2103 Hot Air Balloon Festival @ Putrajaya

30th March 2013, Saturday

A Sunny Day.

6:30am - Woke up and had a nice hot shower

7:00am - Woke hubby up

7:20am - Carrying a sleeping baby, and off we went to Putrajaya!

We arrived at Putrajaya around 8:20am. 

To our relief, we arrived just in time. All the hot air balloons were still lying on the floor, and the members from each team are busy firing up the burner, preparing for take-off.

Balloons preparing to take off

Smurf! The star of the show

Good morning Cedric

Baby refused to smile for camera despite numerous attempts

Some of the larger balloons that took off later

Morning kiss

Cedric and daddy

Too young to appreciate the balloons. Nevermind, let daddy show you...

Balloons taking off one by one

Oreo balloon, yummy

More balloons

Tata smurf!!

One of the last ones to leave was this green monster balloon

One more pic before we head home

3 in 1 Celebration - Christmas, Birthday & 2012 New Year

I have been looking forward to 01/01/2012!

We missed our Christmas and birthday celebrations last week as hubby was down with flu. Now that he is better, he suggested to have a simple 3-in-1 celebration at 1-Utama. As promised, he'll treat me to a japanese lunch as replacement for Christmas, and chocolate fondue for my birthday.

Hurray! So great to be able to spend some quality time together finally... and we probably we will not have any 2-person outing for a long long time after the baby arrived...

The lunch at Sakae Sushi was great. The food was good, the ambiance was relaxing, I was super hungry and hubby always likes japanese food. So I felt great and enjoyed the lunch very much!

Sakae Sushi, 1-Utama

Always amazed by the genius who invented the sushi train - simple, efficient, and convenient

Dragon Roll, RM15.90 - Hubby said dragon year has to eat dragon roll :p

The soft and melt-in-mouth avocado adds a creamy yet refreshing taste to the sushi. Yummy!

Haru Set, RM24.90

Salmon Crepe Treasure, RM9.80

Spicy Idako Maki, RM5.99

Look at that smiley face! Hubby hasn't been smiling since he was sick, hope he enjoyed the lunch as much as I do

After the satisfying lunch, it was a solid 3 hours of walking and shopping. People said walking is good to bring about easier labour, I hope it's true, as my legs are all swollen and painful now...

By the end of the shopping, we bought some clothes for hubby and a present for our good friend, Stanley's house warming.

Last but not least was my favourite chocolate fondue for tea time!

Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Fondue, RM64.00

 Happy New Year everyone!

3 Candles

Birthday Cake from Hubby

One day, Fen asked me what is the meaning of life.

She said everyday she is like waiting for something, waiting for the unknown tomorrow, for the future...

This reminds me of myself many years back.

When I had 10 candles on my birthday cake...

I totally had no idea of who I am when I was 10. What other people did, I follow.

Since Anita Mui was everyone's idol, so I comb my hair like her and pretended that I was her; 

When some of my primary school mates started to wear glasses, they told me how cool it was; thinking that it was true, I purposely strained my eyes hoping that one day I will be able to wear glasses like them too; 

When my best friend Ai Sa said we should not befriend or should only "pretend" to befriend some other classmates, because I was one of her "gang member" and I wanted to continue to be in her gang, so we started the culture of "pretend" to befriend those who are not in the gang.

Those were the days when what others said were always right (of course except what my parents said).

Then I had 2 big candles on my cake.

Being the eldest among 4 daughters from a not-so-affluent family, I was a fighter. 

I was constantly fighting - to be better, to achieve something, to find myself, and perhaps to be someone I thought others would want me to be.

I knew what I want, but I was lost and uncertain of who I truely am.

I knew what I was capable of achieving, but I did not know why I want or why I do not want to do it.

I made so many bad decisions in my twenties, that some have permanently changed my life.

After STPM, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. But I was fear of blood, so I scrapped the plan last minute. The truth is, the blood phobia issue was just an excuse, I was just too lost and uncertain to decide for what I want, so I didn't proceed with the plan, and chose something easier instead.

After graduated with fairly good CGPA from local university, I thought I can be a scientist. But life in lab was kinda boring, so I abandoned my PhD plan half way. But actually the main reason was not the job being boring, but me being unsettled & rebellious, and wanting to be adventurous, so I opted for something different.

To the surprise of many, I ended up becoming a sales person, a job which I was totally not proud of in the beginning.

I told myself it's just temporary. It should just be a training ground for me to learn about business, and in the future, I am going to be a successful businesswoman, which actually I was never sure of.

Although I worked very hard in my sales career, I was unhappy and waiting...

So Fen, like you, I was looking forward to something in the future...

Maybe something better, or something great will happen tomorrow, maybe...

This year, I had 3 big candles on my cake. 

I still do not know what is the meaning of life. But I think I have found myself.

Actually the job as a sales person does help in my quest of finding myself. 

I know who I am, I know what makes me happy and what not; I appreciate what I have, and accept what I don't; I have learned to ignore what other people think of me, and concentrate of what I think of myself instead.

Unlike 6 years ago, I have now accepted and started to enjoy my job as a sales person. And I am on my way to becoming a full-blown businesswoman, just like what I told myself many years back.

And if not because of the mistakes that I made which lead me to the path of becoming a sales person, I will not get to know your brother-in-law, my lovely hubby.

Overall, I am a happier person at the age of 30, because I finally come to terms with myself and accept me for who I am.

Other people's things may seem great, but it's still other people's things, not ours; our house may not be big or may be leaking, but at least it's our home, it provides us with shelter and protected us from the sun and rain.

Tomorrow may seem great as there are a lot of maybes and possibilities, but tomorrow is an unknown, only today is within our grasps.

So Fen, perhaps life is a journey for us to find ourselves. As long as you are happy today, why wait for tomorrow?

Be happy always, as we only live once. :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Almond Cake Slice

Birthday Cake from RT Pastry House

Look at my huge hands and round face! I have to wear hubby's T-Shirt to be comfortable nowadays

It's Christmas! And Hubby's Sick

It's Christmas finally! 

But hubby is sick...

First, it was the food poisoning on Friday. After taking an injection on the arm, followed by a 12 hours sleep, he was as strong as a tiger again.

On Saturday, thinking that he has recovered, he proceeded to be the "heng tai"-cum-driver for his friend, Leong's wedding. Then at night, after returned home from Leong's wedding dinner, he started to complain of tiredness and queasiness.

On Christmas day, hubby is officially down with fever, headache, sore throat and cough. 

Sick

He woke up around 11am in the morning - had lunch - Zzzzz from 2-7pm - had Milo and his medicine - Zzzzz again...

When he was up for Milo, he kept worrying about not being able to bring me out for Christmas celebration... what am I going to have for dinner... what I would do alone for the rest of the day...

But dear...to me, the most important thing is for you to get well soon and be your old self again. 

Need not to worry about Christmas, as I believe Santa can wait. As long as you are well and happy, and I am well and happy, everyday is a Christmas day, right?

So please rest more and get well soon. We shall postpone our Christmas celebration until you are recovered. Then we can go for a movie, a nice dinner, or perhaps a date with Cedric boy together. What do you think? :)

Christmas Eve Dinner, By Chef Khai Yee & Khai Fen

My sisters - Khai Yee and Khai Fen started preparing for our Christmas Eve Dinner since afternoon.

Preparation took hours of pure efforts.

By the time of dinner around 9pm, we were all starving. And from hungry to filled and full, it only took us a short 10 minutes of gorging. 

Thanks to my sisters that I got to sit, relax, and enjoy this lovely meal of Christmas Eve.

Baked Salmon & Cod Fish with Lemon

Stuffed Squid

Never mind the odd look, this baked mushroom tastes nice

Baked Prawn

Butter Mushroom

Garden Salad

Fen's Plate

Yee's Plate

My plate? In my stomach...yummy!

Celebrating Winter Solstice 冬至快乐！

In Malaysia, it is summer all year round; perhaps our 2 most distinct seasons are the dry and rainy season.

Notwithstanding the fact that we do not have the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, we celebrate winter solstice (冬至) every year by way of preparing and enjoying Tang Yuan (汤圆）.

Tang Yuan (汤圆)

I always like 冬至 since I was young.

Every year on the eve of 冬至, my mom never fail to prepare glutinous rice doughs dyed in different colours: red and white are the most common colours, sometimes with green (colour from pandan juice) and purple (colour from the extract of dried morning glory) doughs as well. After dinner, the parents and kids would gather and start our hours-long journey of rolling the doughs into small balls.

For the kids, it was more like playing with the dough, than the serious task of preparing an offering to the god.

My sisters and I would compete with each other to see who can roll the most number of rice balls on the palms without the balls sticking to each other.

Sometimes accidents happened, and the balls dropped to the floor. With these rejected balls, we would make them into the shape of snake, mouse, chicken etc and have fun with it. My favourite shape is the coiled snake, which sometimes was mistaken as "poo poo" due to its very artistic and crude finish.

Snake? Poo Poo?

In the morning of 冬至, mom always woke up early. She would prepare the salty version of the Tang Yuan (with pork and dried prawn soup) as our breakfast, and the common sweet version Tang Yuan as offering to god.

Sweet version - Tang Yuan in sugar syrup

Salty version - Tang Yuan in pork & dried prawn soup

Mom said each Tang Yuan represents 1 year of age, only after eating a Tang Yuan that we will be 1 year older. So when I was 12, I need to eat at least 12 rice balls for me to be a "true" 12 year-old; now that I am xx years old, I will have to eat A LOT of Tang Yuan to represent my current age. :)

Those were the time in kampung...

Now that my sisters and I are all grown up and are living in the city, only mom and dad are in kampung this year. Mom called last night, said this year she only made tang yuan with one colour - red, as offering to the god, and it took her more than an hour to finish rolling alone. I guess mom and dad must be feeling lonely during this festive season...I wonder when I can save enough money to buy them a house here and invite them to stay nearer with us...

This morning my sisters followed our old tradition of making the salty Tang Yuan as breakfast, and the sweet version for dessert. Hubby said he only want 1 rice ball, but I forced him to have 18 in the end. For myself, I had A LOT, more than my current age for sure! Thanks to my sisters that this year we can enjoy the yummy tang yuan with old time flavour.

I just love Tang Yuan! Don't you?