Weekend With Friends

Last Saturday we had a great gathering with Jaclyn and Collin over at our place. Collin is an old time friend of mine, known him more than 10 years and Jacss is a friend I got to know through blogging. KL is such a small city and one day Collin called me to support and vote for his friend's wife's bento contest and I thought that sounded familiar as I just read about javapot's bento contest from another blog.

Here is me, Jacss, Stephen - her hubs, Colin and his mom and sister and Amber.

Jacss and me !

I had a great time preparing dinner. It's been a while since we had a gathering at home anyway. Hubs was itching for roast pork (again !!! ) and I did just that. Not many dishes, just a few :

Home roasted pork. This time, i managed to get the skin crispy and crackling, much crunchier than before. I think it must be the quality of pork. I got the premium belly from TTDI wet market, Lee Wah Trading. A premium belly is perfect for roasting as the thickness of the rind and meat was just nice to yield a juicy and tender roast with crackling skin.

Hokkien mee, the traditional braised method. Everyone said it was good. *burps*

Pretty easy to cook, no need the big flame charcoal fire like those 'tai chows', I just braised them slowly and the secret ingredient I added was 'flounder fish broth'. To make a good hokkien mee, the base broth is very important. A tasty broth makes a tasty noodle.

Curry Chicken, nothing to shout about but an easy peasy dish that everyone likes

Lap mei fan - forgot to take photos ! I think not hubs favourite.. otherwise he would have snapped all the way.

And for desert, we had lemon cheesecake, fruits and Aunty Mary (Collin's mom)'s jelly mooncakes. Everyone was happy and so is the host. I likee when my guests enjoy their meals, including Amber, who loved the Hokkien mee .

 

I finally got to meet Stuart, Jacss bao bei. I've missed his full moon, his 100 day celebration and was so glad to meet him. Jacss bao bei is really one special kid. He was so obedient and didn't cry or make a fuss at all. All of us went ooohh - aaahh over this handsome little boy with pink complexion.

Us and our kids.

The highlight of the evening for Amber was Pamelia's presence. When she stepped in to our home, Amber asked her "Aunty Pam, can you paint my nails or not ?"

and she kept asking .. and asking .. and asking until Pam opened her treasured kit :

Pamelia is a music teacher and she has a talent of nail painting which she does as a hobby. And we are her lucky friends who got our nail painted, especially Amber, who kept close to Pam all night long.

Look at the detailed flower and design on Amber's little fingers. Very nice.

And this is so perfect. A small Barbie like imprint on her tiny little thumb

And I got my nails done too. I last did my nails during for my wedding and that was such a long time ago. I was all giddy and excited to get my nails done. I told Pam I wanted something that can withstand housework and washing and she came up with this :

Japanese inspired stamping on a clear glittery base. She chose a clear base for me and should the paint accidentally chip off, it won't be obvious or noticeable. All I had to do was apply top coat every couple of days. One week on and my nails are still good.

I sooo love Konad nail art and can't wait to get my startet kit from Pam. Amber too is excited and keep reminding me to apply 'top coat'.  'Top coat' is a new word she learnt and I keep hearing top coat every other day. That little busybody keeps reminding me to apply for her and myself !

All in all, it was a great night for all 3 families. Nothing's better than a good makan at home !

Our Countdown to 2010

Last night, after our dinner, we went to Sharon's house to countdown to 2010. Her house has a very good view to catch the fireworks at KLCC.

Sharon's mom greeted us with Christmas gifts for Amber and snacks. Hubs and I was full up from our dinner at TGIF, we just had beer.

Joanne decorated her cozy house nicely and we took opportunity to take some pictures.

The girls with their Christmas gift.

We brought a cake, supposedly my b'day cake but since TGIF gave us a small surprise, we saved this for the countdown. Hubs got magic candles for the kids.

They had a good time blowing.. candles which will never die off, it was FUN !

Huff, puff and huff and puff..


The girls were so happy, puffed and the candles light up again..

Huffed until the candle completes it's burn.

We had light snacks and pizza

I painted Amber's toes and nails.. One sure way to keep her quiet and still for a while.

Then just before the stroke of midnight, we went out to join the crowd counting down to 2010.

The view was awesome, we could see fireworks from Dataran Merdeka, Bukit Bintang and KLCC and few other spots I cannot recognize where.. LOL !

At the first stroke of midnight, fireworks starts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 !! May all of us be blessed with a peaceful year ahead !

A Christmas Feast !!

This has to be THE feast to end the year with a BANG !!

On the 27th, me and Barb was very priviledged to be invited by Annie to join her family for a BBQ night. When we arrived, Annie's hubs was working on their very big and 'canggih manggih' BBQ set. Poor him, working all night filling our tummy tum tums, I never saw him eat anything.

Annie's house was nicely decorated with 2 Christmas trees and lots of lighted garlands around the house. I must commend the family for making this a big event, you should have seen the Christmas presents. Coming from a small family, I truly enjoyed this 'big' gathering at the Lee's mansion.

Hubs went goo goo gaa gaa when he saw few big chafing dish of bbq-ed smoky ribs.... this is truly a feast for us and the nearest we could to Tony Romas rib racks ( which is a tad dry). Annie's SIL also cooked 2 bit dish of pasta with lots of bacons and Annie made us delicious fresh mushroom soup and garlic bread.

I am ashamed, I truly am..
With so much nice food.... I forgot to take any nice pics. Luckily Annie took some nice and memorable pics here. I was too engrossed digging in to the delicious food.

This is the only photo I took of the food :

My plate .. clean or not ? Hahahahaaa.. I can't help laughing looking back at this photo !

Annie planned a surprise early bday wish for moi... **blush**. . and her SIL's friend. That was real sweet of her and I told hubs, he had to do better than Annie for my bday !

Amber made some friends and had a good time too .

Annie's family's gift exchange..

Kids had party packs and glowies..

Amber and her gifts from Aunty Barbara, Aunty Annie and us..

Amber and Ashley opening their gifts

Excited !!

Thank you Annie for having us over. It was the best-est BBQ we ever had.. Don't forget us the next round ya ? ;)

The Cousins Are Back

*Backdated post. The cousins left at time of posting*

Amber's cousin sisters, the 3 cheh chehs from Melbourne were back for a visit recently. These lovely cheh chehs are of the closest age to Amber, with Sharlene, the youngest, being 7 years old, Rosalyn 9 yrs old and Natalie, 13 yrs old.

I arrangeda get together for my family at our home. My eldest brother and his family visited us whilst we were in the midst of moving in last year and it was messy and chaotic. Now that we've settled in to our house, we are ready for a party !

Here's a glimpse of the girls and my nephew :

Sharlene and Rosalyn working out.. (harder than me..lol !)


Rosalyn, Sharlene and Natalie with Amber



The girls with Ah Keong Kor-Kor

Sharlene brought lots of books for Amber and she reads to her..

Amber and Sharlene. Everywhere they go, Amber will hold Sharlene cheh-cheh's hand.

Best of friends after few hours of 'warming up'

A party is never a great party without good food :

On a closer look :

Roast pork (sort of my 'chiu pai choi')

Curry chicken

Mushroom chicken feet.

We also had lots of food, we had meesiam, yam rice, layer cake, shrimp sauce chicken wings, radish cake and jelly for desert. It was a LOT of food. Big brother said the amount of food we had could easily feed another 10 guests or so.. :D

A party is never complete without good wine right ? Hubs fished out something he bought recently, a Chilean Cab Sav :

Big brother brought a good wine, all the way from Australia :

Cullen Cab Sav.

Good food, great company. Nothing like having a good time with family. I hope with bro and his family can make frequent trips home every year. Amber remembers the cheh chehs this time and keep talking about them, and wants me to 'chor chor aeroplane' to Melbourne to visit them :)