CNY: The Fun, the Sweets and the Feast

The usual fun stuff during Chinese New Year - goodies-stuffing, gambling, chit-chatting, playing with the little ones. I do this every year, and I never get bored. Its really great to be able to spend time with my family. Chinese New Year is not only a time to catch up with family members, it also provides a good opportunity for some to introduce their special someones to our family =) And as an added bonus to the festivity and celebration this year, we also celebrated my cousin's 21st birthday!

This was a trigger-happy CNY, and I've so many photos to share! So today's blog shall be one of the occasional ones in which I shall exercise some restraint on the writing and let the photos do all the talking!!

Chu Xi

Lou Hei Part I

Chu Yi
Lou Hei Part II

ABSOLUTELY the BEST Ngoh Niang I've ever tasted, and I'm not exaggerating. Crispy skin fried to perfection and tasty meat fillings. Chestnuts add an extra zest and crunch to every bite.
Cost: Priceless. Made with AhMa's excellent culinary skills and lotsa love.
Availability: Very exclusive. Only family members get to taste it.

Sumptuous dinner feast!

The boys have all grown so tall!

The 3 generations?

My cheeky but ever adorable cousins!

Ah Long movie outing with cousins. This is one of the rare outings, so a group photo was a must!

CHU SAN

Messing around with the children...

My adorable cousin who was so so engrossed with his computer game...

AhMa and the really young ones

AhMa and daughters galore!

Family shot with AhMa

AhMa and her grandchildren

Mmmm, Double Choc Pralines from The Patissier. No regrets after you sink your teeth into the super rich and ultra chocolatey cake with a lovely crunchy base. Never mind the calories and sugar..for self-confessed choc addicts like me, this is a MUST TRY!!

Birthday gal getting a special HUG

First, the birthday gal blows the candles...

Then the other children wanted to join in the fun too!

Happy Birthday E! May all your dreams come true!

Hen's Nite - Loo Loo and See See

I think it gets worse with age and experience =)

2 of my good friends are getting married over the next 2 weeks, and we had our hen's night celebrations just over the weekend.

Celebrations started with the routine checking-in into a hotel suite (this time round at Marina Mandarin), and a sumptuous treat at Spaghetties by the 2 lovely brides-to-be.

Then back to hotel for briefing and a trial dress-up in our dresses to figure out how we would all look on their BiG day(s).

Finally, it was time for the highlight of the evening's programme!

Here are the 2 brides before their transformation..

Scissors and stones to determine who has priority in choosing their accessories...

Presenting..Loo Loo and See See!
The obvious gameplan was to head to a busy area to showcase our 2 ladies, and we decided Clarke Quay would be a suitable location.

The challenge for our 2 head-turning ladies was to approach guys from different races to pose for pictures. Not too difficult for the pretty ladies...

Challenge completed !

Hotel sweet hotel..zzz

It's always great to loosen up and be crazy once in a while...thanks to Loo and See for being sporting and fun! For now, I'm looking forward to their BIG day(s) when they will walk down the aisle with their chosen prince charming(s). An advanced welcome to the club, sisters!

Celebrations

Attended my cousin's wedding on Sun (14 Oct). Had a lovely time catching up with my relatives and realised how much my cousins have grown in a span of a few months (the last time I saw them was probably during Chinese New Year), especially the boys. They seem so mature now.

The title of 'tallest in the family' has now shifted to my cousin Xinkai. My brother used to be the tallest in the family (partly becos he is the oldest), and then other cousins overshot him, and now the title has to be transferred yet again. Its amazing how time flies..and it made me realise how old I am now despite my occasional kiddish antics.

I'm hoping to post some photos from the wedding, and will do so once I get hold of the pictures. The wedding was held at Sheraton..food was good, company was great, and the wedding couple looked really blissful and loving. And my aunt (my cousin's mum) looked stunning that evening! My aunt is someone who doesn't usually dress up..but when she did that evening, she received compliments from everyone! Her make-up, hairdo, dress...she looked really pretty and so different. And she was so happy and excited that evening...probably becos this is such an important family event. This is one of the wedding dinners that I truly enjoy...partly becos I had the opportunity to catch up with my cousins, and also becos I could feel the joy that was radiating all around, especially from my aunt.

My cousin's wedding is actually just a day before my wedding anniversary - 15 Oct. For the first time in many weeks, I had a truly relaxing and enjoyable Monday evening. Was rushing to complete my tutorials on Monday afternoon, and thankfully managed to complete them. Otherwise, I might not have the guts to spend the evening out if my homework was left uncompleted.

We had dinner at Robertson Quay - this Japanese restaurant right next to Shunjuu. Its called Susi..something - can't remember the name. We wanted to try the restaurant as we noticed many Japanese eating at the restaurant (a sign that the food is authentic and delicious) the last time we dined at Shunjuu. True enough, most of the customers in the restaurant were Japanese. Even the chefs and some of the service staff were Japanese. It felt like we were in Japan. The sushi was fantastic, my hubby loved the ramen and was slurping off every bit from the bowl..although my teriyaki chicken was so-so only..but the miso soup was delicious! Considering that the price was pretty reasonable (ramen cost $10, my bento set only $15), we decided we will be back again.

After dinner, I just had to visit one of my favourite dessert shops - Chocoloate Factory. I was dying to eat both the blackforest cake and the shop's famed chocolate tart..but my hubby, having slurped up every bit of his dinner, was too full to share 2 desserts. So sad me had a tough time making a decision and eventually, with much hesitation, chose the blackforest cake instead. The cake looks really yummy...but did not taste as nice the last time I ate it..hmmz, wonder why. Since it was our wedding anniversary, we requested one of the shop staff to help us take a photo, but were informed that photos were not permitted in the shop. Wonder why is that rule necessary? Anyway, I still managed to sneak some shots...

The delicious-looking cake, that somehow didn't taste as delicious

Celebrations must be commerated with photos and many many photos..so after dinner, we took a short walk and found a good spot for photos. The background is supposed to be this colourful looking bridge, but guess my Nikon Coolpix not powerful enough to capture the background.

First, a normal shot

Then, an attempt for a funny bunny shot..Attempt failed...and vain him pushed me out of photo! After several tries..mission completed!

27 May 2007

My hubby has been complaining that there are no pics of him in my blog. So I have decided to post some photos from his 32nd hatching day (gosh, so old!)

That's us at 12+am at home. Surprised him with a Chocolate Chip Mille Cake - slices of crepe with fresh cream and choc chip in between + some friends came over for the celebration. Have read pretty good reviews about the cake in the papers but my take? The first bite is quite yummy, and half a slice is more than enough, cos more than that and you'll feel too gelat.



















Brunch was at Pierside Kitchen. My french toast tasted pretty dry and was so-so only, but Alvin thinks his Eggs Bendedict was super-delicious! And he topped off his meal with a glass a wine, which accounts for the red face.
Wrapped up the day with a fantastic dinner at Majestic Restaurant. My fav is the lobster noodles...absolutely 10/10! Doesn't it just look really tempting? =)

Dessert (my fav part of every meal) was pretty good as well...mango sorbet with fruits! Light and refreshing..just what I need to satiate my sweet tooth after a full meal!

The restaurant has a modern Chinese decor and the ambience iss lively and cosy. Although this restaurant does not have the best setting for lovers to whisper sweetnothings to each other, it also means that I can 'cling' and 'clang' my cutlery without getting annoying looks from fellow diners - which is what I like..a friendly happy restaurant that serves super-delicious Modern Chinese cuisine.