Chinese New Year in 2007

This year CNY celebn was rather unusual so it's worth mentioning & keeping the memory here. Marrying to a huby that has its' hometown far from town would also mean celebrating CNY "every year without fail" in the kampung which was d 2nd most far state to the north, AStar. Btw, every year i would mumbled to huby how i missed celebrating the festival back in town but being a "nice" daughter in law, i just have to accept the culture. But particularly this year, I was excited coz my parents n my lil sis came visiting us in AS on the 1st day of CNY. As my family was in AS during the CNY holiday, we did not have much time spent with my in-law family. So to compensate back to this, we departed KL 3 days ahead to AS so that the boys got to spend some quiet time with their grand parents before CNY approaches!

The flight fr KL touched down AS new airport around 8+ in d morning of 1st CNY. My sis sms'ed me saying that coincidentaly my sis in-law & family (fr PD) was on d same flight heading to AS too. And there was like about 8 of them in d airport waiting for us to pick up. So FIL following us to airport in separate car.

My family had to stay at my in law's place the whole of d morning as they could only check-in to the hotel at 2pm. So it was kind of weird having d 2 family together coz they kind of had a bit of dialect barrier........obviously my family spoke only cantonese n d mother tongue of in law family was teo chew! It was a chicken n duck dialect! Though both sides could speak mandarin n hakka but that wasn't something that they familiar. So d conversation did stucked here n there. And me being the 'sandwich' of both really felt suck.......!!!

About noon once all had their new clothes put on, we left d teo chew family n went on for a city tour. My parents had wanted to visit the Padi Museum that they heard so much about back in KL. There was this picture/painting of the surroundings of Gunung Keriang being exhibited in a 360 degree wall of the museum. Apparently we heard that the painting was a work of a korean artist, not sure though. People in KL had "hotly" promoted about it. With high expectation & anticipation, my parents were not dissapointed but proudly gave their big thumbs up! No doubt, the picture was excellent to me too! Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in the museum.
Nearby the museum was the Gunung Keriang which was also called d crystal hill. We dropped by at the crystal shops n managed to grab a few pieces of earrings, pendant & bracelet.

By the time we finished, it was time for all to recharge the body so we proceeded to check into Holiday Villa. While my family rested at d hotel, we re-joined the Heng family for the family gathering at huby's grandma's house. To me it was rather an 'angpow/red packet distribution' session. Once u r married, u will be obliged to be there n distribute the angpow to whoever kids u bump into irrespective of whether u know who's son/daughter it belongs! what a chinese culture! Even my huby commented that it was a bit meaningless n boring! And immdtly after that obligation was done with, he made his move to leave d place. N we rested in d hotel.

We only got back to my in law place during dinner time for the nasi kandar catering.

The next morning, we left AS to Langkawi where we had arranged a 2 nite stay. We stayed at a 3 room apmt i.e. Century Suria Condo.



Again we had a badly planned trip. Now think back, i couldn't believe how we failed to anticipate the huge crowd in Langkawi during the festival. So due to no advance booking made for the local event eg like d famous coral viewing at Pulau Paya & etc, we did not manage to even secure any agent to arrange d event for us as according to a friend, the China, Japan & Taiwan tours had fully secured all d places! It was truely disspointed. So we only ended up with d boring island hopping though d boys enjoyed playing by d beach!








The next day, we visited d newly in place hot spot of Langkawi which was non other than
"The Peak". The encountering with the long n narrow cable car ride was somewhat excited & thrilling to everyone. For d first time, i felt proud that M'sia have such an "in" thing considering the technology n complications incurred on d project.






The view was just...............truly amazing! Malaysia Boleh!



On d way down from d hill, there was this rabbit farm welcoming d kids. That has really added d
excitement that d boys already had!
Next, d boys also got to visit d underwater world of Langkawi with their grandparents while dady n mumy went to the duty free store to get some perfumes n coffee !!

Below was a pic of d boys at d Langkawi ferry terminal on our way back to AS.



Once we reached AS, my in law family had prepared a very very wonderful n delicious lunch for us all. Deep beneath me, i felt truly warm n was much appreciated for d hospitality shown to my family. I had my big gratitude to my MIL for her "GOOD" cookings!
After d lunch, we had to move on to Penang where we will be staying a nite before departing back to KL the following day. So, there we bid farewell to the Heng family in AS.

Our only objective of dropping by Penang was to savour as much of their famous local delicacies as possible......! Approx'ly abt 2 hours after d great lunch in AS, huby packed back to our hotel suite the followings:
i) char kuey teow with big prawns
ii) asam laksa
iii) penang white curry laksa
iv) prawn mee
v) chendol &
vi) lam mee!
I regretted i was too busy eating & did not snap any shots of those nice foods. So it's no doubt that we'd put on at least a few kilos at d end of the festival. And how i hate that.........damn it!

Below was some snap shots taken at the recreation park of The Gurney Residency Hotel Suites where we stayed.



my mom in action..........fuyoh !!!



And here i would like to give credit to this hotel suites too. It was my first time staying in this hotel & we had already planned for a 2nd stay in d coming June-07 for another Heng family gathering for d triple celebration of mother's day, father's day & my FIL's birthday!

See you soon Penang!

Pancake..........anyone?

I personally did not get attracted much to pancake though i dun mind giving it a bite when it's available foc or the looks kill! Those pictures of food by skilled photographer could make one very tempted to try and I encountered once too which lead me to the Paddington House of Pancake in Hartamas Shopping Centre. I wouldn't say that the food wasn't nice but it just won't make me come back as often as our other local delicacies.
This morning just out of the reason to combat the feeling of bore with home meal for my boys, i thot of giving pancake a try. As I didn't want the hassle of playing up with mixing the flour n etc, i bought ready made flour. Just add eggs, milk n other favourite fruits.........the rests are all on the box's instructions.
I added sweet corn (from can) on top of d lil pancake trying to impress my meal.................then later i remember i still have some corn ice-cream. So i confidently added d ice-cream too with a big heart fast pumping blood in d hope that my pancake would win heart!
Now u see if it looks tempting......



U see my Sean.......so good boy showing his smiling face as if i'd forced him !
But blek..........it was a total failure, my Sean only finished half of the bowl & started to show his vomitting face, so i didn't force him! My Scot didn't even bother to pick up d bowl so I thot he needs feeding again as usual. That fellow only bite twice & already turning his face away.....celaka betul!
It was such a dissapointment........now I accept the fact that my boys have such a strong 'cina pek' taste, with one only like mee/noodle (esp wan tan mee) n the other only like rice (esp nasi lemak w/o chili). So my poor huby n kakak had to help out more with my pancake..........he he he!!!

F1 Fever

To me F1 is boring.............! I just couldn't understand ppl who can sit/stand udr the hot sun just to watch those 'cars' flash over for seconds!
Anyhow, since the fever is visiting Suria KLCC, I'll just give them some face & blog a lil bit. Those regular visitor to the state of the art shopping mall would know that any exhibition, event or showcase held at the concourse level of the main hall would be "BIG". Big of course in terms of $$$ & resources spent, highly unique/creative decor plus eye-catchy & worth directing your eyes to!
So it would still be wise wasting my time & effort to snap few shots of the event!

2005 Christmas at Times Square Hotel

After complaining much about the choice we made to celebrate 06 x'mas at Westin, I would like to give credit to Times Square hotel for the superb x'mas buffet dinner we had back in 2005. The atmosphere was excellent too. To the least was they have turkey as it was one of the highlight of the celebn.....unlike in Westin, no turkey was served due to the apparent 'non halal' issue of imported turkey at that time, shit!

Well, the smiles, cheers & charms of the faces tell all..............
Bravo Times Square !

2006 Christmas At The Westin Hotel

Obviously this is a past event. As my blogger's life just started not long, I would try to capture as much as my brain could recall those interesting past events where I could locate the nice snap shots before the aging bug starts to bite (memory loss)!

Since my boys were 2, we had sort of agreed to have a 'fine' reunion X'mas dinner within our little family where a 'thanks giving' session (to our Lord God) is being practised for the blessed & safe year end. By doing that routine, hopefully we are planting good seeds to our children to live as a "good catholic"!

So last year 2006, out of a few that i've scrutinised, we've finally came to conclusion with our choice for the buffet dinner in The Westin Hotel on the eve of the x'mas. The setting & decor was definitely impressive but we were totally dissapointed with the food varieties as well as the taste. It wasn't worth the price at all & boy....I dare to say this would be my first & last!

What I like about celebration in these hotel was that the environment was very "X'mas" and most if not all would include a party pack & X'mas gift for the kids. Furthermore, there were Santa Claus & Carols doing the entertainment!
Below show the boys' favourite car toys received from the Santa Claus!

Below was the Christmas tree at the cosy corner of our home, right beside the altar.


On that night, we had also booked a night stay at The Palace of the Golden Horse Hotel (which was complimentary from the Country Heights medical tourism club in which we are the members). It was a quiet & 'slightly old' hotel..........all i could say. All i could remember was my sensitive nose got so bad over the badly treated carpets of the hotel room & I had a bad night sleep!






to continue with 2005 Christmas............hey why am i going backward????

A Wet & Rainy Sunday

I just love the weather this morning...........cool, breeze, rain & drizzle coz this would give me a very good reason to stay & rest at home (no mad rush for b/fast & church & etc).......at least for the 1st half of the day. And staying home during weekend would also mean spending less money while reserving & recharging back energy for a good start at work!
Breakfast had been taken care of but it would be a challenge to think of an interesting lunch for the boys as well as the rest of us.........so high possibility we still have to dig & juggle for food outside in later part of the day........(^_^)!!
It will have to be a quick lunch outing as I'm planning to go for my yoga class at 4-5pm. I'm hoping not to miss it.

I had in my mind a list of things that I intend to tidy-up in the house (wardrobe, cosmetics, kitchen, shoes rack & ???). And for a start, I had my eyes on the boys' toys. I would have to say.........they really have lots n lots n lots of toys until they don't really know how to appreciate them! All were messy, mix & misplaced, pieces here n there staggered, it was really an eye sore at times! So this morning, I have re-collected all their "CAR" collection & strictly informed them of a special box I made to house them! Over the years, the cars were either 1) bought out of no choice, 2) freebies from KFC & McD kids' meal, 3) presents/gifts 4) 2nd hand i.e. passed down by elder cousins & etc etc.

I hope that the photos below will serve as memory & reminder to the boys on how lucky they were when they get older !!
Boy........we really have to stop getting anymore cars..........

The "Best Park/Playground" in Town

I could not recall when was the last time we brought our boys to KLCC park. Partly was due to the fact that I already travelled to KLCC on daily basis..........as it's d place where i worked so it's quite sickening if you were to go anywhere near your work place in the weekend.

But, on Sat morning we had in our plan to bring the boys to a park & we couldn't agree with any other place except KLCC. You could check out how nice the playground was.......there are so many different slides, clean & safe ground, green, even a pool by a lake!

The boys in action...........!!!

And what more could you ask when you have such wonderful view from the park.........


This is none other than our Malaysia's hotspot The Petronas Twin Towers..............and also a place I call my 2nd home(i.e. office)..........coz I spent more hours than anywhere else.......of course except my bedroom.

I had a good chance to stretch my joints & did some running..............
After having done, we proceeded to the below hawker stalls for breakfast!