Happy Chap Goh Meh

So the festivities ends today. The 15th day of the Chinese New Year. The fireworks are still going on strong, less though compared to 2 hours earlier.

As with tradition, I had dinner together with the family at home. Plus grandma tonight since she is staying over. Ama rotates between her kids' and/or grandchildren houses every few weeks or so depending on her mood. If she wants to see her great grandchildren, then someone drives her over to their house. When ama wants to eat pork, she comes back here. The only pork-eaters in the family wtf. Ehh..no disrespect meant. Just joking around ama in case you're reading this. wtf again. Hehe really kidding..

Ahh where was I? Chap Goh Meh dinner! We had steamboat at home.



I normally hate having steamboat outside simply cos it makes you sweat and stink while cooking your own dinner. Once in a while, its ok though. Including this lest I get mistaken for some ta xiao jie or some spoiled rich brat again Hehe



Dad loves steamboat. So we go along..

I have mentioned this in a previous post. But I must say again! The best thing about steamboat is THE SAUCE!!! But you must! To make THE SAUCE, you will need:

1) A single egg yolk. Throw the egg white out, put it in another bowl, dump it into soup I don't care cos I don't like egg white.

2) This sauce below. I forgot to take a photo during dinner. But while writing this post, I actually took the liberty of running to the fridge to hunt for ze sauce and snapped a photo just to upload here. Wahh am I hardworking or just plain wu liaw ar?



That's all. Find a bowl to add in your single egg yolk and scoop out as much of the barbecue sauce as you want.

Voila:


Liddis.

Mix it together and you get this:



But you must! Its not even hard to make! Try this sauce at home when you're having steamboat/hotpot. Please. Most steamboat stuff are quite tasteless since they are just dipped into the boiling hot soup, but this sauce really adds that zest (haha) to your food.

I shall leave you with a photo of this roast pork:



Dad ordered this too for dinner tonight.

You play ze badminton?

Does anyone here play badminton games? My bf is a badminton fanatic; actually less now since he has a controlling gf who demands almost all of his free time heh.

He plays badminton only once a week now compared to two to three times a week before we got together. Poor thing. He has a group of friends who call each other up for badminton sessions very frequently. I tried. I really tried to participate baby. Alas. My body is not up to it.

Seriously though, I tried to join in his games, and have him teach/coach me badminton once a week just so I can try to play and like his game. Gave up last year months ago. I improved week by week but it was pretty obvious that I was going nowhere near his standards. I was nowhere near being able to play with him and his friends.



I could tell that he was being very patient with me. I am just a silly beginner who cannot serve properly. Imagine playing two hours straight with me every week. I would have been fed up with myself long ago. Hehe



I don't mean that he is reaaaly good. Just that I reaaaly suck that's why I think I was waay beneath their standards. And I really didn't want him to waste his time with me, especially since I don't really like the game. What I mean is, to me, badminton is just another form of exercise. To him, its much more than that. He wants to improve his style, his game, and to compete with his friends.

Anyway.

Do try this badminton game!

See if you can win.

Cs beat the damn computer and got this score:



I didn't bother trying...


P/S: Something funny to share!! During cny, cs was over at my place alot. One day, cs was trying to kill a fly in our house, (and failing miserably) while mum was watching him. Mum just kept laughing at the way he swatted at the fly. It was like he is trying to play badminton with the fly as his shuttlecock. He did kill the damn fly in the end. But we all had a good laugh at the way he swatted at it.

HAPPY CHAP GOH MEH!!

Mi version of Paris and Disneyland

I want to go to HK, Macau and HK Disneyland. Been reading too many blogs about HK Disneyland recently. Cs has been saying that he wants to go there as well with me, particularly during the winter. He has been there before with his whole family actually, but not with me.

Anyway. I went to look up my past diary entries about Paris and Disneyland, four years ago. Time flies. Has it been four years?

This was what I found.

Disclaimer: A lot of words ahead. I copied this exactly from my diary written years earlier..

This post actually serves as a reminder to Shirley, Nifer and I. I know that you both will screw me for posting ugly photos again (haha) but really, I tried to select the more flattering ones.

Past Diary entries:

30th November 2005: Wednesday afternoon. While in the middle of doing my dissertation, I took a break and went upstairs to look for Nifer. She was sitting in front of her laptop, many books and maps of Paris surrounding her. Remembering, I asked her when she is leaving for Paris. “Tomorrow” she told me. Then she said, “Hey, I found some cheap tickets to Paris again. Do you want to go?” we checked Eurostar. And before I knew it, had booked the tickets to go the day after next. Amazing!! I really couldn’t believe that I had just booked tickets to go to Paris.

Then, we started planning about Friday, deciding where to go, and we changed hotels. We changed to Merryl Hotel which is at La Chapelle. Nearer than the one Nifer had originally booked, which was at Gallileo. When Shirley and Evi came home that night, we told them that we’re both going to Paris the next day. They told us to go by ourselves. Neither of them wanted to join us. Next morning, as Nifer and I were planning about Paris, chit chatting happily, Shirley came to join us, and we started persuading her to go with us, telling her that it would be her last chance, as we’re going home soon, and we would never have the chance again. It worked!! She said, ok. Let’s go see if there are anymore tickets! Incredibly, the three of us are going to Paris together.

2nd December 2005: Friday early morning. We went to bed at 1++am then woke up at 4am. To get ready, throw some things into our suitcase and left. We walked to the bus stop, it was freaking cold and wet outside. Lugging our two suitcases to the bus stop, we stood there shivering for around 30 - 45 minutes waiting for bus no: N381 to Waterloo station. As we were deciding to wave at the next taxi that pass by, the bus showed up.


Nifer and I at said bus stop. I miss Bermondsey...

Finally!! But, on the bus, we missed our stop, and went down a stop past Waterloo station. Great!! Fantastic!! Let’s not forget that we have two suitcases, and it was sooo damn cold and raining as well!! Walking, running backwards, trying to find the last bus stop, we found it, then searched for the station.

The terminal was so long, we had no idea which was the front and which the back was. Walking in the rain for around 20 minutes, we finally found the entrance!! We were so relieved, as we were late. We ran inside just as the check in desk was opened.


Nifer I miss you...

Phew! We weren’t late after all…hurried inside and grabbed seats, waiting for the gates to open. Shirley and I joined the queue at Costa Coffee for two hot chocolates, one Americano, and 3 pannini’s each. As soon as we finished paying for them and hurried back to our seats, the gates open, and we went to board the train. The three of us were in Coach Number 16. It was a 2.30 hours journey.


Eurostar to Paris



We reached Paris Gare du Nord Station at 930am. On arrival, I felt strange; it was a totally different place, different culture. Everywhere I looked, no English words at all. All French, we couldn’t even find the exit. Until Shirley saw a sign: Sortie, and underneath it, in very small italic writing, was Exit. As we left the station, we were in another dilemma. Where is our hotel and how do we find it? We knew the address. On the website, in the map, it showed that it was near Gare du Nord. But we couldn’t even ask anyone. We searched for the “Customer Service” sign. Nifer and I went to ask a man. He couldn’t speak English. Mostly, we just used sign language to communicate.

Paris’s railway system seemed more complicated to me, or maybe that’s because I don’t read French. There were 7 lines altogether, with names such as Mairie d’Ivry, Porte d’Orleans, etc..Each line is given a number to differentiate them. So, we took Line 2 from La Chapelle to Charles de Gaulle Etoile. Their trains were older compared to London’s. It was small and square, with some fold-up seats. But, at least they seemed the same speed as the London Underground.

From Charles de Gaulle station, we walked to Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was known as Napoleon’s grand arch. Towering over everything else, it was a huge monument, among one of the most famous landmarks of Paris. As we came out of the station, and seeing the Arc, the three of us were ecstatic, giddy with happiness, so excited to be there at that moment. We started shouting, screaming and talking at the top of our voices and laughing at everything, then started taking photos.

From the Arc de Triumph, we walked down Champs-Elysees. After that, we went to take the Metro from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Trocadero. We had no idea what place Trocadero was. We actually wanted to go to Luxemborg or Notre Dame, but we did not know how to get there, so stopped at Trocadero. As we came out of the station, we saw a stall, or vendor selling crepes. Remembering what Chris (our housemate) told us about “must-try” crepes, we each bought one. Crepes are a type of French pancake.



Then, as we were eating, we saw something. EIFFEL TOWER!! The view was fantastic! The tower was standing majestically beside the River Seine, and there were many fountains below the tower.





As we finished eating our crepes, we went to admire the view and started taking photos, each of us posing. We weren’t the only ones; many tourists were there as well. Then, two men approached us, and took out miniature Eiffel tower key chains, and asked us if we wanted any. They were priced 3 for 1 Euro. Nifer bought 6. Shirley and I each bought 3. After that, we walked to the fountains and took more pictures and a video.





As we were queuing to buy tickets to Eiffel Tower, Nifer suddenly exclaimed, “It’s SNOWING!! Shirley and I both quickly turned to the sky, with our hand outstretched. After a few seconds, we realized that it was drizzling. But it was so cold that it could have been snowing. Nifer who forgot to wear gloves was saying that her hands had frozen. Then, we each bought tickets to Eiffel tower. To our dismay, the top floor was closed due to strong winds. Le sIgh!! Disappointed!!

So, we bought tickets for the second floor. They cost 7 Euro 50 cents each. We had to take a lift up to the second floor. It was large, able to accommodate around 20 people. On reaching, it was soooooo…cold, freezing. The wind was so strong. The second floor was full of people, everyone had their cameras or video cameras out. The view was like what we’d see at Civic Centre back home. Only, in Kuching, we are able to see green scenery as well as buildings. In Paris, I see lots of white buildings; in fact they remind me of many tombs. Seriously, like graveyards.


View from Eiffel Tower (2nd floor). All white, like tombs right? Haha



There are no flattering photos of the three of us seriously..



3rd December 2005 – Saturday early morning. 7am. We were all woken up by my alarm clock (Nick Carter’s serenade of I Need You Tonight). None of us moved. We were all exhausted from last night. Again and again, I hear my alarm clock, then Shirley’s alarm. Finally, at 7.30am, Nifer went into the toilet first, then Shirley. I was, of course, last to wake. No surprise to them. We were ready to leave at 8.30am, and then went downstairs to have breakfast. Nobody was there. It was empty, only two jugs of coffee and hot chocolate stood there, with some croissants and bread. Breakfast consisted of three croissants with jam and hot chocolate or coffee or juice. That’s it.

After a quick breakfast, we went to the station. It was a cold morning, strong winds. We told the woman behind the counter at La Chapelle station one word: Disneyland. She nodded and showed us the prices. It totaled Euro 100++. We were shocked, and then learned that she had included the price of the Disneyland Park tickets as well. It was 30 Pounds each, equivalent to 42 Euros. And train tickets to Disneyland were around 10++ Euros. It was a one hour journey from La Chapelle.

On reaching Disneyland, the three of us couldn’t stop smiling, laughing, talking at the top of our voices, and oh yeah, taking pictures. Everywhere we went, we kept taking pictures. How could we not? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even though it was barely 10am in the morning, there were so many people there. Families with children, couples, grandmas and granddads, teenagers, the place was full. We joined the crowd, taking pictures, and then queuing up to enter Disneyland Park.



Disney music was playing everywhere, and happy faces were seen everywhere. The buildings were all so beautiful, and the whole atmosphere just felt so wonderful, so magical. It was no wonder they call it The Wonderful, Magical World of Disney! It truly was!! In Mainstreet USA, we saw some cartoon characters, driving past in antique cars. There were a lot of shops there, souvenir shops, and restaurants. We each bought a Mickey Mouse Hat and wore it. Shirley and I bought a white one each, and Nifer bought a blue one. As walked together, people were staring at us, and smiling at us, we must have looked really comical or weird.


I still have that hat!

Haha..too much Disney spirit. Our first ride was La Carrousel de Lancelot, or the horse ride. In Fantasyland. It was fun, more suitable for little children though. We walked past Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Really beautiful…!! But we did not go inside; there was not enough time for everything. We saw Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, Alice’s Curious Labyrinth, Peter Pan’s Flight and many more.





*************************

Diary ended here cos I was too tired to continue writing. Now, I wish that I remembered to continue writing.

I remember thinking that Paris Disneyland was one of the happiest days in my life. Back then life was so simple..Carefree and easy. I wanna be a student again. Whine whine whine.

I think that its time to go back to Disneyland. I want that feeling again. I have always loved those Disney characters and cartoons. That day in Disneyland was very unforgettable. I want to go back. I want a dose of that happiness again.

Reading on my past diary entries made me realize that I miss being a student. My three years stay in London was my own experience through a student's life. Even if I do go back there in the future, it won't be the same. We are not as carefree, not as young. When will I ever have the chance to just randomly decide to catch a train to Paris like that?

When and if I do go back to London, it will be different. I wish I could bring my parents or cs there, bring them to see the famous (haha) London and Tower Bridge, to McD to eat, Chinatown where I used to go when I craved chinese food and to stock up on instant noodles, and of course to try the famous Four Seasons duck. Show them around Camden town.

I just want to go to Disneyland again.

Baby? How?

Gibberish plus Gluttoney

Since everyone is using a lot of ♥ nowadays, I thought I would be special and use a ♦ ho ho ho. I'm so smart!!

No lar. Long live google!!

Also found ♠ ♣ Ô Ø Ü Ý ï ô ÿ ã ½

This is cute: ¤

I can see why this is addictive ♥ ♥ ♥ ♦ ♦ ♦

OK Enough!

*******************

Continue from where I left off in the previous post. I love lasagna made by Balson!



Are you reading this dear cousin? Haha Seriously though. Fresh oven baked lasagna is to die for. The smell and the taste of that melted cheese..mmm..only Pizza tops that (in my opinion). I think its the cheese that has got me hooked. Maybe. Not sure. Spaghetti does not leave me drooling. I don't add Parmesan cheese on my Pizza or pasta. I stuff cheddar slice by slice into my mouth when I can get my hands on them. And those little cubed cheese yumm.. Yea, maybe its the cheese.



Btw, cs and I went to Hi-Bread at Petanak for lunch the other day. It is located just by the main road. Impossible to miss. They serve mostly breakfast food such as, breads (obviously from the name) like in the photos below, and a small version of English breakfast consisting of eggs sunny side up, sausages, toast, and baked beans served with orange juice or milk.



I had this chicken ham sandwich. I expected the bread to be like french bread (hard), but it was very soft (like normal white bread). Tastes very nice with the ham and cheese.



Cs had this beef sausage with lots of mayo and chilli sauce. The sausage itself is quite spicy. Actually there were very few selections to choose from. I think only 6 or 7 types of these "breads", with some English breakfast, fries, and salad.

The sandwich itself is around the size of ermm..a Big Mac (probably not as filling), and shorter in length than a subway sandwich. Does that help?

Every CNY, we (or dad believes) must have yu san! We have yu san every cny to represent a new year! No lar. I don't know what it represents. Can anyone tell me? I just know that when we have yu san, we should all gather around the table and use our chopsticks to fling the food around, literally, the higher the better.



Like so.



I guess that its good luck or something like that. That your year ahead will be good..I don't know..I think my not going to chinese school is showing. Mum always said that we should be chinese educated to know about chinese customs/traditions and what not.

Oh well too late now. My future kid(s) will go to chinese school though. No worries. He/she will be able to read the chinese newspapers, read all the love notes/letter/SMSes sent to him/her sing at karaokes with friends, and read the chinese subtitles on HK drama series. Hahaa..



Up till today, I honestly do not know what are those green and red things. Never bothered to ask (ignorant), and just stuff it into my mouth since its tradition (kwai right). What I know: that the pink stuff on the very top is raw or smoked salmon, some peanuts and crackers by the side, and err that's it. Taste? No good. We never finish this! And everyone digs around for the salmon.

We also had Peking duck. The only difference with normal duck is that: it is especially oily. Fatter too. Haha no lar. I don't know the difference. I'm no chef. The difference is that someone from the restaurant has to come out and cut out all the skin of that roast duck in front of you. Don't know why. To prove you have the entire duck issit? Since Chinese are so kiasu.



Said duck being skinned. After being skinned, the staff leave the skins on the table for us to eat with these:


Pitta bread with cucumber slices and special sauce.

Wrap it up like so and voila.



Duck pitta chinese style. The rest of the duck is being taken into the kitchen to cut up into tiny slices to fry with some XO sauce. Not outstanding so no photos.

Oh yes. We had pork too. The meat is soo tender and juicy. Goes very well with "mantou" Actually mum said mantou is not the correct name, but it looks and tastes similar enough (tasteless btw).



Succulent pork.

And Voila. Pork burger.


Said mantou.

Googled and stole some mantou photos for your viewing pleasure:


Credits to photographer!

Mum said these are mantou. But what is normally served at chinese restaurants are not called mantou's. OK. Enough with the chinese/english lessons.

I love these. (mantou's). Since mum is a Taiwanese, we grew up eating these, and less of Kuching/Sarawakian kuihs. She likes to steam these for us to eat for dinner with the other dishes. And she regularly (used to make) cooks dumplings with leeks.



Had these fried mantou's served with fried crab/prawn once at a restaurant somewhere at Tabuan Laru. Has anyone tried that before? It is so rich, but damn it tastes good.

This mess/vomit looking thing here deserves to be mentioned. We had this at Li Garden, Hock Lee.



Its actually prawn balls in some buttery/mayonnaise sauce. Yum. One of the better ones I have ever tasted around Kuching. Give it a try if you're there.

This photo below was taken at McGregor's English Pub at Jalan Song area. Drinking makes you hungry. So we ordered these from Ren Jian Cha Fang. Just behind the pub. We sit in our seats and wait for the waitress to come and take our orders, then wait for them to bring the food here. Easy. Can eat dinner here. Even better.



Fried omelet, Taiwan sausage, and chicken nuggets. How do you make an omelet un-eatable since they are so easy to make? Quite hard, I should think? Yea. So it tastes good. Its just eggs after all. Taiwan sausage I hate. No comment. Don't know why I don't eat them. maybe cos they look too much like the real thing if you know what I mean. Haha wtf kidding!! Nuggets err..ok la. When you're hungry, you eat. When you drink, you feel like eating, so no complaints.

Before I leave, let me rant a little. Why why why in Kuching or Malaysia for that matter, do they always put chili sauce on everything? They always always assume I want chili sauce! I don't! I don't take chili. I hate chili. Grr..

There is no other word: vanity

For my Chinese New Year (CNY) this year, I don't go visiting much, instead I stayed home most of the time helping out with parents and serving the guests.



I don't know about other people, but to my family (excluding Kevin), CNY seems to be drinking season. On the fourth day of cny, we open house again and finished 5 bottles of these:



Macallan 12 years. Not just our family obviously. Dad's friends mostly. What I mean by drinking season is: we start drinking early in the day, from noon till way past midnight. Everyday! It could be whiskey, beer, or red wine. Mostly whiskey. I try to avoid drinking red wine personally cos I always get ulcers the next day. Its too "hot" for my body.

Actually drinking season started during reunion dinner and continued till err today. As I am writing this, dad's friends continue to arrive.



I realized I did not take much photos from cny. As I flipped through my camera album, I just see lots of err..vain photos of myself and cs.. Shit. Not on purpose ok! Everyone else avoids my gaze when I point the camera at others. Why ar? Embrace vanity people! Like me! I sound so wtf. I'm embarrassing myself.



I am wearing a Nichii dress that was on sale for 50% before cny! Haha..damn cheap skate.

Winnie and I on the fourth day of cny at home. So busy that day as people were arriving non stop. I suppose this is cny for everyone. Typical open day at home..The parents cooked and ordered catering twice cos the first round was cleaned out in like 30 mins?

We ordered from a restaurant called Little Hong Kong (literally translated from mandarin) which is located at somewhere near Banquet. We ordered lemon chicken, deer meat, fried mee hoon, and a type of vege (I think) for the first round. Dad also had two typed of duck and a whole roast pork (suckling). One of my cousin made a tray of spaghetti. Mum made her mixed vege with XO sauce, and deep fried squid. Everything was finished within one hour.

The food arrived late, which is why everyone was starving including us. So we ordered another round of butter prawn, noodles, and err some meat (I think). Forgot. My memory reaally sucks.



Cs came over to help on the fourth day. Trying to fulfill his role of future son-in-law. heh heh..



Ah pau and his gf, I assume..Don't know how he would feel to see his photo here. If I remember correctly, he instructed me to: DELETE this photo!



The gold and black tiles behind mum do stand out quite a bit..At first, I thought they looked ugly. Too "kua zang". But after the black cupboards were installed, they looked much better..



I ate too much during CNY. Seriously. I don't really dare to weigh myself nowadays. Supper every night. Uncertain meal times. Non stop snacking on cakes, biscuits and crackers are bound to make me gain weight. Grr..food is evil. I'm sorry I sound so bimbotic even to myself..



I'm feeling vain. Let me show off my outfit...Oh look at the time (in the photo). It is nearly 1am and I am having supper wtf. With beer no less. Sigh. No wonder I gained weight.







I (finally) start work tomorrow. Cny holidays are (finally) over. Time flies. I can't believe that a whole week has gone by..Back to normal life. Back to routine life. Back to boredom and responsibility.



I wasn't joking when I said that I only found photos of myself and cs. Haha. Seriously this speaks volumes about the type of person I am. Shallow, vain, bimbo, vain, self centered



To my err...defense, cs took most of these photos on my orders .....so....it's his fault that I have no photos of anyone else. Right?





No lar, actually this photo is to show the food on display at my house. See how nice I look? that cake cover looks like? Ho ho ho.. I am hopeless..









Oh Thank God I found some other photos!! I forgot to include my Valentines photos:

Since Valentines Day fell on the first day of cny, I practically forced him to not do anything for me. Buy me nothing. Including no flowers. I should have known that it wouldn't work on cs:



He got me a smaller bouquet, if anything, this year. Three pink roses.

Plus :D :D :D



Guess what he bought for me? Happy :D :D :D

We didn't even go for any Valentines dinner this year. Instead, I went to visit his house with a few other friends that night on 14 Feb. So romantic! We spent the night visiting other friend's houses and drinking...

Reason enough to drink. It is a new year!