I was born today some years ago...

This photo was taken before I left my previous company in Malaysia. Fayrene, my ex-supervisor cum colleague felt uneasy when I tried to give her my precious kiss....@_@ Anyway, we share the same birthday and it's amazing how many people out there actually actually have birthdays on the same day. OK, say me stupid but so far, my record is, there are 9 people whom I know have the same birthday as myself. That's cool.


So, how did I celebrate my birthday this year you asked? Only one word is enough to describe it - fab!!!!!. I went down to London to spend the weekend with few of my coolest friends (it was a pity Chloe wasn't there!!). Rose, the host (as she let me stay at her cute little flat), is the best host ever because she can really cook!!! Yeah, I'm such gluttony.

So the first nite I was there (the day BEFORE my birthday), we went to a chinese restaurant and had GOOD food. It will be a huge shame for Rose if people eat or cook lousy food. See how dedicated she is?!! Anyway, we had lobster, fish maw (is that what it's called?), roast duck, tofu...I only took photos of the first two dish as I was too occupied with my food once I got started. *sorry* Dude, if you guys come and visit me, I sure know how to bring you to good food with not-too-expensive places. ;)


THE DAY was spent in a karaoke session and a lot of dim sums. I know, I know, the mic was in my hands 90% of the time. Sorry man, I just can't help it when I get to sing for 4 hours straight!! I forgot my cam so didn't get to take lotsa photos. Here's the one taken by Liam.

Do I look more fleshy???

But, but, but, if you think that's the highlight of my day, you're so wrong. It was yet to come in the night!!! Rose and Sean decided to have steamboat that night and sorry for not surprising enough, it was still awesome!! Crabs, various fish balls, clams, pork slices (Rose sliced them one by one!!! She said only a very greedy person will take the time to prepare such food and I guess she's right.) We started around 8:30pm and I was the last one to finish, the clock was ticking at 11:30pm!!!!! Shocked? Don't be, you know how much I food I can eat sometimes. The downside is, plenty of food supply has made my face swollen after this trip. Maybe I should be thankful, at least I'm having good food, not some garbage. God, I love you :)


The day I was scheduled home, Rose cooked me my last meal (not trying to sound corny) but the crabs were really nice. Yum. My favourite. Despite the food, I missed my train because I misread my timetable. How did that happen???? I have no idea. My brother did once, hahahahaha....So I'll never laugh at whatever mistakes people make now. That's scary.


I hope you still try to come back to my blog and check if there's anything new. Sorry for the absence. Oh yeah, you guys should ask Henry to write about his first day at work. It's hilarious!!! Can you imagine yourself unable to relocate your table after getting back from the loo? Imagine again, you go around and ask, "Erm, excuse me, do you know where my seat is??" HAHAHAHA!!! Oops, I think I'm not supposed to laugh else I'll be cursed too. So, JUST ASK HENRY!!!!!!

Just a little extra treat for you.
This is my typical Sunday breakfast.
Yeap, for one. *wink*
And you ask me how I put on weight?

A weekend to remember.

I know, I should have blogged ages ago but I was pre-occupied by settling in and all. Did I mention that my friends drove all the way from London just to visit me last weekend? Of course, the most important thing is to return my old stuff, hahaha....anyway.....

It's funny how I got to know Maddy, Bobby and Liam, and built such a strong bonding (can I say that? hehe). Our "relationship" is kinda complicated. The first time I knew about Maddy was ten years ago if my memory serves me right. I tagged along to my sister's uni friend's flat warming where Maddy just happened to be one of the flat-mates. That was our first "meeting", in New Zealand. Maddy, do you remember? Perhaps, I'm the one with better memory, eh? :P Nevertheless, we were only close after we met each other again in Sheffield three years ago. A very down-to-earth girl, and I simply enjoy her laughter and personality. My mum said she and I look alike!!! Is that supposed to be a compliment to Maddy or what? Sorry, Maddy, hope that statement hasn't offended you, :)

Perhaps you've already known about Liam. I wrote an entry about him not long ago. Well, he was my sister's first year uni course mate. I still remember going to his flat (where my sis' other friends were also staying at), preparing dumplings, cooking and eating them!! Even talked about how much fillings we needed to put in etc etc. Can you remember, Liam??????? I was very young, barely a sweet 16-year-old, hahahaha (OK, a FAT one I admit!). Same thing happened to our friendship. Liam and Maddy were together when I accidentally bumped into them in Sheffield. And no, you are not supposed to ask him anything about being a vegetarian!!!!!!! A friendly hint for y'all out there. Liam, don't kill me for saying this, yeah~

Bobby's the one I've known for the shortest time. We met at the church back in 2002 when I was working in Wellington. Weren't really close. Basically, I only know him better after I'm close to the first two. It's not good to be too close to someone's boyfriend mar, right? Bobby's got very unique...should I say habit?!?! He's got that distinctive laugh which cannot be imitated, not even me!

I'm just grateful that I have got good friends, whom I still keep in touch with. They're the kind of friends that you should have in your life so that it's complete! Yes, Rose (and Sean), while I'm saying this, I'm talking about you guys too!! Chloe, you definitely are, too!!!! Love you all~~~muah muah~

PHOTOS - click each photo for a bigger view

This is my bed. A sheet a week, keeps the germs away~

Sausages, prawns & veges;
Korean chak jiang noodles with pak choi;
Breast chicken & veges
Eh, can you see or not ar? ^O^

Bobby, Maddy, ME, Liam

Dimsum in Peterborough. Food, food....can see my mooncake face growing?

So typical eh?

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

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....

A Special Day to Note

First of all, today's my last day at work, now is that a special day or what? :P Not that I hate working, but it's definitely a show-off to those who want to have their long hours off. Sorry, folks, it's MY day.

Some colleagues were nice (and hopefully excited) to join our usual lunch date on Thursday. There are a couple of places we normally go to, i.e. Red Ruby Restaurant, Shanghai Restaurant, Chui Xiang Ge. Somebody (rumour has it that the person was HW!) opted for Pizza Hut. I was like "urgh". Not that I hate pizzas, but I've been there for the last two weeks, yet it's Pizza Hut...AGAIN? I'm gonna have a "great time" with HW tonite. You bet.

So the farewell lunch took place here. Not very into the door picture so we skipped that. Let's look at some infamous faces.

After meal.
Left: Henry, Liz, ME, Fayrene, Amanda, Josephine

I like this photo. Very natural. Pretty ler? :P

Just FYI, today's not only my last day at work, but also a more special day for someone, who is kinda close to me. No, I'm not talking about physically. We are the emotionally-close type (yeah yeah, whatever!), wakaka~Amanda is 2X today!!!!! Probably I'm not supposed to reveal her real age. If you want to know, ask her la, she'll probably tell you. Do not be fooled by her appearance. She isn't what you think she is. She is a fool...(HUH? What the..??) I meant to say she's got the talent to act. -_-

You think she's checking out the menu? WRONG!
I think she's just daydreaming. (-_- what kinda answer is this? So cold..)

OK, now I really don't know what we were doing.

I got to know Amanda from work. She was not very "involved" at first. I remember vividly the first thing she told me was "It takes quite a long time for me to warm up!!". Haaa....I think she's going along well with others now. A very easy-going and vibrant girl. "不鸣则已，一鸣惊人". Someone who doesn't simply call but people will be amazed by her single feat if she does. I like to tease her at times. Just curious if she's cursing me subsequent to my hard-to-laugh-at-jokes.

Well girl, it's your big day (not "deng deng deng deng" la! You know what I mean?). Be grateful to the ones who created and laboured you. They've brought us one joy, i.e. bringing you into this world. Happy Birthday!

Amanda! You should show your teeth, you've got them!!

Family Day

This is a very rare picture of my family. It's hard to gather everyone in the family unless there's a special function. This was taken during my big bro's wedding last year. He and my sis-in-law went for their honeymoon, that's why they weren't in the pic. Everyone in my family adores food. Pa usually cooks at home now that he's retired. But we prefer to dine out during our reunions as it's so hard to ever cook enough for all of us!!!!!!

Every Saturdays, we have our once-a-week family day which I look forward to. It's fun to hang out with pa, ma & ah di (my youngest bro). We'd try to dine at different restaurants each week, though there aren't many choices in Sibu. @_@ But yeah, we still managed to enjoy our meals and have fun at the same time.

This is the seafood lasagne from Sibu P.Hut, our little entree before the main course, hehehehe. It wasn't THAT bad and I think I should stop nitpicking at...you know...