitchen. After all, you don't have to worry about the food you cook from this kitchen.

My first dinner in Auckland, at an exquisite Italian restaurant. The table was well done. I like it a lot.

Eddy and Rainbow, who came from HK, were our hosts in Auckland. Rainbow was my best friend when I was studying at Otago Uni in Dunedin. We were doing the same course. I can't remember how we first knew each other but all my reminiscences with her were good. I learnt my written Cantonese from her, hehe. She is a really sweet girl. Eddy and Rainbow just got married last year after their 10-year courtship. *touching*

This is a starter dish from the Vietnamese cuisine. It's a type of spring roll. It doesn't taste oily at all and I quite like the taste! (Stay tuned for more Vietnamese food photos.)

Bwahahahahaah~~~~The ultimate board game!!!!! This is the original edition of "Ticket to Ride". You gotta try out, man!!!! Apparently, you could play online too, if you can't find anyone to play with!!! How considerate!

The night view of Auckland city. The long lighted building on the right hand side is the well-known Sky City. I didn't go up there as I don't want to "commit suicide"......maybe one day....