Carol's Birthday Dinner - 3 January 2009

It was Carol's __th (oh, just count the candles!) on 3 January and true to tradition she had makan at home. It was a simple affair with the family, including Patrick, Carol's mum-in-law and moi.

All smiles from the birthday gal..

The spread.. tossed salad, potato salad, fried glass noodles, acar & yummy roasted duck..

And, here's a closer look at the succulent duck coutesy of Carol's mum-in-law!

The main dish, Aunty Connie's chicken breast stuffed with cheese, ham & herbs, wrapped in popiah skin, deep fried to perfection! Yum!


What was on my plate.. Oh, of course I had some of that yummy roasted duck.. for my seconds!


The 'chef' taking it easy, enjoying her meal.. Also in the shot are the household staples - wine & tobasco!

James (shirtless as usual!) & Nigel chillin' out playing UNO after makan as Patrick sits engrossed, watching the Discovery Channel.

I had offered to get the cake for Carol (from Devi again!) and she had opted for a simple butter cake with frosting..

The cake, almost fresh out of the oven as Devi had baked it that very afternoon! (Go ahead, count the candles!)


Group pix - a MUST!

(Note: We successfully got James to put on a t-shirt simply by telling him that I was gonna post the pix on my blog for all to see! Haha..

Well, it worked, didn't it? And, true to my word, here it is on my blog!)


The birthday gal smiles for the cam as she makes her wish & blows out the candles..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROL.. May all your wishes come true!

Luke's Day Out - 3 January 2009

Since Luke had do so well for his PMR exam (he'd scored 6As out of 7), I had promised to take him out for makan. Luke's a a good one to take out for makan as he's a really good eater and he loves trying new food. So, as excited as he was to go out and eat, I was just as excited figuring out where to take him.

Luke would be a good one to take to an "all you can eat" buffet but since it was raining very heavily I opted for KLCC instead where we could perhaps go to The Apartment or Chinoz, but on the train the boy said he wanted rice and chose Japanese instead. No problem - I'll take him to my regular haunt, Kiku Zakura! Luke's Japanese culinary experience thus far had only been limited to Sushi King (oh, no!). So, I was pretty sure that he'd like this place 'coz it definitely had way better ambience, service and more importantly, FOOD! And like it he did!
Luke poring over the huge selection of bento sets.

The boy had never had edamame and this was his first try - loved it! He'd never had agedashi tofu either - loved that (a lot) too!

Luke giving the edamame a go.. My experimental shot... The boy looks a bit dazed & confused in this shot, I reckon 'coz he was already very hungry..

I had my staples of zaru soba and barbecued shioyaki squid.. YUM! I can eat these all the time!


Luke's bento set, which had a little bit of everything - tempura, tepanyaki beef, teriyaki unagi and, most of all, sashimi, something that Luke had really wanted to try. Looks pretty good, eh?

The boy looking very pleased with his set or was that simply 'coz his food had arrived? Haha.. A little of both, I guess. Checking out his food and wondering where to begin.. give the miso soup a good stir.. squeeze the lemon.. He was so happy with his food that it wasn't until he was halfway through when I realised one thing - there was NO RICE! Haha.. I'd offered to get him some but he said he was OK without it. So much for wanting a rice meal! Haha..

Like I said, Luke's a good eater and did well - he finished EVERYTHING!

Close inspection of the squid... Give it a nibble.. Mmm... Go for it!

After all that food, we headed off to Kinokuniya (yes, it's been very Japanese thus far!) The boy has never been there either and couldn't imagine how huge the place is. Needless to say, he was blown away at the sheer size of the place!

This were taken from one of the windows at Kino (as we at the office call it) - Luke couldn't get over how picturesque it was and kept saying it almost looks fake! Haha! I must say the park looked really nice after the rain and eveything looked extra green.

By about 3-ish the boy was hungry (again!) and was craving something sweet. So, we headed off to Secret Recipe where the boy had a huge slice of Banana Chocolate cake AND a vanilla milkshake! Talk about craving something sweet!!

Next, we stopped by Marks & Spencers to get some bacon flavoued chips - sadly, they were out of it! Aiya...! Since Jade had done reasonably well for her exams, I had promised to get her something, plus it was Carol's birthday that day, so I made a quick stop at La Senza (Luke waited outside, of course! Haha!) to pick up something for them. Then, at about 6pm we headed home for dinner.

Jade looking pleased with one of her gifts from La Senza.. She was even happier with the "other stuff" from La Senza!

2008

As 2008 ends, I am thankful for all the wonderful things that have happened. Of course, there were some "downers" like losing my beloved ChaCha or forking out money to pay unexpected bills but on the whole there's definitely been more good than bad - I mean, c'mon.. I've listed my cat dying as one of lows!

Here are some of my reasons for being truly thankful..

• My family is happy, healthy & safe.. The wonders of technology (plus great rates from DiGi!) has enabled me to communicate easily & often with my family in Australia.
• Friends are also happy, healthy and safe.. We all have our own busy schedules, but I'm glad we keep in touch.
• My best friend, Mona, returned to Malaysia and I'm so glad I got to spend time with her. I am blessed to have a friendship with her that has lasted 20+ years, weathering all the time, distance and many changes in our lives. Cool, no?
• Work has been crazy busy but good - good appaisal, decent increment, opportunities to travel. I made my first ever trip to Bangkok for a conference. Also went to Singapore where I got to do stuff I normally wouldn't do like get on the Singapore Flyer or go on a river cruise or visit Sentosa Island!
• My nephew, Luke, scored 6As (out of 7) for his PMR exams.
• I have 4 happy, healthy, adorable cats that are a constant source of amusement, affection and great company!
• It was a year of "gadgets" - I got myself a digital camera (finally!), a (what to me is) cool cellular phone (no..., not one of 'em Blackberries or iPhones!) and a (mini) notebook!
• I'd acquired many, many great books, most of 'em at a steal!
• I'd booked 2 trips on Air Asia for 2009 to Singapore & Bali, at great bargains! C'mon Bali, return trip, 3D/2N accommodation at a 4-star hotel for RM345 - if that ain't good, I don't know what is!

At a time when there's are so much "crazines" happening all around us , I reckon it's all the more reason to be happy and thankful for every little bit of good that happens on a daily basis! My wish for 2009? World peace? OK, that line may be the butt of many beauty pagaent jokes, but.. hello, reality check - the world does need peace! On a personal note, my wish for my family and friends and for myself, is to continue being happy, healthy and safe. Also, here's to bigger bank balances, smaller waistlines! Haha! HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009.. have a good one, y'all!

December 2008

December, as with all the other months, simply flew by! With (lots of) work, Christmas present wrapping, shopping & preparing for my Christmas trip with the family, cleaning the apartment (a never ending saga!), taking Tisha & Boo to the vet, catching up with friends.. I was one busy gal!

I had quite a bit of leave to clear, so I took 4 days off and had a good break from 24 December right up till 1 January 2009. Christmas with the family at Fraser's Hill from 24 to 26 December was GREAT! The weather was nice and cool.. a good change from the heat at home!

I spent the rest of my break cleaning my apartment, especially my wardrobe! Now, it's in great shape.. YAY! I'd also managed to take Tisha and Boo to have them spayed and spent like half a day at the vet! And, I got to meet up with Lisa for lunch on New Year's eve.

New Year's eve was a quiet one for me at home with my kitties. All the kitties are doing fine.. Tisha still doesn't get along with Girl and sometimes Girl just chases Tisha around for the heck of it - I never knew Girl actually had it in her to be mischievious! The kitties never cease to amuse me with their cuteness, which is a good thing 'coz I'd usually take pictures of 'em - good for me to practise taking pix and experiment with the cam. Check out these pix..


Experimental shots of Girl..

Girl finally finds a perfect book for her.... to use as a pillow! Incidentally, the book on Bali was a Christmas gift from Fred (good one, Fred.. thanks!) and it's perfect fro me to read to keep me informed for my trip to Bali in October 09.

Chips is a good one to photograph as he usually keeps still long enough for me to take my shot!

Chips is one cat that sure knows how to use a pillow!

He loves sleeping in the sink on hot days.. just like ChaCha used to.. I wonder if it is a male cat thing 'coz none of the girls do it! I particularly like the pix in the middle - Chips looks so "handsome"! Plus, he's such a great cat - so good and loving..

No, I didn't place them this way - it was all them!

SO adorable!
Girl and Chips have a close bond, especially since Girl took Chips under her wing and cared for him since he came in when he was a li'l kitten.

Tisha isn't exactly the prettiest cat or the most photogenic but it's her mannerisms that make her simply adorable! She's very loving.. very curious and a tad mischievious!

Tisha's a cuddle cat - she loves cuddling up next to me with the head on my lap.

Boo is a lap cat and just loves jumping on my lap. She'd usually go off and do her thing bat every now and then will pop by to land on my lap. If I'm not seated, she'll meow her head off till I do so she can jump on! Quite demanding this one!

Yup, all these pix were of her on my lap and, yup, I took 'em myself - trial and error la.. the beauty of a digital cam! Oh, and Boo has the most gorgeous green/grey/blue eyes!

An experimental shot of her.. and that's her curiously checking out the moving image my lap top!
Here are more experimental shots of...

The moon..

Rain.. and I'm determined to get better shots!

These aren't experimental but just shots of what I (at the time) thought was interesting and they were all taken using my camera phone (hey, I like taking pix but I don't bring my cam everywhere y'know..)

The chatty cat at William's, the makan place near my home. I had some pix of this fella in an earlier post but couldn't resist taking another pix of him on my way to work 'coz he's such an 'in your face' friendly kitty. I took the shot of the bottle of wine at Marks & Spencer 'coz I was quite amused with the quirky name and the even quirkier label!

These pix were taken from various angles of the biosphere at Petrosains.. Must try taking more pix with a proper cam.. and an actual pix of the biosphere itself too!