My 1st BENTO Book

I was greeted with a BIG SURPRISE on a late morning of yesterday in the office!!

As usual the courier guy left a bulk of letters on my table which i had brushed a side for 15mins until i was more settled down to check them out!! My eyes were caught by the big envelop & when i flipped it over to check for details.....**dang** i saw the sender's details....that was my japanese colleague with a note in red stated it was A BOOK only !!!

My heartbeat immediately turned into a messy tone....bumping up & down, left & right in excitement with my lips wide smiling happily as i already could expect it to be a BENTO book !!

During my visit to Tokyo, i had several times mentioned to her that i'm interested in looking for some kawaii bento book but some of the few smaller bookstores that we visited did not house many good selection!! Though we knew that we could have easily find one in Kinokuniya but time & chances just don't opened up the opportunity for us to visit one....yes, i missed giving Kino a visit !

Anyway, the moral of the story was " SHE REMEMBERED IT ".....she remember that i long to own one but hesitate to get it back home as it is a bit pricey here!!

She told me that she stumbled upon the book & found it really interesting (thou she didn't make such bento). And so she thought of me ....... isn't the thought & effort of flying the book all the way from Japan beating thru the expensive freight charges suffice to make the recipient choked with emotion???

Yes....yes....for a moment i was stunned glaring & admiring the book with disbelieve until i didn't realised my eyes turned teary......ooh man !!! what an emotional girl heh.......

By Akinoichigo: the popular one here....we all visited her website before, no??
love all her creations.
Christene said it was one of her favourite too ... where she would flipped over whenever she had to be kept in long wait during her course of work with the Court....sorry dearie, stealing yr stories here....*wink* !!

Soon after calming myself down with the terrible excitement, my attention was shifted to those little stamps affixed on the envelop......gosh, oh my.....why in the world all the things from japan are so CUTE......tell me???

" take a look at the transformer stamp "
yes, my guess was correct, the boys fight over the stamps

Geeee....you see la, even the little sticky note melted me, won't you??

MOO - MOO note

I have been working for the past 8 years with people around the globe with distinctive backgrounds & cultures. But many of which are only limit to a strict working relationship!!

And I reckon that it's not all easy for a distance working relationship to blossom into a level beyond just that, yes with her it is also about friendship together with several other Asian ladies in the group (a Philippino, a Taiwanese etc...) which i would definitely treasure & appreciate it.

Thank you dear, *muak-muak* !!

That's a little insight stories about :

** A Surprise that Came by When You Least Expected It **

p/s: ooh no....more homework now !!!

More CNY BLOGGERS gatherings......

It was Mar-07 that i started blogging and in a short span of 1 year++, i managed to befriend many beautiful women (i think mostly mummies except min-min 'siu cheh')!!

They may be different in their own style & character....from funny, humourous, gila-gila, cheerful, super friendly, serious to even quiet but all of whom are genuine people seeking for true friendship....just like me!!! i'm so glad that i found my fellow blogging friends!!

This CNY, i had 2 rounds of bloggers gathering, some whom i had met before & there were also some for the first time.

Peggy & Christene mentioned about a picnic sometime back during our earlier meet-up & that eventually led in one during the CNY, on the 7th ('yan hat' i.e. everyone's birthday) at

Taman Rimba Kiara located at TTDI !!

Apart from peggy family, chris & annie-q with their kids, Barbara also came with her huby & lil Ashley whom i met for the 1st time. Great that our friendship officially started from here....haha

Everyone was to contribute a dish or something but as it was a brunch session (around 11 a.m.) i wasn't convinced to be able to cook in that short morning, some more have to think of a dish that was friendly to be consumed at the park!! So safe that i just 'tapao' / packed something over.... less stress & less hassle!!

So it was 'dim sum' that i brought.....fish balls & siew mai!!

btw, sorry for d styrofoam yea....kittycat, i tapao wan ma & hardly thot of bring own container for that purpose, haha

Superwoman peggy cooked 'lor mai farn'/glutinous rice despite that she had to go church before proceeding to the park....phew, wonder what time she had to start cooking, super or not??
Barbara brought char siew pao....thank god i didn't duplicate (only got a few 'paos' to fill my boys' tummy in the car on our journey)

superwoman amah looked veli sslim in this pic...so i gotta post, haha

Annie brought drummets, chic wings & wedgers....good snack for the kids PLUS some cute tulip & flower carrot...the only bento styled dish seen, hahaFinally, Christene brought a basket full of fresh fruits but i forgot pic ....

Peggy was there early & when we arrived, kieran was already playing badminton with his dady. I should have thought of bringing my boys' racket too.....sigh.....as my notty scot was seen 'fighting' over for the racket with poor kylie, sorry girl, kor-kor very notty!! Good thing lil kylie was strong too....didn't let the kor-kor bully!! Scot cried a little but the episod got over very quickly coz he was then seen running about in the park again with Sean & Kieran! Bet the 3 bigger boys had a great time monkeying together!! I wonder if annie's boys (fearles n cruz) could get along with the big kor-kors? But the seemed to enjoy the nature of the park!!

Initially my ah beng lou kung was shy to join in (as we thot it was all ladies ma) though he was a bit worried over the idea of having picnic at the park.......

he said: "not sked of robbery ahh" hahaha....my huby just thinks too much!! After i told him that peggy's & barb's hubbies also around, then only he crawled over!!! So there were 3 men guarding us the angels !!

There was a pond nearby to the shade where we settled and i guess all mummies like me do worried over the kids playing by the side. Luckily there were several 'kakak' around to mind the kids so we can at least had a peaceful mind eating & chatting !!! When there wasn't any topic that we would avoid, it means the 'click' was there!!!

Here are the 2 Ashleys of Chris & Barb. Despite having met Chris 2 times earlier, i have never met her lil Ashley as her mumy claimed she can only managed 1 without the maid, so it was Kimberly that she brought along each time :P) So finally had a chance to meet this cutie pie.....both Ashley(s) are such sweety in their own way, aunty here dropping saliva, slurrrrp !!!

Unfortunately, i had to made it short & left around 1:30pm as i had another full moon lunch party to attend...thank god not too far away at B.U.

here's the group photo

It was a great outing, i certainly enjoyed it.

Most of them had already blogged about this & here i seemed to be the laziest one!!
barbara's , annie's , christene's different versions

more photos from my camera here:

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The following Saturday, i attended another bloggers' gathering at WEN's place. Some of you might have know this pretty tai-tai has recently renovated her house!! During that period, i casually teased her if she gonna show us her newly transformed home and little that i expect that our initial conversation would turned into a fun & enjoyable bloggers' meet-up!! Your place was great for hosting btw.....esp. the playroom that kept the kids busying!!

We agreed on a pot luck session & in order to gather a good combination of dishes (for both adults & kids), there were series of emails exchanged to finally arrived at the menu list!!

With the exception of ginie & wen, it was my first time meeting Paik Ling, JO-N & Chanel. Only JO-N & myself brought our hubbies along ..... guess they survived the boredom!! Naturally men took longer time to "boil" than we women, agree??

I brought along yee sang from spring garden, klcc as without it, the atmosphere wouldn't be that CNY which always associate with noise !!!!

... you can see the face of the 2 hosts below ...

our potluck dishes

Since i read that none of the rest actually published the beautiful dishes the ladies cooked up/bought, i shall take up this pleasure task :

wen jokingly said that the theme of the pot luck was "chinese lunch" so i ma followed the theme & cooked up a pot of "LAP MEI FARN" ..... geee.... good that u guys helped me to clear my stock of chinese sausages, 'lap ngap', 'yun cheong'!!! I so freaking scared that we had to finish them all by ourselves (these unhealthy stuffs were bought by my mom actually) , hahaha

WEN cooked "LONGEVITY NOODLE"...the main food that kids survived in !!

The 'leng lui' host also fried chicken drumsticks for all.

next is a HIGHLIGHT.....

GINIE bought ROTI JALA from kajang, near her place which i suppose must be a famous delicacy over there.... coz it was so DARN DELICIOUS lar (roti so soft & curry so rich). My fussy mouth huby whacked so much of them, they tasted even tastier the next day (too much of food until all of us have to pack home some). My huby agreed that we can consider getting this for any party in d future, haha

Paik Ling mui despite not feeling too good can also fried some NUGGETS...the kids' all time favourite!!

Some treats for the kiddos....!!

coconut agar-agar, gummy sweets, chocolates & cookies

JO-N made us some rich FRUIT SALADS

some familiar faces
THE pretty HOST & Iris

Chanel & her kids

sorry...i really can't resist but to comment here, this lady is such a funny & talkative lady (just like paik ling & wen)...... except that it was VERY VERY MUCH opposed to the impression she gave by just reading her blog.....hehehe

now, how true the phrase "never judge a book by its' cover"....hahaha

i super like this shot......so candid & these 2 shy-shy & 'si man' mummies (JO-N & Ginie) were seen laughing so happily (your basket bag so cute.....)

arghhhh...... look so engrossed the boys are!!!

I reckoned that all the kids were very angelic that afternoon as there were no sign of fighting/screaming/crying seen or heard......phew isn't it a relief??

That certainly left all the mummies chatting their way out peacefully......so much of laughter & noises heard from the dining table where the ladies gathered instead.....LOL !!!!

Before dismissing.....we managed to snap a few shots of the group ....courtesy of kakak!!

awwww.....see the 2 pretty sweeties !!! (thks jo-n for d honour...u know wat i mean!!)

That was a memorable time for us & like everyone else, i look forward to many more of such wonderful moments in the future!!

HAPPY BLOGGING FOLKS !!

Finals of Macau...

Boy....it took me so long to finish this up....such a shame ....

sorry ya, "rancangan tergendala"...that's exactly how ginie termed it, cute ha

but if only you knew how 'maniac' i was the past week end......that's another post right away after this !!

I would say we had covered almost (if not all) of the "must-see", "must-go" and "must-eat" of Macau during our first 2 energetic days !! So by 3rd day (which is also the final), we had progressed very slowly in align with our weakened pace by then!!

Our very first mission in that morning was to experience a typical yet authentic chinese breakfast at a venue probably only favored by the 'kung-kung' / 'poh-poh' / ELDERLY FOLKS!
I wonder if you could recall watching the scene of those elderly folks grasping a CAGE with BIRD flooding those old 'kopitiam' style restaurant / "char lau " for their daily morning dim sum with a pot of chinese 'oolong' tea ???

*** see the uncles with their cage of birds ***

I'm not quite sure if such practice exist here in Msia, but these sights apparently planted in my memories thru the TVB series i watched since my younger age !! So we try searching high & low for one of such restaurant that was famous with the culture once in the twilight years!!
Thank god it wasn't that difficult to locate one, namely
LOONG WA Cha Lau !!!

But as days progressed, that culture of bringing along a bird to an eating place was no longer an acceptable thing due to health & hygiene related reasons esp. during the wake of the SARs break-out!! Despite not seeing anymore bird & cage in the 'char lau' itself, we were contended having the opportunity of breakfast'ing in that distinctive atmosphere!!

Here are the food served - none other than the chinese's proud offerings i.e. DIM SUM with a pot chinese tea!! Such peaceful morning that was!!

Btw, this " char lau " was located just in front of a morning market so all the 'aunties' didn't missed checking it out !!

Before leaving the "char lau", we took the opportunity to chat with the "tauke" that was manning the cashier!! Being the good enterpreneur that he was, he invited us to browse over the collection of old photos displayed on the other end of the restaurant. Thereafter, he even recommended us to take a stroll along the outer main street and when we reached the end of that street, we could take a cable car ride up to the hill of a park. Since we were free & easy that day, we headed with the plan.

A fact that was undeniable, walking along that street landed us into more buying & shopping!! Soon after approximately 30-45mins of slow walk, we reached the cable car station. That journey up the hill was shockingly an extreme short one!! As it was rather hot & sunny at that time, we did not check out the park but only ended up "stealing" some cool air in the air-conditioned hall featuring the butterflies!!

... Cable car ride ...

Down the hill we went & this time we caught a cab back to the hotel for a short rest !!
By the time we were back to hotel, it was already time for lunch and as we had burnt off quite an amount of calories with the walks earlier, we were all ready for our planned buffet lunch at our hotel SOFITEL!! We treated Fah to the buffet for the kindness in sharing her complimentary night stay at the luxury hotel with us.

BUFFET LUNCH AT SOFITEL HOTEL

That was another round of superb & fabulous foods we had!!

These 4 'kiasu' women really took their own sweet time indulging & ate until the end of the allocated time for the buffet, a sign that they were really enjoying themselves!!
By then it was nearly 3pm and we wondered back to our hotel & got ourselves ready to explore the fisherman wharf.

AT THE FISHERMAN WHARF

The place was actually quite scenic, comfortable & relax. But it looked like a bit under utilised.... due to the fact that the whole place was quite empty & quiet, except at the casino area.
And to add to the dissapointment was some interesting spot was close for maintenance.... sigh!

Shops

Dynasty closed for maintenance :(

Even within this area also there is a CASINO.......hai.....

So we were done with this place pretty fast.
As we approached late in the evening, we ran out of idea where to go next so we landed ourselves at the shopping street of the Senado Square.....yes, again!!
By the time we were enough, we went for a 2nd time of pork porridge on our way back to our hotel.

That night was suffered with the task of unpacking & re-packing of the luggage with the loads of additional purchases from the trip!!

Our return flight was a very early one the next day!

Marvelous trip!!
Bet the ladies enjoyed the trip as much as i did!

Adios Macau, till we visit you again ...........