YEAR OF THE RAT!

I AM BACCCCKKKK! i am so tired! really bad eyebags! been sleeping at 1am this mth oredi spent$20x 3 days late for school! thats like many bowls of sushi salad! for this blog i did the draft on 17th Feb but didn't get a chance to do anything after that! ANYWAY here i am .. been really busy with school cos i switch to help out in mandarin after school and no longer in spanish... its been crazy before new year and during it and we are still busy till today!

last entry updated till mon 4th day... tuesday was kinda shocker... it was my last spanish class. switched to chinese cos a collegue left the school. straight after school went to amk where gerald fetch me to go for dental appointment cos my teeth like giving me problem, needed to check before cny so that i can eat all the sweet tidbits without having any problem. after the dentist i finally decided to go see doctor regarding an insect bite just below my right bum! its huge thou it look small here! so painful that i couldn't sit and sleep properly. sob sob.

i got it from sunday after the busy day at mum's or at the revolving restuarant toilet. went back to fetch mum to doctor too as her knee was hurting and we got to see the doctor at 9.10pm (appointment at 8.40pm) long q! when i showed the doctor the sore, he was very stern asked me how many days and i freak out cos i know i was gog to hear something scary. he said i should not have waited for 2days to go see a doctor cos if the bite from DUN KNOW WHAT insect could have been fatal... at first when i discovered the bum i tot it was jus seat dirty thus i got a sore... but decided to see doctor cos it swelled up and was painful and hard! i got scared, gx got worried. got an injection and was put on strong antibotics!


i love these darker brown abalones but can never tell whats in the can till u open it... so life is like a can of abalone, you never know what you'll get.

had steamboat that nite at mums and bro did up the one which was charcoal, our tradition steamboat came out only once a year and sure it had difference! it taste better. everytime i see this it reminds me of my paternal ah gong. now that we all grown up the steamboat really seems small cos the soup finished very fast!

tuesday at work after breakfast ate my 2nd dosage of med. HEART CRAMPED! badly no choice went to see the school nurse they say hardly can hear my airwave... cos breathing was painful! chest hurts! gerald came and drove me to the nearest doctor in marsiling area and went to see the doc. he said cos the med mit be too strong for me or i didnt eat enough thus the med caused gastric jucie thus reaction caused chest pain... gave me another set of milder med for my bum cos i really need to ge rid of it! toxin! went home i slept to get rid of chest pain. while asleep the rest were cleaning and decorating the house. woke up had reniuon dinner with his family.

Opened up the gifts from students. Han's (korean) mum very sweet gave a little package filled with 2 oranges, a packet korean ginseng sweet a handphone charm and a paper korean fan! recieved pineapple tarts from kate (chinese) and Nicholas's pineapple tarts were home-made with cute little hearts! (the only angmo boy who gave us gift)

after dinner rushed to clean up room and then showered jus in time and i was in RED top and bottom (just for fun - i looked very dead!), to countdown to new year. slept after that cos i took med.


1st day of CNY - woke up early and felt hungry! ate lunch then we went to his 1st uncle's house. this year very late then we set off and i was right that we mit be the 1st few there cos the rest had kids sure come late.

after we went back to mums and we were 1st few too. then we had steamboat as usual and then it jus felt odd without grandpa. the orchids chosen by sis and me and planted by me and bro.

the whole coffeetable filled with cookies, sweets and baqua! this steamboat is my paternal family tradition but this dish is oso loved by my maternal side! Love this! and of cos my favourite abalone! love the ends most! another tradition YUSHENG. mum's 1st yusheng of the year of the rat, but before that we had our 1st at the dinner at revolving restaurant. went home to sleep cos i felt so tired from the medication.

2nd day of CNY - woke up early went over to uncle k's place to help him out on his secret project! then it lasted longer then we tot and went home to greet his mum's side relatives. there are many of them as my MIL has got 9 other sibling above her and he's got lots of cousins! the house was very joyous cos so many of them talking at the same time! i got myself stuck in the kitchen to start preping for the yusheng! this is the 3rd time we are preparing this for his relatives and very sad most of them think we bot it the last 2 years! so this year as we went over to my uncle's place we started later and thus they get to see us in action. usually they dun get to see how much work there is in prep! we gota shred, peel and cut ingredients and we finished it early morning before they arrive. thus this time they see the effort put in by my sil, her bf, gx, me and my fil! my mil is kept out of the kitchen so that she will get to mingle with her sisters. had a good chat with his cousin who's teaching in HK. i like talking to her! thus time flew passed and i ran out of my room to kitchen to prep the yusheng!

short lion dance before we started the lou hei session. took the opportunity to have a family shot with the lion!

the yusheng set up by my sil and me! with all the aunts eyes on us...

the salmon i bot was lOVELY! it was good. fil cut a piece and i put those into the yusheng. cut the other for sashimi and it was snapped up and we had to cut the last peace and yes in split seconds gone cos it was good! OYISHI!

helped to clean up and rushed to fetch mum and rest to amk hub to catch our annual miidnite movie! this time was stephen chow's CJ7... before the movie it was hilariuos a little weird but i like and am proud to be in the BIG FAMILY GROUP PHOTO taken outside the cinema! as for the show, didnt like the part where he had the freak accident... cos the little gal who acted as the little boy cried so terribly i felt so sad, i teared... dun like to tear on cny! and moreover i tot of my gpa... when i say i dun like its jus that i tear but her acting was really good superb. but i wished i saw this some other day and not during cny... cos i didnt wana cry! other day i would have praised the movie! overall i do like it alot...meaningful!

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Day 3: gerald fetched me to uncle k house and went off with his parents to his aunt's place. I was there early to help uncle k with his video. while alone up in the room, i could hear kids' excitment. thought the rest of the little ones were here so i went down to join in the fun... as i walked towards the pool, i saw a very familiar person, my aunt's guest.... its my student's mum! i called out for my student... AND her mum jumped cos surprise to hear someone who know her daughter's name! they turned out to be my aunt's neighbour! they were invited over to minggle, my uncle had walked all the way out twice to have the float up! wat a great daddy!

the twins very cute in their vietman costumes! uncle and aunt went viet in Jan, another place that i wana visit! i wana see angkor wat. dinner on their square table was fantastic zhicha. must ask where!

uncles bdae, cousin group shot, we are surely turning younger with the little ones in our group!

love taking photos in uncle k's house cos many nice areas, well decorated. thats the same wall we took our wedding pics and the plant is surely growing well! our family's 3rd round of yuseng! we had very meaningful speeches before tossing... after watching the debut of uncle's video, pictures of old days, they felt alot. we never forget anybody, we were all thankful for each other.

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day 4: a very tired me on sunday... after gog to peng's house, troy's house, rushed home to prepre chocolate fondue for my si friends! we had to skip christine's house as we were still in mourning and we did not want to affect her pregnancy so i was glad to have them over althou it was a very last minute proposal i was happy they came over! here's link from serena's blog to see all the cookies i bought from cookie museum.

http://starrfire7.blogspot.com/2008/02/4th-day-of-lunar-new-year.html

love my jade necklace that i bought from HK buddha temple.

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5th day: it was on a monday. my PIL started selling on the 4th day thus they continued to sell on the monday instead of resting as usual. tot me and gerald will have to settle dinner outside cos not enough people to eat steamboat so no need to set it up then in the afternoon, bro called and told me that uncle k reserved 2 tables for dinner at PRIMA towers. YEs the same revolving restaurant that my family went for early reunion dinner ! within a week we were back to eat there again! anyway the place was recommended to my mum by uncle k but we were not expecting the treat thou!

uncle k brought mum, aunt s, twins out to He Pan at Marina promenade in the afternoon, before he suddenly suggested the treat ... anyway guess we really are family cos we think very alike! cos uncle k ordered the same menu... ask to change the pork to scallops... so pictures are the same as the one we ate for reniuon dinner! even the dessert was changed to toffee bananas so glad i can eat those sweets again!

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during this period ... i took on the job as a mandarin aide for after school activites, so i quit spanish. this paid better and thus i was busier. i have to help prepare worksheets and thus busy loading chinese fonts. chinese new year i hate qurrelling with others, but i broke the rule even thou i dun like it but i had to. felt that everyone thinks i shouldn't, i should have let it go, they are not in my shoes and they seemed afraid to mess things but i had enough. rudeness cannot be tolerated any longer! i never blog on it cos i wana stay happy and forget about it... gerald was my support.

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on the seventh day, ren ri, for the 1st time our family, we met after work to celebrate our birthdays together, courtesy of my uncle m and aunt o who threw us a dinner at long beach at dempsey. my first time to dempsey... yes i never been there before.

the lobster was gigantic! 2 ways of having it. sashimi or just dip in hot broth. I loved it RAW! never knew it taste sooooo good raw. had alot as there was alot of meat. when ever am i gog to have this again???

alaskan crab in 2 styles, black pepper and just plain steamed. gx like the steam while i like pepper. huge... meaty, succulent! very fresy and tasty! its crazy seafood! i felt very blessed to have an uncle who dotes on the family cos he always shares and give the family a special treat...

the lobster head was not wasted... it was added to porridge... the most expensive porridge i ever eaten... sweet...

the durian pudding was a nice touch to end the course... but wished i could have another bowl! the kids fascinated with the dry ice.

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Valentines' day! the cards i got from my kids! i love the garfield card most. the korean mum in my class is very nice, got my tcher and me royce.


cookies from school and the flower made by my student's mum. my new found love!-quaker mini delight buttered popcorn!!! after one packet and i couldn't find any in all supermarkets! took me a week and when i finally found it at taka after spa... I took the last 4 boxes left on the shelves! got sis hook on it! got a nano chup free for my hp when i bot chups to give away for vd.

got dap to join me for dinner. we planned to go out but cos i needed time to do my mandarin worksheets i suggested to her that i make soup and tabao sushi. we were glad to nuah at home cos we can imagine how crowded town is! i had to wait very long when i tabao sushi almost 40mins! took advantage that dap was coming from wheelock and i called and ask her to buy my favourite spike d! durian mousse covered chocolate! LOVE this haven had this for a while!

Lucky dap jus came back from spain not long, we both had soup and then the sushi was too much! haha i bot too many! she got me "black salt" and "cinnamon sugar" from Spain! we watched her pics on tv and loveed it... i wana go spain... the lucky woman now is in hk as i am typing... she was sent there on tues for work!

i found these separately and i had to get it, gave this to gx "vd gift" but more like its for myself. got these korean strawberries and hoping they were sweet but they were not (dun like fruits from ntuc!) ... so gx did the sugared version. thats all he did... no card, no gift.... the next day i went shopping alone for a gift and walked for very long before i found canele, haven shop around cityhall for very long thus all the changes in town seems so unfamiliar to me! but it made it fun for me as thou gog to new places. then accompanied sis to see makeup artist.

love the packaging!

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SAT... i wanted to re-celebrate VD. somehow althou we dun like to go out dinner on VD, i still felt that something was amiss for us as we would usually eat dinner, spend time together but too bad he had to work that day. after reading shanice's blog... i jus msg him to say i wanted a rose... a stalk and i was thinking after vd should be normal price... cos he ever say sometimes i need to tell him what i wan... for the whole week except for long beach dinner i see very little of him and wanted to spend sometime on that sat. well this is the stalk he got me!!! got a shock by this an enormous pink annoying smiley flower when i opened the door! annoying yet cute!

So afterplanning in the morning after tuition i went walking near 2nd avenue and chanced upon a pie shop so i bot a white wine sauce chicken pie *not bad, a ratatouille pie *gx dun like and i was ok at first then too much root veg taste... we got a quiche but we kept that for dinner for other days, the best among the savoury that i bot. the blueberry pie had mini mashmellow which i had to heat up in the oven before i ate it. not bad. the custard tart was alrite.

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for gx family, we did one more round of yusheng! but we added the purple cabbage from sil's bf for colour and crunch. not too bad! very pretty colours! very vibrant!

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17 or 19th? Mayer cooking class. my 1st free cooking class but went all the way to imm. best part is i gota go hm after school instead of having time at daiso...cos i forgot to ring the voucher... time wasted and i got very tired.

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busy with chinese, sis's wedding preps, gx's biz, attended bwl annual dinner, talks on new products, JJ concert at bwl award show, got very tired as i slept almost 1am + evereyday... i am exhausted. but still, went out gerald cos i didnt want to get stuck to the bed.

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gx made up to me by bringing me out on tues, didnt bring camera, i chose to go try out a bloggr's recommendation. at sunshine plaza we ate dimsum, was interesting to try out the yutiao zhuchangfen and their hargow was very prawnie! 2 shrimps in each! we didnt order alot cos we wanted to try others! went to pray and then headed to sim lim to get stuff and it was time to eat again! ate thai. ordered pad thai and chicken with cashew nuts. pad thai was nice texture but alittle sweet for me and i love the chicken! we are definitely gog back to try the rest of the dishes!

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the next day we went to mph spent 45mins in there got mysef 2 new cookbooks on chinese dishes and soup, he got biz books and we got a book on inner powers... another new love would be breadtalk's coffeeball not coffe o'! its coated with almond flake on coffee ganach, and inside the bun a ball of coffee ganache...but not all BT has it, so when i went down to citylink i had to get it! exhausted...

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just yesterday i cooked teriyaki cod, not too bad the sauce was nice. and bot a nice packet of fresh sausage! gog to cook the rest of teh sausage next week with spagetti. wanted to post this up yesterday 29th feb before 1st march... but i went to sleep... i want to sleep...