CNY Day 2: Potluck with Friends

Nian Chu Er aka the second day of Chinese New Year, we had a fabulously delicious potluck dinner with friends at our place. I roughly thought about the menu in the afternoon and came to a conclusion that I should prepare dishes which I'm more familiar with - Deep Fried Pork Meat Balls and Hot & Sour Roasted Chicken Soup.

Da Nian Chu Yi: Dinner with Friends

My initial plan was to prepare hot and sour steamed whole fish for this potluck dinner we attended on the first day of Chinese New Year. But, after spending the efforts to gather side ingredients and everything else which needed, we found out that the Supa IGA in Clifford Garden (our favorite place in town to get fresh whole fishes, crabs, and other seafood) was actually closing down with only very limited items left for sale. Therefore, plane plan crashed and burned... No steamed whole fish for the night, and definitely no more seafood and groceries shopping there in the future, yet still, the dinner must go on! So I came up with the idea of replacing the fish with prawns instead. In Hokkien we say, "Boh hu hae mah ho", which literally means, "If there are no fishes, prawns are just as good."

Chinese New Year's Eve Celebration

For the first time, I had steamboat / hotpot for reunion dinner on the Chinese New Year's Eve. My family usually prepare a variety of dishes which have similar sounding names with prosperity, good luck, wealth, and etc, but this year (5th year not celebrating with my family), it was something different from our tradition.

Happy "Dragon" Year to All

新年到，龙年到， 

愿大家的事业龙腾虎跃， 

愿大家的爱情龙凤呈祥， 

愿大家的生活生龙活虎， 

愿大家的梦想飞龙在天。 

祝大家龙年如意！恭喜，恭喜！
Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi, Gong Xi!

Compilation of Everyday Life

I sort of mixed and put everything together in one post today, not because I'm lazy or maybe I am, a tiny winy bit after a long day of work (─‿‿─) Moreover, I think it's unnecessary, both time and energy wise, to create separate posts just to include all these photos taken on different days and occasions. So there you go, a compilation of moments in my everyday life.

Celebration Dinner at Gip's Restaurant

The feeling of "I don't belong to here and yet not belong to there" has momentary came to an end. I felt relieved, very much relieved after I heard the good news. Waiting is killing... I'm sure that you know how stressful waiting is. Anyways, it doesn't really matter any more cause the only thing that matters now is my wallet generosity. Yeah, I'm about to treat my BB a luxury dinner tonight!

Sugars and Spices of Life

Me wearing Quirky Circus by Mink Pink. It's a white wavy lace singlet I got from Myer. Actually, I already posted some of the photos here on Instagram, you must have noticed if you've been "stalking" me on Facebook and Twitter lately. Let's say, this is more like the extended version with further elaboration and details? I love and enjoy taking photos with my iPhone 4S so far, but how I wish the front camera could capture better images rather than just VGA-quality.

Campbell House's Il Bacaro Italian Restaurant Penang

At first, I thought Campbell House is the name of this restaurant we visited on the corner of Campbell and Cintra Streets of Georgetown, but apparently I was wrong. I mistook the hotel's name as the Italian restaurant, Il Bacaro where my sis and I celebrated her bachelorette's party together with few of her close friends. It was more like a cozy dinner with girls talk.

Funday Sunday: Barbecue at Home

30 degrees under the steaming hot sun, my BB and I set up a mini barbecue on the balcony of our warm little home. I know it sounds ridiculously crazy, but we just couldn't resist the temptation. We got the portable barbecue set days before Christmas (as a little Christmas gift for two of us) and now it's time to put it to test!

Singapore Trip: Clarke Quay and Ion Orchard

Back to my Singapore trip. I finally squeezed out some time to filter those photos which have been abandoned on my hard drive for quite a while. And I noticed there isn't many or totally no "me" in the photos. What to do, my handy cameraman was not beside me...

The spectacular panoramic night view of Singapore River.

Sunset

This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, love to complete your life. - Theodore Roethke

New Year's Eve of 2011: Welcoming 2012

I guess this is kind of an official post of me greeting everyone, "Happy New Year!" On the 4th day of 2012?! I know, I'm random in a unique way or... unique in a random way :Þ The 10-minute fireworks display (spreading all over the big heart above) wowed thousands of people gathered a the Queens Park on the last night of 2011, including me and my BB. We spent the remaining few hours, no celebration, but just a casual dinner together.

Instagram Addict

I'm an Instagram addict, and my addiction has become more and more overwhelmed since the day I said "hello" and welcomed iPhone 4S into my life, blame the 8 MP camera and all those amazing photo filters. On New Year's Eve of 2011, my BB and I witnessed the first ever countdown fireworks show at Queens Park Toowoomba, S.P.L.E.N.D.I.D. Here are some of my few other updates in the past two weeks.

New Year BBQ at West Creek Park

Nothing special nor fancy on the first day of 2012. We kick-started another brand new year with an outdoor barbie with a bunch of lovely friends at the West Creek Park. It was sunny yet a bit cold with chilly wind gushing through our skin *shivers* but we really had fun. How about you guys? Are you enjoying the holidays so far?