Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Back from our HK trip for more than a week. Been busy & trying to get ourselves back to the routine. We ate A LOT during our trip - 5 meals a day?? So voici the moments de Hong Kong ..........

Day 1 Our 1st breakfast set, @ 美心快餐, left us with very good impression - macaroni with ham strips & fried carrot cake with HK milk tea. Yummy!

Walking in Mongkok

Tea break @ 银龙茶餐. Every bowl of 鲜虾云吞面汤 we had there tasted great! The prawns were so fresh..

Love the 金桔柠檬可乐!

Behind hubby was the hotel we stayed - Park Hotel. Great location & the room was just renovated.

We're out again, to have my birthday dinner @ 汉宝皇宫酒楼, BP International on Nathan Road (I stayed there for my last trip many many years ago) :)

It's my first time eating roast goose. & I craved for roast chicken too... so we ordered both:P Delicious!

Such a meaty dinner!

After dinner, we went back to Mongkok. Sai Yeong Choi Street was closed in the evening... & it's so crowded on a Tues night!

Hubby found one of his fav food - 臭豆腐~!!! And I made sure there's a 'safe' distance between us while he enjoyed it... hehe!

It's Argyle Centre/New Town Mall in the background where I did my shopping in the afternoon & also evening... Lotsa good buy ;)

After all the shopping & walking around, we went back to unload the loots & had a very short rest before out again for supper. Everyday we got in/out of the hotel at least 4 times to put our stuff as well as to rest a lil. Hehe.

Out we went again for supper nearby - 源记粉面茶餐厅. Hubby had 牛杂 & milk tea, I had 鲜虾云吞汤 & 金桔柠檬蜜.

Day 2 Dim sum brunch @ 德兴酒家 TST (Tsim Sha Tsui). Nice! 8 items for S$25nett.. & only after footing the bill did we realise we missed the 50% promo by 5mins:( But for restaurant standard, it's considered cheap enough.

At noon, we went to The Peak. Great view from the Sky Terrace.

Tea time at The Peak

Hubby sipping his favourite green tea latte

Continued to enjoy the chilly breeze @ McDonald's... with a drink & fries:)

A pic of us at The Peak

That evening I craved for some 'zhu chao'. So we'd dinner at another 源记粉面茶餐厅 outlet where we're exploring TST. 咕噜肉, 咸鱼鸡粒, 椒盐豆腐 & we especially love the 滑蛋虾仁... so different from the Spore style.. the scramble egg was so watery...

After dinner, we walked to Avenue of Stars. Fascinating night view of Victoria Harbour

At night, we'd dessert as supper... in fact the following night we went to the same dessert shop (许留山) for more :)

Among the various types of desserts we ate there, these were the ones we love - (from top right) 燕窝雪蛤炖蛋白, 燕窝炖蛋 & 燕窝炖雪蛤. Very cheap & tasted great!

Day 3.

Had dim sum breakfast at a nearby restaurant recommended by the hotel (加拿芬稻香) but were surprised that the one we went, by pick, served much better dim sum. Interesting culture.... almost everyone around us was reading the papers while having their dim sum breakfast...

Knutsford Terrace. We strolled around the vicinity of TST

Tea break after a long walk @ Austin Road's 富都茶餐厅. Hubby enjoyed much of his 手打牛丸面...

& I'd a fried drumstick & two 菠萝油 (菠萝包+牛油) :) More walking & shopping after the break before we'd late dinner (车仔面) near the hotel.

Eating 鸡蛋仔!! We've been seeing this in many TVB dramas & wanted to try since day 1 but we're always too full to eat. It's last night so we would better get it though we just had a feed. Hehe.

The next morning we returned to the restaurant which we found for more dim sum. This time round we got to enjoy the 50% discount & we paid only about S$11nett for 6 items... super cheap! :D

On our trip, we had food & more food.... so much that there wasn't a moment that we'd feel hungry... haha. Our hotel is situated at a very convenient place... just walking distance to TST MTR & there're so many eateries surrounding the hotel. It's a great great trip! :)

Counting Down

2 more days and we'll be in Hong Kong!

Which is why hubby & I are busy settling the most urgent & important stuff. More so for hubby since he's just back in office yesterday. Another half day next Mon to do the final round before we're off to the airport ;)

We're getting excited (didn't feel much when hubby's on ICT) & trying to gather more info on places to visit & the weather since the temperature gets a lil erratic. It's F&E.... due to limited number of days there, most time would be on shopping & eating.. :) Also trying to find out what's more appropriate to wear... colder please!! Hee!

Can't wait!!

Happy Birthday, Honey! :)

Con organised a birthday dinner for his bro last Sat. It's a double celebration for hubby - his birthday & almost the end of his ICT. Almost as he still has a day to go this week... but at least he's done with the toughest days (2 sets of 4D3N in the jungle). Thank God.

Dinner & drinks at Tawandang Microbrewery Dempsey. We ordered 2 litre of Weizen (cloudy) & 2 litre of Dunkel (dark reddish brown).

Hubby got a surprise from the siblings when the singer & her entourage came, singing birthday song to hubby with a birthday cake. I was equally shocked, haha.


My gift to hubby - a Seiko Criteria ;)

The Hubby-less Days

Hubby has started his 3.5-week ICT.... a period which we've been dreading since a year ago, that's because this year's a very tough one.... with 2 x 4D3N outfield training.

I planned to catch up with friends but this year I just couldn't choke up enough energy to do so. Solely due to the very lack of sleep. I haven't been sleeping well since hubby's away... too used to having him around. Sometimes I don't understand myself... been a traveler for 10 years & didn't have too much problems in sleeping in numberous hotels ALONE (without any traveling companion). Which is why too much of anything isn't good for one. But nope, I still will never request lesser attention from hubby, hehe.

But I've no lack of things to do..... thought I could make use of this 3.5 weeks to catch up with stuff (like update blog?) but I was busy every night with miscellaneous chores.

So I only had a get-together & that's with some ex secondary school classmates....

@K Suites on Thurs evening.
Find the one on my right familiar? He is 'Ms Hawaii' haha. Now he is Lieutenant Colonel :O He is re-singled recently & I'm trying to intro some nice gals to him, hee. And hubby says the one on my left, who is 'Ms Chile', looks like a Korean star... a Korean comedian to be exact :P

Counting down to the end of hubby's ICT...... and then... we'll go Hong Kong!! :D

Bits & Pieces of Pre-CNY

Did my red gel nail a week in advance :)

The weekend before CNY, we went to Far East Flora to buy CNY flowers.

We got this instead of pussy willow for this year

And this... mum said it's called 万紫千红. Also bought mum a lil pot of orchid :)

For the first time we bought a tub of carrot cake for CNY. Ordered from Crystal Jade days in advance.

This year we're being too fussy about pastries.... we shopped at the bazaar near my office (Raffles Exchange) during lunch on one of the weekdays & only bought a deep fried sliced lotus root... very tasty (but ex... @$16!).
Glad we bought carrot cake.... it's good substitute during the holiday when we couldn't get food as easily. Tasted really delicious when fried with eggs!

Happy Bunny Year !

1st day of CNY.
The gals were in cheongsam...

.. & red nails ;)

Notice my dear 2nd SIL changed her outfit? She managed to do so since she lived there. Hehe.
I love my cheongsam. It's done by our church friend but altered by someone else (long story). Every1 who saw gave real good comments.. Hee.

In the evening, we didn't go for movie like any other year because FIL's siblings were late in visiting. So hubby's siblings visited us after dinner instead & we'd a happy & money-filled night together.

Gambling?

Nope! It's Monopoly! Haha.

The game ended at about 1am & we all adjourned to an indian muslim coffeeshop nearby for supper. So our 1st CNY night ended past 2am & we only slept at about 3am (yawn~).

Day 2, we'd reunion dinner at home. Mum cooked a very sumptuous lunch!

Generous serving of sharks fin soup prepared by mum... each one of us had, like, 3 bowls? Yummy!

In the afternoon, it's movie with the family @ J8 that's postponed from the previous day.

Day 3, we'd lunch at 5th aunt's in Yishun. Then to another aunt's who lives in Jalan Bukit Merah. There're more & more dropouts - sis, bro, cousins Ann & Candy... while hubby has been such a filial son-in-law & never thought of escaping :) Otherwise mum would have to go to aunts' all by herself.


In late afternoon, we visited my ex-colleague, Lee Lee, in Eunos. She & her husband, both Malaysian, been working in Singapore for the last 15 years & had ever emigrated from Singapore to Melbourne. But they returned to Singapore after some 2 years... just in time to attend our wedding. They've been real true friends... many years ago they came to our rescue when we needed most... She's someone who's very protective of herself, didn't trust people easily & was known to be aloof in the company. That's why it's really God's grace that we can be good friends. And when I approached her for help then, she agreed without hesitation... didn't even ask for reason. We'll always remember their kindness...

The 4 of us had a great catch up of 2 hours:) In the evening, it's movie in AMK Hub.

Day 4, after church, we went to bro's... In the afternoon, to Tampines Mall's Starhub to change our SCV boxes to interactive ones... also shopped a lil @ 1 Tampines.
Just like this, the 4-day CNY holiday ended swiftly...............

Day 5, which was also the first day of work, we're still visiting. After work, we'd Lo Hei @ sis'. And she prepared dinner too. Enjoyed it!

My Works :)

For Uncle CH's wedding.

On the cocktail tables

The stage
Everything was done by hubby & me. Hubby was such a great helper! Hee.

Bought the bulk of raw materials from Far East Flora & Ji Mei
That day our house filled with flowers, flowers & more flowers! ;)

Madness

My inlaws's flat is a corner unit & the adjacent lives 2 sisters who think they're the Queen of AMK. For years they've occupied the common area below their window by lining up their shoes & it stretches all the way to my inlaws' side . Across their unit, at the parapet, they place a big table (yes, it's table, not rack nor cabinet!) of maybe 1m X 0.5m to put their plants. According to them, my inlaws' area is just the both sides till the steps end (there're 2 or 3 steps up before entering every unit). You can't imagine how miserable the area they 'ration' to my inlaws. About a pathetic 30cm2 on each side? Whereas theirs is the WHOLE area to the parapet...! My inlaws have been enduring nonsense from them & since last year or so, they've even mutated into TWO monsterish spinsters!

They demanded my MIL to shift her plants when they're just inches off the invisible boundary set by them.... allegedly watered my inlaws' plants with soap water (as white particles were found on the plant & soil) that caused the flowers to die overnight... etc etc....... The latest mad act was yelling at Uncle CH's new wife when she looked at their plants.

When we're back for dinner last Thurs, my MIL was as usual complaining about her neighbour. We ever told her to fight back, at least to set a limit to the endurance but she wouldn't dare (she may be a good arguer among us but definitely not with outsiders :P). I commented that if such freaks lived next to us, they'd have gotten it from me long ago. Then MIL asked me to fight it out with them on her behalf. I've long wanted to confront them but never as didn't wanna upset my FIL. So I refused & told her the reason but she reassured me (several times) that he wouldn't. Ok so I got the visa for the confrontation! Ha!

According to MIL & all, just by standing outside in front of inlaws' unit (which's also theirs) & looking at their plants would be enough to warrant scolding from them. So I did exactly that. But nope.... nothing. Just when I was chatting with MIL & hubby at the door, hubby whispered that she was coincidentally walking out of the lift & on her way back to her unit (ie. facing us). After shooting a glance at her, I fixed my gaze on her plants while getting ready to be hurled with verbal attack any time. June said she'd join me if a quarrel were to start. Haha. But nothing happened to our surprise.

After a while hubby & I decided to leave. While walking away, I looked into the unit & she's standing straight in the middle of her living room. MIL asked me back after we're halfway through the corridor to the lift. When I passed by back to MIL, without looking in I sensed that the fat woman was still there. After a few words with MIL, the 3rd time walking past I took a look again & this time I saw her holding her mobile phone as if she's taking a pic of me. I was already a few steps past her unit when the deduction was processed to my brain. So I walked back, in front of their gate:

Me: "你在拍我吗?? 来! 我让你拍! (having said that I struck a pose with my hands on my waist)"
Mad Neighbour: "你为什么看进来?!"
Me: "为什么我不可以看!?"
Mad Neighbour: (as if she's a broken record) "你为什么看进来?!!!"
Me: "不可以看进来你就粘张大notice在门口说不可以看lah!!" (but short of telling her that even if she did so I could still look if I want!)
Mad Neighbour: "我打电话报警!!"
Me: "好! 打lor!! 打!!" "打!!!!!" (pointing my finger at her when she's not acting on her words. Hubby later told me I looked really fierce when I said that)
Me: "你不打我们帮你打!!" (at this time hubby took out his phone & as if he's about to call.... P.S. both of us have always been working great as a team! Hee!)
Mad Neighbour: "你一直站在外面做什么!?"
Me: "Hello!! You've already expanded your territory soooo much .."
Mad Neighbour: "你不要跟我讲英文!!!" (then she slammed her door so loud that I'm sure the whole flat could hear it)
Me: "........."

Then my mind was like "thought she's very fierce??? thought she's a teacher???? No, not when I was about to get into the real topic!?" & turned to look at my FIL who's standing behind their gate, flabbergasted. He gave me a smile & shook his head. It ended too fast... way too fast!! I hadn't got the chance to tell her off! Hubby & I turned & walked to the lift. Just when I passed the window next to the mad neighbour's main door, I saw a hand with another handphone camera between the louvered window. "Not again!???". To her "又拍???? 来来来!出来吵lah!" But she immediately retreated. I'm very accomodative.... if she wants to quarrel in purely Mandarin, that's not a problem for me at all.

What's going on with these 2 women??? How mad can a person get??? Did they mean they're trying to capture someone who walked past & looked into their place?? & that person happened to come from next door!? Call the police? What crime have I committed??? Hubby & I just couldn't stop laughing at their stupid, ignorant acts! It's a good gage of their IQ level indeed. I sure know my rights ok! I didn't even land my foot on her steps lest she accused me of trespassing! Nor did I knock on her door after she abruptly cut our quarrel (which I've had high expectations on) by slamming the door; she might complain that I harrass her! Ha!

All of us thought my MIL would have a hard time thereafter dealing with their vengeance. But glad that so far, there's peace (except their "black-faces"). We won't know how long it'll last though.

My Birthday Present

A 5D4N holiday in Hong Kong!!! Yay!!

We've this Holiday Subsidy from my company & hubby's going to top up the balance to make it my birthday present! :D

Isn't it a bit too early to talk about it?! We gotta plan in advance because:

- The Holiday Subsidy will expire in Sept
- I've to clear my 9 days leave by June
- The earlier we book, the cheaper it will be

We've been craving for a trip to Hong Kong together; hubby went there before on a company trip about 3 years ago & my last trip there was... 16 years ago!?

In the meantime, our calendar is filled with CNY preparations (spring cleaning, shopping for goodies & vêtements...), CNY celebrations & hubby's 3-week ICT.
Then finally, our holiday :)

We're crossing off each day, starting now. Hee.

The Last Week of 2010

We started Christmas shopping early & were done about a week before the actual day. So I could afford to wrap a few presents each night & got them all ready on eve of Christmas Eve. Besides attending our church's Christmas event on the eve, I'd nothing else to do! I wasn't really used to being so available as in the past, I'd be busy trying to finish all the gift wrapping... Ha! But of course we're more than happy to have a relaxing Silent Night, with some beer & DVDs ;)

Presents in the inset were for my colleagues... they're wrapped & brought to office days in advance as quite a few went on block leave the week before & after Christmas (since 24th was an official off day; same as 31st & we'd 2 days credited to our annual leave too!:D)

We're blessed with many presents... hubby's on the left:) 1 of hubby's colleagues was so generous to give us bird's nest!

Hubby gave me a very pretty handbag from my current favourite brand (Gracious Aires) & a pair of 'V' cufflinks from me to him ;)

On New Year's Eve, we went on a shopping spree of beddings again (like the past few years, haha). First visited Robinson's in Centrepoint but we're disappointed with this year's post-Christmas sale as there wasn't further discount for members. So we went on to Taka to see if there's any interesting buy. Thank God we did. There's much attractive sale & we bought 2 full sets of bedding set & many towels. We spent our New Year's Day at home & around the neighbourhood... had a great rest :)

On 12.12.10

Our 5-year old wedding bears were on their second assignment! :)


It's (Vince's) Uncle CH's Big Day.......

The gatecrash. As expected, the groom & his brothers didn't really get good treatments. Most of the tricks were too déjà vu but still, who on earth will want to experience them? Haha.
Clockwise (from top left):
The guys were fed with a generous serving of wasabi sandwich.
Passing the seaweed, from mouth-to-mouth. Yeeks!
Picking the cherry tomatoes, bare feet, from a bucketful of ice cubes.
Hubby doing the hula while Uncle CH struggling with the Mandrin version of Amazing Grace. Poor hubby... got bruises around his waist after a few takes as that's not an ordinary hula! Tsk tsk...

Finally fetched the bride & having lunch in Bishan, before the tea ceremony

As we're responsible for decorating the wedding dinner venue, we rushed home to get all the flowers & ourselves ready before arriving at the hotel @3pm. Took us more than 2 hours to get everything done. Then went to the bridal suite to get changed, did my hair & touched up on my makeup. Whew..!

Got all ready well before the guests arrived! ;)

Quite a long night with Praise & Worship, Solemnisation & thank-you speech.

Had a group pic before we left

No Super Long Holiday Tis Year

My lunch at the office pantry area. Packed from downstairs.. No lunching out with colleagues, no long lunch n chats at pantry. Just a super quick 1 b4 going back to my seat to hibernate.. Yawn~

Hubby says I'm suffering from Holiday Withdrawal Syndrome. :-|

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I would have? I would have not??

We'd a firmwide Christmas party in office last afternoon. I supposed to go but tummy wasn't feeling well so I took a rest at my place instead. Then I received a text from one of the colleagues - "Your name was read out at the lucky draw". Very shortly after, a few other colleagues ran to me to break the news..... Apparently it's the 3rd prize (total 5 prizes only) & my name was announced 3 times before they drew another person's. Those who're there thought it's a big regret. One of the gals even said I missed the chance of having a pic with the Chairman (which I didn't feel I miss anything :P) & a big hamper with some vouchers (she thought). About the latter I did feel a lil pinch. Ouch...

I could only console myself that if I were there, I might not have won haha..... as I haven't won in ANY lucky draw before so it wouldn't be different this time?

But then, it could have been a good start ..... just like what we experience in our lives now ... Well well ...

Yuletide Joy

As we're planning for the annual family Christmas party.. I've no idea since when I developed this interesting combi of craving - log cake and curry chicken. Realised I've been asking for these 2 for a few years.. Hehe.

I guess dearest hubby by now already knows his wifey well.. So he wasn't surprised at all when just yesterday that i told him about getting a log cake.

We've been busy with uncle CH's wedding, with work & Christmas shopping so till now then we got down to planning for the party. Needless to talk about sis.. Ever since the start of her new restaurant, her days been totally burnt.

This year, we're having the Durian log cake from Angie The Choice! And curry chicken with lots of coconut milk & potatoes! And sis gonna prepare some other yummy foods :-D

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Our Shopping Loots from KL

Got quite a few cheap & nice items from this trip :D

All my RM25 purchases except the grey piece, which was @RM19. I wasn't allowed to try them on so very happy that they all fit well :)
My recent craze is long tops to match my skinny/tight pants & jeans. I especially love the orange 1 with a see-through lacy back (original price @RM69).. Like the black dress too (last piece), been wanting to buy a casual dress like this. @S$10.50, it's a steal!

The grey shorts @RM25 too & the denim one @RM10 (S$4.20 only!!). And yes, it fits.. hee.

I love the black jacket from Times Sq. At first I didn't wanna buy it as it's relatively more ex (@RM65). But I missed it much... so hubby brought me back the next day to get it :)). The slouchy cardi in grey @RM25.

I finally found the 'Volume Hair Base' (at the top of the pic)! I tried to search in Spore but unsuccessful... & found it in a very small shop in Sungei Wang instead! And guess what?? It's hubby who discovered it when we walked past the shop! So cheap.. bought it @S$5.50 after a 20% discount. It's selling online @US$15!


Some nice shirts for hubby

The cutting of these 2 pants from Times Sq & bermudas fits hubby really well :)

Exchange rate: S$1= RM2.39