Yee Sang at Grand Margherita Hotel

Every year, the little Simon family get together for a Yee Sang dinner. According to dad, its good for our career. Err..something like the higher you fling the yee sang, the better your outlook is. Something along those lines. Mind you, this is Simon Minggu's belief only. :)



This year, we chose to have our Yee Sang dinner at Grand Margherita Hotel (the old Holiday Inn). The set dinner we chose was RM 888 ++. There were two choices: RM 666 or RM 888. Ya freaking expensive. Not inclusive of taxes and service charge some more. But we have 50% discount because of Prestige Club. So yea. Still okay.

Me and my siblings:



Coincidentally, there was a wedding dinner on that night as well, so maybe that is why the food came up rather slow. We arrived at about 715 pm, and our last dish arrived at about 10pm. It was a 8 course dinner. In the beginning, there was a 30 minute interval between dishes and we complained: can you guys hurry up or not?

That aside, service was actually good. It was always service with a smile, they were all very polite and efficient.


Cs is now a part of the family. Heh heh.

This is Yee Sang:



For most yee sang, they add salmon to it (cos its cheaper). This was the first time I had abalone with yee sang. I actually prefer salmon cause at least I can taste it. The addition of the abalone was erm..just ok. Maybe cos I only managed to pick one out. The rest were walloped by the others. :(



This is what I meant by fling fling flinging the yee sang. After our server has added the abalone, oil, pepper, and crackers, we (everyone at the table) should all take our chopsticks and mix the ingredients together by flinging it around. Haha. I suck at describing things don't I? I seem to be using a lot of market talk.



Next up on the menu was shark fins soup. I know that there are a lot of articles out there about how we should stop eating shark fins soup cos it has no nutrition whatever but most importantly we have to stop killing sharks.

But I am a typical Malaysian chinese and I follow society. Dad says we should have shark fin during my upcoming wedding. So be it. It does not look good if I don't. Personally, I think shark fin soup tastes good so I eat it. Never mind that it has no nutrition. I eat maggi mee and it has no nutrition too what. How? Supposedly cancer causing too. Even worse.

About the slaughtering of sharks. That's quite a pathetic excuse ler. If you preach about killing sharks, how about the slaughter of chickens, pigs, cows, and other fishes? Salmon? How? Why should sharks be exempt? Hmm..how does this work then?

And I suppose alot of people could write me a long, long reply to my little rant here but don't please. I am a silly naive individual. Replying me would have no benefit whatsoever. I will still have the shark fins soup. And if I stop having it, how do I actually save the shark anyway? Other people will still kill it. Hmm..

Its like the saying, you know when we are kids, parents tell us we must FINISH up our rice. Because the children in Africa have nothing to eat. But really, if I finish up my rice, does this mean the children in Africa have food to eat? No. Its silly really. Make your point across with other methods lar. Don't reply me. Btw, I must remember never to tell my kids this in the future. Silly really.

This is just my view only okay. I mean no disrespect to those people who don't eat shark fins.

Oh digressed alot. Back to topic.


Shark fins soup is a staple at most Chinese dinners. At weddings, people see this as almost as a way of status. If you don't have shark fins soup at your wedding dinner, people will remember. And alas, I am a follower.

Next up is the duck:



This is how it looks like inside:


Filled with a lot of goodies: I know the names of only the mushrooms and chicken. Haha. Sorry for not being very informative!

This is a white pomfret. At least I know this fish can get quite pricey at the market. According to the parents at least.


Nicely done - tastes great.

Some vege - is it asparagus? - with big ass scallops and Brazil nuts and something else. Yum.



This was some bak choi with vege and a lot of oysters and big ass scallops again. By now I am too full to eat much already.



After this, there was a glutinous rice with some 8 treasure thingy. I thought it was a bit dry. I was too full to move to take a photo of the rice. So yea. Never mind.

So what do you think of the dinner? Was it worth the RM 888 ++ price tag?

I think that the dinner itself was very full of rich and expensive food that made the dinner kinda worth it. But eating this kind of stuff, I am kinda glad that its just once a year. Its too rich, and just not that fulfilling. But that's just me.

I mean, you know that the dinner is expensive simply because of the abalones, the scallops, and shark fins etc. But the portions are quite small (kinda) and what I mean is..aiya I don't know how to explain la. You know what I mean right? (hehe yea right).



After the very expensive dinner, we went to a Meet Your Valentines Party at Senso. It was quite impromptu and I expected a bigger crowd than that. Grr. Drinks are soo pricey. I know lar. Hilton - what do you expect mi? Yea anyway. I met a few friends there and we moved the party to McGregor's instead.

Haven't been there in ages. But it was nice. To forget about saving money for one night. That said, I am back to being frugal. It is Valentines Day today actually (past midnight).



I have a plan for an economy Valentine's. I will prove that we can still have fun with him without spending much. :)



Read here for our first Valentine's together, where I was soo pampered! The second year (last year), Valentines day was also the first day of CNY so we didn't do anything at all.

If all goes well, I will write about our 3rd Valentine's together. Hehe..:)

Good night!

The Proposal

Edit: I wrote this post below last year and chose to re-post it now cos it seems that the first question upon hearing that I am engaged is always: how did he propose? How? Describe it!!

So here it is. I shy la. But aiya whatever. This answers your question ladies.

Date: Nov 10 2010.

On that night (Wed), I went to work with him. We arrived home (new house) at about 9pm. We were both exhausted after a long day at work. I cooked supper for him while he watched and chatted with me. (He has to have supper almost every night - how he stays so slim is amazing. Actually he is not. He has a little tummy and it is getting bigger each day. haha)

I made him mee goreng with hot dogs, tauhu fish balls, and crab stick (we have no food at home). While he ate, we started chatting at the dinner table. About our wedding. Everything.

Disclaimer: Even though we talk about getting married and our wedding more and more often nowadays, he has never actually asked me that question. Never really proposed. He always insisted that we must wait or else it will just spoil the fun. He refuses to put a ring on me till the day he proposes.

Back to topic.

We were chatting one moment about our wedding photos, the next about my parents; what will they say? The actual day itself? Prices? Costs? Our budget? Photos? Which restaurant or hotel? Jumping from topic to topic.

We had pretty much covered everything when we stared at each other. Smiled at each other. He came over to hug me. Kissed me. Smiling he asked: will you really marry me?

I just smiled at him. Because what else could I say? I am already his.

Before I knew it, he knelt down on one knee and asked: will you marry me? (mandarin of course).

I said: Yes.

And then: Really? Are you serious? (I thought he was just kidding)

Cs (still smiling): I am on my knees baby.

Me: Yes yes. By now, I am laughing through my tears. We are both laughing. I am crying (I never thought I would cry on occasions like these - I mean, you watch tv and you read about these but you never actually thought you would cry. But I was so happy that I did. I teared. )

And then, we were rocking back and forth. Holding on to each other.

It was totally unplanned and made the more amazing because it was unexpected for both of us. He was totally unprepared as well. I have no idea why he chose to propose like that.

That bugger chose the exact right timing to propose.

The situation could not have been weirder. The empty plates on the tables, neither of us were wearing pants. There were no flowers, no ring, no gifts. Nothing.

I think it was just the right moment. Or we were caught up in the moment. I don't care. It doesn't matter.

It was perfect. To me. To us. It was. I don't care what anyone thinks.

I don't think I was happier before. We clung to each other, kissing, holding to each other, smiling and not wanting to let go.

It was so spontaneous. But was it spontaneous since we both have been looking forward to this already?

Anyway..

I announced (to ourselves): I am engaged.

Which only made us laugh and hold on to each other even more tightly.

How does it feel like?

It feels like i have been waiting for this for so long. I am engaged. And I cant stop smiling when I think of this. Totally unexpected.

All i want. All i want is you!

But I made him propose a second time though. heh. Now that I have what I want, I want the romance. Give me a ring. Surprise me again. So he did.

***

18 Nov 2010.

He called and told me that the original plan was that we all go out with the rest of our friends to Bla bla bla. It was Alvin's birthday itself. So I believed him. I really thought we were going to Bla Bla Bla.

His excuse for bringing me to the new house was: he left something at the house so we have to go back to take it.

I suspected something was up. But I swept it aside. I was in a bad mood and cranky because I am starving.

He opened the door and told me to go up first. He said that he left something in the car. Grumbling and mumbling to myself, I walked/stomped up the stairs to this scene.

It was dark. I was upset. Flipping on the lights as I go, and scowling to myself, I looked up to see this:



Is this real? Hmm..my name is on it. Why the balloons??

Turned out, it was real. He planned this. Sneaky bugger. He lied to me about dinner at Bla Bla Bla, and meeting with friends etc. Hmph. Talking about going back home to get something. Hmph.

He lied to me because I told him before that I have to at least be decently dressed and have make up on when he propose.

Even though I am chinese-illiterate, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess what is written there. Ugly handwriting aside. Hehehe.

As I was touching and prodding that thing, cs ran back up the stairs with flowers in one arm, and take-outs in the other arm.



This time, he prepared flowers, balloons, and a ring! I have my ring now. Haha.



Do I look happy or what? Haha.



He tapau-ed pizza, lasagna and spaghetti from Bella Italia.

***

So I am engaged. (This will take some getting used to. Same goes to the ring on my finger)

To me, the day he proposed will always be Nov 10. It is more real somehow. That night with the flowers etc, it just felt like Valentines. It felt a bit commercialized. It felt surreal and I don't really mean it in a good way. But thanks baby! I know you want me to have everything!

I am still glad that he chose to propose to me at our home, just like that. Even if it was just that first night, I would have been happy. Satisfied. This is our life together now.

We talk and discuss about everything together. No secrets, no lies. We go to work together, come home, I make him supper and we talk.

We watch tv, laugh and tease each other together. We walk to the gym and workout for 5 mins then jump into the pool. Come home and take a shower together. Laugh and scream some more during the shower. Then fall into bed.

This is our life now. Our home.

And now, we have a wedding to plan. Actually it is a work in progress already :)

Our families are meeting this weekend. Wish me luck! :)

P/S: After reading this post, I feel it is so badly written and does not even reflect how I feel right now. Ahh how ar? Lazy to edit some more. :)

*****

I wrote the above quite some time ago and chose to repost it now. Oh well. Time flies.

Now, whenever we worry and fret about the upcoming wedding, we try to comfort each other using different ways. We comfort each other that we are working towards a goal: to the day when we can fall asleep in each other's arms, holding hands. We are both looking forward to the honeymoon more than the actual day. Oh well.

A wedding is a wedding. Eloping is out of the question. So I shall live one day at a time.

I may not have the most perfect wedding ever but I will have him. And that is more than enough. :)

On the first day of Chinese New Year..

Many times over the past week, I have wanted to sit down with my laptop, open my blog and write something. But I just cannot summon the energy to do so. Chinese New Year has sucked the life out of me. Never has CNY ever been to exhausting.

I was looking forward to CNY so much, and it came and went just like that. In a blink of an eye. Every day there is something to do. A whole week of planned itinerary. It was fun and tiring.

Cny was: never ending opening of cans and cans of coke, pepsi, beer, and refilling the ice bucket again and again for those drinking Macallan. It was walking back and forth, taking the plates to the back to eli, reheating the food, washing the dishes, cutting cakes, shaking hands, and smiling all the time.

I am not complaining. Mind you, Cny is still once in a year. Its still fun. Its okay. Or maybe I can say that its okay now cos its over. Heh heh.

Cny is over and done with for another year. My apologies oh little blog of mine. Sorry I have not been updating. But finally today, I am free enough to sit down and upload photos and compose my thoughts again.

My life is mine again. My time is mine to use again. I am not exaggerating. CNY was a very busy time for the whole family. Not enough time to rest at all. Last night, I went for a much needed massage. Bless you woman!

So enough chatter. Photos now! I shall start at the beginning. The reunion dinner. Every year, the reunion dinner is held at our house. Relatives come over to eat the good food that mum and dad made. We chit chat, laugh and eat and wait for midnight together.



This year - due no doubt to those two bottles of Ballantine and Macallan - we laughed and laughed and laughed. No wait.

We drank first and then laughed and laughed and laughed. Wininie said it right. Our relatives are pretty darn cool!


The laughing group minus cs, winnie and mum.

As with tradition, about 15 minutes before midnight, little Kuching's nightlife can get quite spectacular. You just got to see it to believe it. Its like war. Everyone kiasu, buying more fire crackers than their neighbors. Heh heh. No lar kidding.



We join in the fun as well. It had started raining at about 1230 am this year, so it was all good. During the peak/climax(?), we were outside, enjoying the fireworks. When it started pouring, everyone was indoors already.

I heard from some friends staying in Tabuan Laru/BDC area saying that it rained at about 1203am, so they were quite disappointed. Quite surprised to hear this though. Why Seng Goon area so chi dun one ar? (I am getting more Malaysian-Chinese every day. My English is deteriorating)



I like this photo Winnie snapped of us:


♥

On the first day of CNY, we ordered catering...



..but in my humble opinion, lasagna wins. This is lasagna made by Balson and it always wins. Freshly oven baked lasagna. Melting cheese. Mmmm..now I'm hungry.



Every year we order a big tray of lasagna from Balson, and this is a small square portion only. But it was still all finished on the first day of Cny itself.

Cs' family went to Taiwan on CNY eve and are coming back tonight actually. Nice long holiday.



Let me clarify here (not that anyone that I mean can read anyway sigh) that I (Amy Simon) did not ask cs to stay in Kuching with me! I did not cry, plead or beg. In fact, I (being a good gf wtf) persuaded him to join his family. I even searched for cheap air tickets for him and asked him to go. Since he has never been there before.

But, it was his OWN choice to stay behind. Now it sounds like I am bragging that I have a loving bf wtf. I am not. My point is, I have so many people telling me that why don't I let my bf go on holiday with his family? Why cs stay behind with you? You don't let him go is it? From unrelated kepo persons btw. So irritating. Grr.

Anyway. Where was I? Oh yea, since he is in Kuching, my parents asked him to spend CNY with us. So he has been working hard serving the guests with me, and visiting with me the whole of CNY. :)


Daddy and me.

Dad requested that mum, Winnie and I wear maxi (long) dresses on the first and fourth day of cny. Winnie and I were both complaining and lamenting: it is hot and inconvenient bla bla bla. But at least it looks good in the photos. Oh well. This trumps everything else. But its also cos cny is over la, so I can be so carefree now again. Back to normal life.



One last photo of the three of us:


OK. Update more next time. Tonight if I am not watching SATC! :)

Free drinks and ladies = Happy face

Hello. Here are some recent photos of us girls taken in 2011. Finally!

Photos taken with Cherling's iPhone 4. Jeles!



We were at Club Memories, which is the same row as Terminal One and Kings Arm. Its a new pub. Very dazzling. Walk in and bedazzled. Literally. Heh heh. Go there and you'll know what I am talking about lar.


Do Winnie and I look alike in this photo?

Later on, we went inside Zebra for a tour. Zebra is the new Core. I don't know if its the new management or not. Probably not, cos all the regular waiters that I am used to at Core is gone.

Cs and I went there just the both of us one fine night. Pretty good service but still empty. On a Saturday night. 4 bottles of Heineken costs us RM 35. Cheap. Plus ladies get a free cocktail. I got myself a Cosmopolitan - watching too much Carrie. It is yum!

This is probably the opening special. Go try it out! Free cocktail is always good. Actually free anything is good. :)



This is Mic and I at Bar Zing! Love her curls. So tempted to perm my hair too..but so afraid that it will take too much time and effort to maintain. And I am lazyy.



Winnie and I with contrasting expressions!



Me: Winnie baby, do me a favor and get me another whiskey coke.
Winnie: *shows fangs* Grrr...

Haha this could be real life scenario.


Duno when Cher snapped this photo of me but I like it..


Elaine, Cherling and I.

Lazy to think of captions and lazy to type.. Actually I am kinda brain dead. Not enough sleep. Tired. Photos shall suffice for today. Btw I am officially on leave! Yay! Till next week! Yay!


Ladies group photo

Its Chinese New Year eve tomorrow. Because so many of us are taking leave tomorrow, boss declared tomorrow as casual day and work till 3pm.

No difference to me cos I will be home and have to wake up at 6am to go to the temple. Pay respects and give offerings to our ancestors. In the name of the new year. :) Its a tradition at our home.

Happy Chinese New Year to all those celebrating! And Happy Holidays to all of you..

Food at Cafe Satang

So. Because I have nothing better to do, blog now lar. The other alternative is too ghastly to consider. Not in the mood and so boring.

So er. What's new? Some more photos from a million years ago. Heh heh. Its almost Chinese New Year. Finally its time to take more NEW photos. Time to bring out my camera again.

Most people are on holiday tomorrow I suppose, but why am I so dumb? I should have taken leave for tomorrow too. Watching the seemingly never ending posts on Facebooks, such as yay back to Kuching. Back to Meow Meow City.

Or "so and so" has just checked in at Kuching International Airport, or 2 more hours and I am free till 7 Feb. CNY here I come. All this is driving me kinda insane. For no good reason. I am being unreasonable, I know. (blame it on PMS!)

I am in Kuching, at home. I am only envious cos people are not working, but I am!

OK. The more I type, the more unreasonable I seem to myself. Feeling kinda ashamed at myself. Sorry sorry.

Moving on.

Have you ever wondered what dinner at Damai would be like? Cafe Satang at Damai Beach. Most people have had breakfasts there, cos its free. But how about dinner?



Most people just drive to Buntal for seafood. But on that night, cs and I were there alone, for our anniversary, and it was raining. Plus, ordering seafood for 2 people at Buntal seems a bit weird.

Imagine if we ordered an Oyster Pancake, and two bowls of rice. Oh and a fried midin. That's it. Sounds pretty silly (to me).

So anyway (I am getting very long winded eh), we opted for dinner at Damai Beach.


Cafe Satang menu prices, in case anyone is wondering.


You can click for larger image. There were quite a lot of choices, including vegetarian choices.

Nice, they are used to catering for tourists. Plenty of local and western dishes to choose from.



Not very pricey eh. I was expecting more. But this is good. We did the right thing. There were so little people eating at Damai. Only a couple of foreigners and their family and us. I suppose more people are at Buntal.

Whatever your order, you get free soup. Actually, no. I am not sure. We placed our orders, and the waitress said: please help yourself to the soup (and bread). So I assumed its free. I didn't check the bill so don't blame me if you have to pay for it hehe.



Cream of something. Could be pea or broccoli. But I think cream of anything tastes good. Cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of pumpkin even cream of socks? And this too. Cream of pea or broccoli. Or some other vegetable.


Cs ordered char kuay teow. This translates to fried flat vermicelli. Quite a big plate and very well done.


I had sandwiches. With no butter. Very nice.

I hate butter. Don't ask me why. I'm weird like that. But I love cheese. Worship it even.


Cs is kiasu, so he ordered a portion of chicken wings too.

Erm, this was halfway eaten, I don't know how many wings were there in the first place. But it was more than enough for the both of us.

This was our hotel room. Quite roomey, large enough for the both of us. I don't remember the last time I stayed in the hotel room. We (and our friends) always book a chalet room - and it is much smaller than this.



But with a chalet, comes more freedom. Cos they are spaced more further apart than normal hotel rooms, where the walls are so thin.

Once, we (I mean a big group of friends) stayed in a hotel room, and in the middle of the night, the couple next door asked the management to tell us to PLEASE KEEP IT DOWN (nicely of course) three times (I think). After the third time, the management offered them a room change wtf!

Sorry man. But yea. After that, whenever we go out as a group, we booked the chalet instead.


Cs and I by the beach..


And erm fugly photo of me enjoying the sea breeze. Posted it up anyway lar cos not enough photos of me in my own blog.

I thought female bloggers were supposed to post more vain photos? Hmm..I shall. Got a reputation (vain pot queen) to uphold. Heh next post next post!

Last photo of us:


*****

I realize that I am always talking about the same thing. Sort of. Like now, oh its CNY. CNY a-comin. And I feel so sien that aiya lazy to talk about it now. So what else is new?

Erm, how about I visited the florist, damn expensive lar. I know that I can cut down the budget according to what I need and want. But what I want outweighs the need so much. And I keep getting sucked into this "once in a lifetime shit" Someone help me. Or slap some sense into me. Haha. kidding kidding. Back off Winnie!

But I won't worry about this till safely after CNY though. CNY ranks first for now.

Watching that annual dominoes game (I don't know the name), it seems like time flies by so so fast. Has it been a year already? And I received my first ang pau already! Yay! First of many to come, hopefully! *fingers crossed*

I hope its not too early to wish everyone a very HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

Wishing All A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS RABBIT YEAR 2011..

GONG XI FA CAI!!