BFF Gathering

My best pals from school met up not-too-recently, 2.5 months back. I know.. late in delivery is better than never. I better note down, some readers already sneezing when they visit this blog now. *dusty*.. 

We met at SL's house at Mutiara Damansara. Took advantage of her new house as an excuse and she has 2 helpers.. so her house is the best place to meet. I practise BYO now, (bring your own food and bring your own maid), I simply cannot cope without a helper,  big gatherings esp with lots of kids at my humble home.

Hui Qian (SL's daughter) came up with menu and activity list for the guests. Too cute !

SL was an excellent host. She got in one of those helium balloon pumps and we had lotsa colorful floating ballons. The kids were ecstatic.

 

It's a rare occasion for us to meet up, with our husbands and kids too. EL is in London and she only comes back every 3 or 4 years. She had a baby girl recently, Adrianna and

Jo, EL, SL and Me... BFFs ! We may not meet very frequent but when we do, it's always just like the good old days..

Goodies Galore !

My childhood friend from school was back to Malaysia. Her family migrated to Perth when she was in Form Two and it's remarkable that we still do keep in touch today, especially so in the recent years with the help of internet and emails, keeping in touch is only a click away. 

Sometimes I catch her online at night.. and we had a good laugh when realise both of us were whiling away leisurely on the internet coz we're waiting for our laundry to be done. Hilarious !

She brought back many goodies for me. Stuff I can't get here :

Cookie cutters :

  Shape of elephant, hippo and rhino

 

Biscuit cookie cutter with center designs.. great for jam filled cookies

Angel 3D cookie cutter 

Snowflakes

 

 Christmas themed cookie cutter

premium tomato and passiofruit preserves

and an allergy free baking book for Amber :)

Thank you very much Ka Yean. Lovely having you and yours here and soon, hopefully, me and mine will go visit Perth !

Surface Parcels

Recently I sent a box of goodies to my childhood friend in Perth. She's not been back to M'sia for what umpteenth years ? 18? or maybe 20? It all started with the pineapple tarts I made during the new year. I thought she could make some for herself since it's pretty easy to get pineapples in Australia, even the canned ones will do and butter is available. So, pineapple, butter, sugar and egg wash, that's just the very basic ingredients of pineapple tarts.

The only lacking item is the mould or dough pumps and it's so cheap over here. I'd send her some, I said.. and I thought why not add some Malaysian flavours to the parcel. A few packs of bak kut teh spices, local coffee and lots of instant curry paste. I even stashed some msg-free Knorr chicken cube stocks in the box. She's a busy FTWM so easy food is good !




Pack it up in a shoe box and cling wrap for protection against moisture.

Wrap again in brown paper, double layered.

and surface mail it. Estimated ETA around 1-3 months.. doesn't matter, the foodstuff has long expiry date. I was joking to her to have a Curry Christmas and the parcel will arrive just in time then.

Guess how much does the 3.08kg parcel cost ?

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RM36.80.

Cheap ? VERY !

Back to my Alma Mater

I've posted this to share with my school buddies, sisters and cousins. Eileen, AiMe, CheeYoke,Liz, AiKim and SeiYee, pice below brings back many memories of our care-free days. Anyone been back to school lately or even in the last 10 years ?

I'm contemplating to send Amber to my previous school. I like the cooling and lush environment and I took hubs there for a visit during lunch one day..

Let the pics do the talking :


The long stairway up the back entrance of the school, walking into School 1.


on the left, of the entrance... I think the school for handicapped is no longer there tho'


the dark walkway, entering to White Hall


This was where the 'Stone Hall' used to be. They've cleared it and built classrooms instead (on left). Remember, at the end of Stone Hall, there's many saga trees and we pick red saga seeds to sew our 'five stones'. On the right (not visible) verandah was where we always 'chop' a place to play 5 stones during recess time.


This was moi's Std 1 classroom. Back then, tables and chairs were brown wood. full of pock marks, dug out from students pencil. I still remember, sitting somewhere in the middle.. learning Bahasa,, making sense out of 'daratan' and 'dataran'.


White Hall, typical Roman architecture.


Another angle of White Hall, the tiles turned grey now. Wonder if they've renamed it to 'Grey Hall' ?


Beautiful tiles. withstanding ageing, wear and tear.


Look above, you see this and many many buildings more.


graffiti.. poor yap kap poh.. she must be bullied.

This corner corridor of primary school, a very dark corner during late evenings. Once we played 'Spirit Of The Coin' here. Unfortunately or fortunately, no spirits came.
On the left was our singing room and during Form 6, we look forward to singing lesson with Mrs Narayanan.. singing to 'Love Story' ..

.. where do I begin ?
.. to tell the story of how great a love can be ?
.. the sweet love story that is older than the sea
.. the simple truth about the love she brings to me .
... Where doooo I staaaaarrrttTTTT ....

.. with the first hello...

We always always wanted to sing the sloppy Love Story. We could sing over and over again.. Oh.. those days..


The Bookshop !

Stains on walls. I've always thought it was shit.. like some shit hit the fan, but dunno what shit. Been there since primary days and through the years, it's still there.


The view of primary school field. Memories of my Sports Day, I was in Rumah Hijau, came flooding back. Our team's game was 'Pandang Ke Timur' and some gunny sack race. Now.. where did I put those medals ???

Then, we scoot up to secondary school before the bell rings. Quickly grabbed some lunch before anyone notice us :


Nasi campur for both of us. RM10. Not very healthy stuff (vegetarian mock meat, ikan masin, telur masin). Crappy food, nothing compares to Christopher's 'chap farn'. Think I should write to Jamie Oliver ? Wonder if he'll take a challenge to revamp our school canteen food ??


View from the canteen. Notice the pavilion built to seat more students during recess ?


Ahh.. the tennis court by morning and volleyball court by noon. Ingenius ! This is the most well utilised sports area of our school.


The Secondary School block and Science labs on upper floors

Built a small hut to house plants ? Honestly too many little standalones builts around the school and making the school look much crowded and smaller than before. (Maybe I am a lot 'bigger' now and an overwhelming school seems smaller in comparison now ? LOL )


Pathway up to the art room.


Part of the Art Room converted to Bengkel Kamahiran Hidup

Balai Seni Lukis. Mrs Low's territory.


This the end of the canteen, stairway up to Form 1 and Form 3 blocks


Secondary school canteen


Form 5 blocks and science labs


Form 4 blocks and a cross still visible.


Moi, lunching..

We were taking pictures happily coz it's assembly time and then the principal and her assistant came to question us and asked why we were taking so many photos. When I explained I was an ex-student and am thinking of placing my girl here, they allowed us to keep the photos. :)

I missed checking out The Nazareth, the holy (and scary) block of our Form 6 class. I wonder if they'd demolished it. It's so old and unstable and walking up the creaking woody stairs, not knowing when it'll collapse ... oh and those 'secret doors' that's not meant to be opened. Wonder where it'll lead to.. hmmm... these are my good ole memories of my school.

We quickly left when school ball rang.


And on our way down, took a pic of this gate.. separating primary and secondary school. Been around since my Std 1 days.. that explains the quality of workmanship then.

Oh yes... to CY and Liz, I bumped to Mr Hoo. I think he taught Physics.. or Add Maths... was never my teacher but I'm sure you remember him. The only male teacher from our school.
He's retiring next year. Married to a Vietnamese lady and going back to Vietnam and enjoy his post retirement days, farming.. What a wonderful life ya ?

Being back to my alma mater brings back many fond memories. A place where I spent 13 years of my schooling life. No joke. Not many people would have spend that many years in the same school.

As I walked out.. our school song kept playing in my ear.. I vaguely remember the lyrics but it was something like this :

CBN, the shining star of my life...
you will always grow within me...
and through me you will shine forth...
a true light.. others will follow...

CBN, sinar bintang hidupku....

The Lion Dance Duo

These pics were taken during the Assam Laksa Day.. Amber found a friend to lion dance with her. While we played the drums, the lion dance duo danced around the house.


Amber wants to play 'tail', never the head.. My friend CY guides her with the tail.


Bless the kitchen


Bless the hall.

So, we have a very blessed home, thanks to the Lion Dance Duo... Amber and Lizzie. ..

Last One For The Road !!!

The ex-CBNers gathered (again!!!) on Friday, before Liz had to return to Singapore. It was Ei Leen's birthday and we took the excuse to gather at Ikano, where Ei Leen works. I took the day off to be with good pals, from morning till night and it sure feels like a long long long time ago that we sit down and talk for so long

After lunch we sat down at Ikea Cafe for the free refill of drinks. We had Daim cake,fried chicken wings, meatballs and roast chicken set. Hahaha.. we are not gluttons by ordering so much food after the pan meen, but we were there from 3pm - 9pm (GOSH !!!) and ordered dishes as and when we feel hungry. I think we used the ladies like 3-4 times too (shows how long we yakked !!!)

It feels so good to catch up for old times sake, we yakked, yakked and yakked and even sat down to do some Mathematics ! You see, Liz from Singaopore was sharing with us how she's managing her son's homework and it ain't easy. We thought how difficult could Maths for an 8 year old be? She showed us an example and we got hooked. Not easy wor !!! Well, for me, I have a few 'honeymoon' years to go before I start worrying about Amber's homework.

We also talked about our lives and I realise it's not to bad being in Singapore. For one, you feel much safer. There's lots of weekend activities to do. They'll meet up in the parks, go rollerblading, swimming at the numerous public pools, jogging by the beach, just so many !!!
Wah Liz, I envy you. Here in KL, Amber only bugs me to bring her to Tesco ! I hardly bring her out for outdoor activities coz it's

1) hot
2) too far to go anywhere decent for kids
3) traffic jam
4) snatch thieves
5) Mat Rempits
6) bad kept parks and playgrounds !!!
7) lousy zoo

and the list goes on... ..... .... ... ....

What do I do with my kid ? We resort to 'shopping indoors'. My girl pratically knows all the shopping centers and supermarkets in town by hard, even their logos. . *sigh*

I have to think of something better to do with Amber. Must apply a supplementary club membership for her. If there ain't good parks, a decent club with swimming facilities will do !! Must get my act up fast. Otherwise, she's gonna turn into a mall rat !!!

Schoolmate Gathering

On Saturday, we had a massive gathering at my place. 26 pax including adults kids and maids. I was so looking forward to this long awaited gathering of my Convent Bukit Nanas schoolmates, we grew and shared so much together, their my best pals ! This is the first time ALL of us gathered as one BIG family. Everyone brought their kids along.

We agreed on a 'pot luck' at my place but I could not resist cooking this and that, dishing out my new and old recipes. We had sooo much food, enough to feed a battalion.

Here's bits and pieces of the day :


My 'signature' curry chicken. Everybody's favourite. I had to use 2 woks to cook 2 big fat chicken. With potatoes and all.. yummy...



My dishings : from top left : golden fried rice, vegetable dumplings, garlic bread
from bottom left : mee siam, durian cake, radish cake

Other dishes that missed the camera : macaroni bolognese, choux puffs with tuna and konnyaku jelly

Pot luck dishes that missed the photography session :
From Keith & Ai Me : Assam Laksa & Prawn Mee, watermelon
From Lizier : KFC
From Ei Leen : Lor Ark (braised duck in soya sauce)


I served the food 'buffet sytle' Cool huh ?

The groups : from top left, clockwise : the hubs, the wifeys, Charn Lim & Vic, the kids

Chee Yoke brought a fondue set. Excellent desert. Kids love it but I think we gals had more than the kids. Yummy !

Dip the yummy fruits and marshmallows to the fondue pot. Am thinking of getting a set too.

Kids munching to prawn cracker

The kids had as much fun as us

Amber & LiZie making funny faces

Our 'preciousness'

You know how it's like when girls gather ? Too much to talk about but too little time. The kids fell asleep while we were still yakking.

Girls, I hope we can meet up again before the school holiday ends. My house is always open and last Saturday was a memorable evening.

Thanks to ALL who made it ! We must do this more frequent !