Thursday 29 April 2010

Father's 73th birthday

Received mum's call in the office informing me that for everyone conveniences we will be celebrating father's birthday on Sunday, 25th April 2010 instead of on his actual birthday on Wednesday, 28th April 2010 (the 15th day of March in the Chinese Lunar Calendar).

To gather everyone is something not easy to do especially each and everyone of us have got our own ideas on how to make the occasion different as compare to the previous years.

We were planning to bring father to try German cuisine but mum did not like the idea rather she prefer to have spicy barbecue fish at one of the shop they have been for two times before, both father and herself really like the dishes there, the dinner was set on Wednesday which I intended to join them.

However, the next day, big sister suggested that it's better to have a potluck dinner at her home since both of our parents have not been there for quite a while. After a few phone calls to other siblings, we all agreed to her idea and there we were birthday dinner at big sister's home.

I baked a cake, suppose to be a green tea cake but I have to control on the amount of green tea powder for the cake for the sack of the kids.

Crystal came to the kitchen while I was almost done with the cake, like usual she always wants to help out.

The cake is done
Sis and sis in law coincidentally prepared french fried, ended up we got lots of french fries to munch before dinner.
Chicken with potatoes and tomatoes prepared by Albert & Shirly. They boiled a pot of nice soup too but I forgot to take a photo of it.
Clet's idea to bring mee as a it's symbolizes longevity. I am not good at cooking delicious mee so we tapau from the shop near sis's house.

Mixed vegetable by big sister
Meat balls and nuggets brought in by Catherine
Sweet and sour pork leg prepared by big sister, it is a special recipe from my mum.

getting ready for dinner
Big brother & family not in the picture. They brought parents to an exotic dinner the next day, they had crocodile meat. Crocodile meat is believed to be good for people who suffer from asthma, just nice for father.
Anneliese and Ensond both wanted to blow the candles
Piece of the cake left

Experiencing spring time

Though we are not in the four seasons country, I do experience the season of spring with flowers blooming at our front yard. The long waited rain really had made the weather a whole lot better and bringing more green and flowers to the earth.

one of Clet's favourite orchid



Friday 23 April 2010

Trade Show Exhibits

Everyone of us who have been to trade shows, exhibitions and events would have noticed that there are many varieties of trade show exhibits, displays and booths as compared to previous years.

Nowadays, the presenters do not mind investing on high quality custom made trade show display and booths because these items can be considered as assets to the company as they are usually printed with their companies' name and can Velcro graphic on them too. The best thing is these items can be utilized many times again and they are highly portable for transporting locally as well as overseas, therefore, it is beneficial for companies who often participate in promotions or trade fairs both local and overseas.

Exhibit furniture like table covers, table top display, directors chairs are the necessities for every events. These items are extremely versatile. Logos can be added to them. Event table covers and table top displays are ideal for displaying the company's products, there are many rich colours and shapes to choose from. Directors chairs are commonly used in the film industry and it is also used for seating at any trade fairs.

Visit your local trade fairs, you will find many other trade show exhibits used by the presenters with different designs, colours, shapes with their very own logos printed on them.

Thursday 15 April 2010

La Jolla banquet rooms

One of my colleagues, Tiara, is getting married this coming June. She and her husband to be have been planning for their wedding since they got engaged last May.

Since they do not intend to have a very huge wedding reception they can afford to make the occasion extravagant just for their close family members and friends. To get more ideas and information of having a wonderful and memorable wedding banquet, they started to search through the internet and inquired many hotels wedding packages with the hope that they can find one that best suit their needs, however, after numerous inquiries and site visits, they are very disappointed that none can actually fit in what they are looking for, they even thinking of hire a wedding planner to do the job for them which will cost them dearly.

As the date draws nearer, they started to search the internet again, they are very pleased to come across the La Jolla banquet room at Trattoria-Acqua where they can offer a wedding banquet that suit them perfectly. The banquet dinner menu pricing is very reasonable and they love the restaurant buyout idea that allows exclusivity for their special occasion.

I am very honor to have received their wedding invitation card yesterday and very much looking forward to this exclusive banquet of a taste of the Mediterranean in the village of La Jolla.

Sunday 4 April 2010

Fresh, Soft and Spongy Wholemeal Bread

Been trying to bake soft and spongy bread like those selling at the shops using my new bread maker, but the results were very disappointing. My parents are always the evaluators to my baking, their comments were "very dry, can't even swallow", goodness! :( so I search the net for other bread recipes and noticed that many of them are using the bread improver.

Got myself some bread improver with the help from my colleague who did some purchasing from a local cake & bread ingredients supplier on Thursday, I was very eager to see what difference can the bread improver made, I added a very small amount of it to my ingredients, set the timer and went to sleep.

My wholemeal bread in the morning, I woke up before it is baked so that I can take it out immediately to avoid letting it to collapse by leaving it in the bread maker for too long.

The crust is a bit hard, I cut them away. Some adjustments need to be made on the setting.

Softer and spongier wholemeal bread hidden in the hard crust.

Heart shape and star shape sandwiched with cheese and coconut butter spread as breakfast for my girls.

A good start to eating wholemeal bread. Of course the shapes of the bread caught their attention.

Thursday 1 April 2010

Palm Sunday Mass

This was taken on last Saturday during sunset mass. This view was captured at the entrance of the cathedral.