Happy Valentine's Day

I was surprised this morning the moment i stepped down the staircase from our room as i saw this on the dining table..........

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Since 2-3 years ago, i have already decided & conveyed to huby my decision of abolishing the celebration for Valentine's Day! Over the years after marriage & in particular after having children, the mounting of celebrations were slowly but obviously felt and we began to feel the taxing of keeping the celebrations on-going........

wedding anniversary.....3 birthdays.....mom's birthday.....dad's birthday.....mother's day.....father's day.....christmas.....CNY.....aren't that enough to torture your earnings?

As much as i would like to acknowledge the importance of these dates, i can't deny the fact that they are all cash-consumption events thus they should be kept reasonably & valid. So to me.... probably due to catching-up of the age, Valentine's is now meant for young & unmarried couple where the love was still hot burning in the air!! Well, safe for me to say that i don't feel it as meaningful & as important as back then.....

But now can u imagine a 30 somethg woman receiving a valentine's gift from a 40 years... old man, cute hor??!!

I no longer expect my huby to remember this date which i have already mentioned to him years ago BUT maybe being a FORGETFUL person he used to be and could it be due to his recent 'wrong-doings'.....he SURPRISED me with a little gift full of thoughtfulness !! Still hard to believe this.........hahaha. No wonder yesterday night before we retired, he greeted me happy valentine's day while i was still as 'sotong'/blur as ever !!

It was cheap and yet it managed to lit up the light of our marriage....so no harm doing it & surprise your love ones.....thou only once in a blue moon!! And it happened to be something i reckoned very suitable to our home.....though the handwritten card.....oh no it was 'A4 paper' was errr....., ahhh....., don't want say lah!

Love it so much...thanks dear !!

Happy Valentine's Day !!

Ooh, btw Parliament has been dissolved yesterday to make way for the next 12th General Election (just in case if you have not wake up from sleep) so don't forget to fulfill your responsibility to VOTE !!

Happy Voting !

Our CNY Eve....

We headed for the hometown a day before EVE of CNY and thank god the traffic was smooth flowing, arriving as expected.....making suffice time for a dinner with my in-law. So the night was spent recovering.....

There were only 4 of us + my 2 in-law + my single bro-in-law participating in our re-union dinner so i think it's not so worthy to spend so much time & effort with the preparation. Thus, the way i looked at it (as compared to many others), our re-union dinner was rather simple & easy. Hence there were nothing much to showcase.

But this year, my MIL did an extra dish......the "chun kuen"/chinese sausage?? And i gave my helping hand with the wrapping process.........

Gee......i wonder how clean was the table but that was what my MIL instructed to do so i 'lantak' sajalah...

LOBAK for sale......eh sai boh ??

Then, for the teo chew, the main dish on the table for almost every other meal was none other than the STEAMBOAT !!! Well, save for the slice abalone, the rest of the ingredients were only those boring fish balls...balls...balls...and other family of the balls !!!

That's why no picture to show...

No, those were my FIL's fingers & not mine...... Initially, i reckon that having steamboat as the main dish on CNY was rather rare & unusual.....at least for my Cantonese family. For the past 27 years before i got married, i have never had any steamboat within my family during big day like CNY. But after browsing thru many updates from other bloggers around, i notice that it was in fact quite a common practise in many families to have steamboat during CNY and that obviously proved me wrong .............................. wrong for thinking that my in-law family was weird, hahaha!!

Besides the main dish, there were also :

- 'kampung' steam chicken (very authentic type);

- teo chew steam fish;

- stewed pork with yam (we paid the neighbour to cook this);

- mix vegies;

u see all steam ones...easy & healthy!

BUT

of course not without the following 2 important dishes;

CRAB (also steam what)

BIG SAMBAL PRAWN (the best of all...slurpp)

Sean enjoying his crab.........

And so was little Scot .....

It was more of the father v sons conversations/catch up thru out the whole dinner and in teo chew of course which i still can't fully understand so i just shut up & eat eat eat......

This year, my SIL was doing confinement at my in-law's place, her bb boy was only 3 weeks old and she brought along her maid so it was so delightful to have a maid helping with the house chores so i was even spared of washing the dishes after meal, hahaha.......

Here's Sean with the new addition to the family, Kendrick boy!

Once dinner was finished, it was time to get dressed up for the CNY eve mass at St. Michael Church.

Here's my little ah pek getting all ready.....

With cousins Kat & Karol, SIL elder daughters!

Due to the closer age gap, both my boys were fighting for this cousin (from wana hold her hands to wanting to sit beside her & etc etc) until the poor girl got so scared of them....

"Hopefully when they are grown up, they won't be fighting over the same girl too"

The 3 kepohchee/do-re-mi were such a disturb to the mass....

Finally, we seeked 'PEACE' & 'BLESSINGS' for the HENG family !!!

As the mass started at 10p.m. we had well prepared the kids with a good afternoon nap so they were all very energetic, lively & happy despite a slightly longer than the usual 1 hour mass. Additions to the routine were 'angpow' packets & mandarin oranges distribution to the kids as well as the commemoration of the ancestors session. Then after the service, there were even a little party thrown outside the church with various CNY cookies served to all. Also seen were in-law's old friends & other relatives that resided around the same area and they had a good catch up too.

Despite the clocking of the mid night, the kids were enjoying themselves savoring the oranges & junkies!

We were all tired & sleepy but it was well the worth as we experienced yet another warm CNY's eve again. I bet everyone retired the night as calmly & as gratifying as I am.

Don't forget to "LOU SANG"

Did you shout "WHAT"...so early ??

I also thought so......it was only the 27th but we already started our "lou sang".....blame it on the money-sucking restaurant, hahaha...

Anyway, that eating session with my family members was to compensate back the lack of chance to meet up during CNY:

-mom & dad will be leaving for vacation at Harbin on CNY's eve (10:50pm flight);

-me will be leaving for Alor Setar tomorrow;

-mag (4th sis) will be leaving for Labis;

-mic (3rd sis) will be leaving for NewDelhi on CNY's eve for work actually (she's MAS cabin crew) & she really curse the hell out of that for having to celebrate the CNY in a place where you could hardly see chinese.......hahaha, no choice leave not approved woh !!

-youngest sis has to start work on 2nd of CNY coz Shell's staffs were obliged to follow the UK Calendar so it is not a public holiday for her..........sigh sigh sigh !!

-only my elder sis is around KL but still no one can meet her....

Now You see.......so many valid reasons for us to "EAT BIG" before the CNY !!!

LETS LOU..... LOU..... LOU .....

Finally, Sean & Scot are here to wish everyone,

"Fatt Tai Choi"

So here we bring to you the PROSPERITY GOD !!

More of CNY........

Finally....my PUSSY WILLOW was up & ready to receive & welcome the new year !!! After several attemps to find a nice one, we failed until again, we saw them in IKEA (we bought it here too last year)!! I also wonder if it was pure bias.....anyway....at least it managed to convince us to pay!! But Ikea was so "kiam sap" this year, 1 stalk was just too little for the eyes so in the end, we bought 2 stalks and it looked like this.......... eyes "baru syiok" !!

CLOSE UP.... CLOSE UP.....

NICE Ah ???

Then I was taken by a surprise when I saw this in IKEA...

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A supposingly furniture store has became so commercialise that it also tried to reap some extra profit from the happening of the festives. Nevertheless, i didn't even give a second thought when my eyes caught the sight of it & there goes 2 containers were seen swipe into our trolley.

Btw, anyone know what is "nga ku" in english?

You see....not only me that do not know what was the name, even IKea also don't know....hahaha !!
Anyway, it was not just me who is a super fans of 'nga ku' chips, my boys too inherited the same taste bud! And i really mean seriously love...... to the extend of both able to finish the whole container in less than half a morning !!

These chips were bought last Sunday & they were already gone by Wed that followed(i think) & that was with me hiding it here & there....or else ??? I must go & hunt for some more now!!!

I also found these in Ikea, 3 little vases that were so sweet & captured my heart too.......

I NEED MORE RED IN MY HOUSE ......

SOME MORE......

OK......ENUF !!

The other afternoon, my huby went to do some hamper shopping for his customers. Since he was already in the hypermarket, he grabbed the good opportunity for a peaceful shopping without our 2 monkeys! And obviously it was to fulfill the festive needs!

So, he rang me......to ask what i want him to buy. Here are my answers:

- get some can fruits for cordial;

- chicken essences, lo hong ka;

- "lin kou";

- get some snacks/junk food for "gift exchange" during CNY house visiting;

- get me some shandy beer.....

then since i can't think of anything more specific, i just told him to go ahead with whatever he thinks appropriate!!

Of course the ultimate outcome was another surprise to me....with my mouth wide opened!!!

As i dug into the packs of plastic bags.....I kept saying.........

oh my god, oh my, oh god, oh no, aiyo........

Lets Check them out.....

Gosh, such ugly "lin kou".....

(i) my can fruits turned out to be 2 cans of longan, laici & sea coconut each (total 6 cans).....want me to die of diabetic meh?

(ii) i only expect 1/2 dozen of shandy beer but the quantity came back as double ....hopefully there are guest out there to help finish them!!

(iii) next... don't know what mushrooms & clams = also 2 cans each....i know these are meant to be given away as gift but if i were there doing the shopping, i would have cut all the quantity into half !!

That's not the end yet........next are the loots of junkies !! Again, these are also meant to be given away BUT BUT BUT i specifically mentioned to him to get something that we are keen to eat ourselves...just in case, in the end the junkies are not given away!!

But then, i would have to say probably we both are different in some way or another, bcoz his choices weren't the same as mine at all. I think if i was there doing the shopping together with him, quarrels & disputes between husb v wife are definitely inevitable !!!

These are the junkies that i wouldn't likely eat.....

Well, well, well... despite all......i was actually spared of the tiring & boring CNY shopping...... should i still complaint??

No no no....i absolutely should NOT, i just thought it was an amusement that i should share it here,....men today can be so different heh, no? hahaha !!!

Btw, don't you think this is a blurdy "blood-sucking" festival ??? After this CNY, i'm sure everyone has a deep burn of hole to the pocket!!!

Did you see a pagoda in KLCC?? Looks like they made good use of the elevator heh, no? This is the place that i would pass-by everyday (where my office is nearby)....so i thot i should just snap them & keep here for you (if u don't happen to drop by)!!

Btw, i will be leaving the city for hub's hometown on Tues afternoon....hope it'll be a 'not-so-jam' & smooth journey!!

An early GONG XI FA CAI to everyone.....just in case i'm not able to come back for another posting before the big day.

Our CNY Snack

I copied this from here. I almost instantly grabbed the idea and do it as i know my boys love to eat seaweed. Furthermore, this brilliant idea is just so easy to adopt. And since my CNY mood is tentatively still high, i had better do it quick before the wind change its' direction.....

Just place the seaweed on the popiah skin (oops...i even forgot to apply some egg white).

fold the skin over to cover the seaweed

cut them into smaller pieces & fry lah......

Here is the outcome, i was afraid they might turn soggy very fast but i was wrong, they were very crispy, hence good for munching in front of the TV !!

Looks & taste good, u know........

Place them into these container......looks even better, no?

Can sell ar?? any interested buyer ahh??

But u know what....once my boys tried them, they said :

"emm, ok" while nodded their head...........

then after a while, i started seeing them 'digging' for the seaweed hiding between the crispy popiah skin....and threw away the skin......'faint' or not?? Aduh....'kik sam' only, like that business 'tak laku' lah !!