Under the weather

With all the CNY celebrations and non-stop yee sang's, my antibody has finally given in. White flag has been raised and I am officially sick. WTF.

It all started with a slight sore throat the passed few days, and I thought my antibody will put a fight, like it always does every year, and won. So I let it slide. I just enjoyed my weekend and did my last minute CNY shopping.

Then, the sore throat became worse, and yesterday, I woke up with no voice. I tried to clear my throat but no sound came out. I finally realised that I've officially lost my voice. When Hubby wpke up, I could only mutter a few words to tell him that I've lost my voice. Last 2 nights, we went and get herbal tea and also herbal jelly to help with the sore throat, but who would have thought Mr. Flu can and knock on my door. I took the flu medication for 3 nights, including tonight, but so far, it looks like Mr. Flu is staying in my body. My voice changed but I still went to work. Hopefully, these will all cure so that I can enjoy my CNY.

Tonight is the reunion dinner with the in-laws, tomorrow with dad, and on Wednesday with mum. The troubles involved in making this arrangement is totally agonizing, which I am not exaggerating at all! So many people to take into consideration just to have a peaceful reunion CNY dinner.

I'm tired, and the sickness is overwhelming me. I don't feel the CNY spirit nor excitement. I just wanna sleep. Good night world.

Fingers crossed - Tomorrow will be a better world.

CNY Dinner Tradition

Every year, we have our annual CNY dinner. "We" include Shy Flirt, Karma Bitch, Rock Chic and Jeebra. And this year is no difference.

Initially, we wanted to go the the new Hee Lai Ton restaurant in Imbi but I can't seem to be able to reach them to make reservation, so we changed to Golden Palace in Pavilion. We scheduled our dinner on 14th Jan 2011, which is so ahead because we have planning LOL! Actually, it's just me and Shy Flirt being glutton for yee sang!

First yee sang of the Rabbit Year!

Salmon for the Yee Sang

For some "jakun" reason, we were all very fascinated with this equipment LOL! We didn't know this existed until we saw it at the restaurant. It is to pinch the lime for the sauce. Even Ahnai went for it and squeezed it for the waiter.

Discovery of the year!

Sze Chuan Soup

Peking Duck - Which we later called it "Donald"

Donald's crispy skin

Ready to be served

The drums and wings of Donald

The remaining of Donald fried with noodle

Long bean with minced pork

Braised tou fu

Pork Belly with Salted Fish - Totally recommended!

Bill came up to about RM300++, which is pretty decent. Had fun and it was scrumptious. Everyone is happy with the CNY dinner.

Mission accomplished!

Spring Cleaning Day

Yay! It is a public holiday today - in conjunction with Thaipusam. Instead of going shopping or movies, we have stayed home and did our spring cleaning. Lol!

CNY is in about 2-3 weeks' time. Hubby being his usual clean freak has decided to start cleaning early and has decided to divide the cleaning process to 2 parts. First part is today, and the second part would be a few days prior to CNY. He has even listed what to clean for the first and second part respectively. Now, that's just him doing the normal stuff he does.

We woke up at about 10am and started the cleaning process. My wardrobe, the kitchen, my shoes, his wardrobe, the drawers/closets, my bags, etc.

After 3 hours of climbing and scrubbing and wiping and packing and cleaning, it is finally DONE! Sparkling clean I tell ya! So bloody proud of ourselves!

And look at our CNY deco for this year - 2 bunnies stuck at our front door. Tee hee it's Mr. and Mrs. Bunny in conjunction with the Rabbit Year in 2011. We bought this for RM8 at a pasar malam.

Mr. & Mrs. Bunny

Now, there's the bathroom, the ceiling fans, the new bedsheets and the new curtains. Yes, we have new bedsheets and curtains for CNY LOL! All these to be done next weekend. Then, our home is ready for CNY.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie

I'm so tempted to finish up the oat at home, and what better way to do it then to bake it! Of course I know oat is not exactly everyone's favourite. But I don't think I can finish the oat I have at home and the only way I know how not to force myself to finish it is to bake it.

So, one fine Thursday when the Hubby went for his weekly futsal, I baked it. After 1.5 hours in the kitchen, here they are - Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie - Fresh from oven

The verdict? Hubby said it's not for him because it tasted TOO healthy *frown*. Geez must everything be sweet and oily and buttery to taste nice? Whatever happened to eating healthily?

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie

I know Hubby will not eat this. As it is he doesn't like cookies, now I'm serving him with healthy cookies. I think he'll just puke at the thought of it LOL!

The only person that I know will definitely help me finish it is my MAMA! Tee hee! She loves my baking and had always ask me to bake for her. I've always put that off because I want her to cut down on sugar and anything fat because of her health. Not that it is in a bad condition, but she's not getting any younger. That's why I always give lots of excuses when she asks for cookies from me. I even told my sister not to buy chocolates and ice creams back home to not tempt her. But once a while, we can spoil her.

Mama has specially requested me to bake one type of cookie for her - Pineapple Tart! LOL mum has always always always love this cookie. She loves pineapple, and every CNY, she has lots of this cookie at home, other than cashew nut. I told her I'll try, but we'll see LOL! I'm so busy with all the dinners and celebrations, I don't even have time for myself.

We'll have to see if I get to bake the cookies for her. She will be overdosing on cholesterol and fats and sweets during CNY. Maybe after CNY. After all the detox, I'll just reward her with a jar. Hmm not a bad idea after all. At least, I get to give her something she wants, just a lil delay tho.

Next stage in life

Now that the wedding is done and honeymoon is over, it is finally time for the next stage in our lives - BABY! Yes, it is finally the time to start our own family.

Being a responsible *ahem ahem* individual and future parent, we need to do everything in our power and knowledge to prepare our lives with a new edition in our family. One of the steps we have taken was to go for our full body checkup.

I know most couples go for their premarital checkups before wedding, but for us, we did all our wedding and honeymoon before our checkups. Why? I still remember this convo I had with hubby back in Jul/Aug before our wedding.

Wife: Eh we haven't do our body checkups lar.

Hubby: So?

Wife: So?! What do you mean so? We have to do the checkups not only for our health condition but also for our blood and genes compatibility for our future baby.

Hubby: Why must we do it before our wedding? We can do it after. So what if we do it now? What if we find out that we have some sickness or our blood is incompatible? Are you going to cancel the wedding? Or go ahead?

Wife: That's just an excuse to avoid the checkups

Hubby: I'm not avoiding, just postponing because we don't have the time to do it not. Say we do it now, get the test result in 2 weeks. If all goes well, great! If *touch wood* not? Then what will happen? Break up? Cancel the wedding? Let me ask you. If the test result shows I have sickness or our blood is incompatible and shows that we can't have baby *touch wood*, then will you leave me?

Wife: No! Of course not!

Hubby: Same goes with me. Since we know whatever the result will be, the wedding goes on. Don't worry. No matter what, I'm marrying you. You can't run away from being my wife!!


So finally, we did our physical checkups on Monday. The appointment was at 9am but we arrived at Gleneagles at about 8.30am. After discussion with the nurses and consultation officers, we have decided to go with the BASIC TEST. The tests took about 4 hours to complete. Click here to view the full list provided by Gleneagles.

Gleneagles provided us with a complimentary gift voucher at Dome after our tests completion.

Dome gift voucher

Hubby was super hungry since he was fasting since the previous night. Immediately we went to Dome to redeem our voucher. For complimentary voucher, the choices given were quite decent. Here are our choices:

Hot Cappuccino

Iced Lemon Tea

Spicy Chicken Mushroom Pasta

Beef Bolognese Pasta

This is additional since Hubby was starving:

Wild Mushroom Soup

After our tests, I went back to office and hubby back home. That is how he was able to prepared dinner on Monday.

We will be taking our test result on the 28th Jan 2011. Finger doubled and tripled crossed, we will pass all the tests with flying colors!

Dinner prepared by the Hubby

Yesterday was a Monday, but I get to enjoy a home cooked dinner made by Hubby LOL! Now, Hubby is not the type that likes to cook, but why is he cooking on a Monday?

*Tee hee* Due to time constraint and laziness (main reason), the reason will be in the next post.

For now, let's check out the picture of a simple dinner that Hubby has provided.

Black Sauce Prawn

Minced Pork

Sauteed Pork Ball

Although they are all simple dishes and no extra effort for deco or presentation, the food was extremely yummy! They were all so delicious. Why did all these came about? Next post! For now, THANKS Hubby!

One homely steamboat day

Just yesterday right before dinner time, I asked the Hubby what he wants to have for dinner, and almost instantly, he shouted he wants steamboat! Hmm him and his steamboat.

But right after he said that, he said he wants to have the steamboat tomorrow, which is today, a Sunday. Reason is because we will be doing our body check up tomorrow (yikes!) at Gleneagles Hospital. We have to fast 10 hours before our appointment at 9am. That means we have to stop eating from about 9pm onwards. So, by having steamboat, we can prolong our dinner time and hopefully fill our stomachs for a longer time period.

So fine. I agreed with steamboat. Then, the Hubby said the most bizarre thing - "Let's cook our own steamboat at home!". I was obviously caught off guard, and he said "we can go to Tesco and prepare the items tomorrow afternoon". I was just excited to be able to utilize my kitchenware, so I agreed gleefully.

Pumped with maximum excitement, we dis our grocery shopping in Tesco this afternoon and bought a few steamboat items. After an hour cleaning and slicing and cutting, the ingredients are all prepped.

Raw ingredients ready for steamboat activity

Pork strip

"Choy Sum"

Udon noodles

Fried "foo chuk"

And this is our steamboat! It feels so good to have our own steamboat at home. We get to eat what we want and eat at our own leisure.

Homemade steamboat

This is one of our best dinners at home. So much fun and so "domestic". We enjoyed ourselves so much.

Oh cupcakes!

This is my first cupcake baking experience. LOL I know! After baking for so many years, this is actually the first time I have my hands on baking this. Maybe previously cupcakes were not that much of a hit, and that's why I have not thought of baking it. Even after moving into this new place of ours, I've always put off baking cupcakes because hubby has never been a fan of cupcake. Even cupcakes that I brought from Cupcake Chic or any cupcakes from a bakery, he will never take a bite!

But I can't fight the urge anymore! Everytime I see these pretty little cupcakes, I get excited to bake it cos I wanna decorate it with the topping. So, during my Xmas break, I grabbed the chance and bake my first cupcake.

Being a newbie, I've decided to bake the very basic Vanilla Cupcake, and the topping is just the another basic, which is the butter icing. And after being in the kitchen for 2 hours, here they are!

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Vanilla Cupcake with Butter Icing

Just for fun, I'm gonna post a picture of my "nude" cupcakes LOL! These are the cupcakes baked fresh from the oven without any topping or decoration. Look at how plain and boring they look! But after the topping, it gives it a whole new different look. So much prettier!

"Naked" cupcakes fresh from oven

I had so much fun baking this, but I don't think I'll be baking cupcakes anytime soon. Hubby only took one and that was after I forced him to try it. I guess cupcakes really are not his thing.

Now, I'm so excited to bake another round of cookies.

Hmm it's a date then! With Mr. Oven and Ms. Kitchen tomorrow!

Wedding Tea Ceremony - Part 2

Now is the 2nd part of my Wedding Tea Ceremony that was held on 18th September 2010. Continuing from PART 1, this Part 2 takes off at the groom's place and then to our new home in Cheras.

These pictures were already uploaded on my FB, but here are some of it.

The roast pig gets to go in first

Us finally arriving at the groom's

Started off with some prayers

"Huat ah!!!"

My in-laws

The "serious" group picture

The "crazy" group picture

All of the heng dais in the numbered t-shirt posing in sequence

The ji muis with the shirt ordered and printed especially for them

Tossing bouquet time

The lucky girl (or in this case, the lucky boy)

Us back our own home

"New" hubby removing my veil

"New" wife taking off the hubby's coat

Dai kam che reciting all the good words for marriages for closing ceremony

Us looking at our new partner for life

Muaks!

~ The End ~

For more pictures, pls click on this LINK

Finally, the pictures for the wedding tea ceremony is done. Next is the 2 album remaining from the wedding reception on 25th September 2010. I actually wanna get that done ASAP so that I can start posting my honeymoon pictures!

Bleh I really need to speed up. I will! Since the busy period is over and all celebrations are over.

Oh wait! CNY is approaching. I need to go shopping, take mum for shopping, have meals with dad, bake CNY cookies etc. LOL!