Farewell 2009, welcome 2010

2009 has passed us by very quickly, we are now in the 2nd day of 2010. Kids will be going back to school 2 days later, resuming to hectic schedules for most parents including us as Crystal will be in primary 1.

We had KFC as our last dinner for 2009 before heading to SIL's resident for the New Year's eve gathering which started late at around 10pm. It was a pot luck gathering. we brought in food respectively mainly for supper. I was working on New Year's eve that I did not have time to prepare any home cook food for the gathering instead we ordered take away, mee basah, from a shop at Beverly Hills Plaza.

New year's eve dinner at KFC

Christmas fruit cake brought by BIL, Nicky, the liquor taste is pretty strong

according to SIL, Juliana, this is an organic papaya from a friend's farm

Chicken curry by SIL, Juliana, the host

Fried chicken brought by Peter & Sylvia

This photo is upside down (I do not know how to fix it). Pasta salad by Joyce.

We tapau this Mee Basah

Very delicious beef rendang prepared by SIL, Monica. Can't help but tapau some home for my mum. She loves beef rendang.

Sweet corns pudding by Monica as well. I was fast enough to take a photo before it's gone in minutes.

Having supper before the clock strike 12.00

Welcoming 2010. Joining hands for a better 2010. Better Health, Better Wealth, Safe & Peace on Earth.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Mum's birthday & Christmas Gathering

Mum's 65th birthday is on 21st December, the next day is always a "tung" celebration marking the start of winter in the Chinese lunar calendar, some said this day is "bigger" than Chinese New Year.

As the Christmas is just round the corner, I decided to celebrate the ocassions earlier merging mum's birthday and Christmas together on 19th December at my house, the pot luck style.

I baked two cakes, one butter orange cake requested by mum and a small fruit cake, Christmas is not so complete without a fruit cake, so I finally decided to bake a tiny fruit cake yesterday, it was decorated by Crystal and Pearl.

I prepared my speciality for the dinner, that's the spaghetti bolognese, cream of mushroom chicken puff and fried some ready packed chicken rolls. We moved around the furniture a bit to make more space for the evening too, that's kept us busy for the whole day. It was a very memorable and meaningful gathering.

My parents and five of us siblings

I should have taken a photo of the cake :C

A cute little Christmas cake, it's a bit sweet, gonna reduce on the sugar for my next baking.

Pizza from Pizza Hut brought in by Sis

Home made potato and ham salad by SIL, Shirly, Clet like it, I will need to get the recipe from her.

spaghetti bolognese by me

Older generation like my parents always prefer to have rice. Alfred took over the wok cooking this fried rice under the supervision of his wife, Catherine who is due to gave birth to a son end of this month. He is picking up cooking very well.

A big plate of fried meehoon by Alfred too, prove of great improvement in his cooking.

Egg and ham sandwiches ordered from the shop

fried chicken roll

Cream of mushroom chicken puff and tuna puff, my favourite baking.

Pause from eating to take a photo. Clet is busy fixing the video cam at the background.

sisters sharing a small table, Pearl and Anneliese were playing more than eating, they left their food almost untouched.

Christmas Decoration is up

While I was busy baking cookies this afternoon, I asked Pearl to help me to take some of our Christmas decorations that Clet has put up inside the house. Most of the decorations are old ones. I can feel that this year's celebration is very quiet, the mechandise and decorations put up by the shopping complexes are much lesser than previous years, recession has really set in...:(

Do you like Bambangan pickles?

I love Bambangan pickles, but not for Clet and my 2 daughters. They would close their nose as soon as I open the container of bambangan pickles. This was what happened this afternoon when I mixed some of it with my plain noodles. One closed the nose and the other shouted, "mummy, please close the container rigth now, I hate the smell of it". "alright, alright!" I said.


Bambangan belongs the wild mango family, it is a famous traditional appetizer to the Kadazan and Dusun tribes but it has gained popularity among other communities as well. The fruit can be eaten when it's ripen but I prefer it to be made into pickles. Bambangan pickles last for several if it well stored. I normally refrigerate it.

My birthday

It's time to update on my birthday, gosh.. I'm already 41. First of all, I would like to count my blessings for which God has given me and my family, and also pray and hope that God will hear my prayers and grant us our wishes. Thank you Lord.

My birthday breakfast at Bandaran Berjaya.

A mango birthday cake, especially ordered by SIL, thank you.

Discovering what birthday present my girls have picked for me

A new oven, a present from Clet, thank you. The bottom heating element of my old junk oven has stopped working just a few days before my birthday, just in time to start a new one for Christmas as well.

We dropped by Wong's house to cut the cake after dinner. You may want to find out what we had for my birthday dinner here.

The best birthday present

I have not been participating Tuesday Toot for quite a while , and I am back this week cos I have to give my precious little daughter, Crystal, a "Toot" for her wonderful birthday card that she had personally designed for me on my birthday last Wednesday, 2nd December.

She insisted to draw me a birthday card just an hour before the birthday dinner. She has also insisted her Daddy to buy me a birthday present on the very afternoon, popping in and out of the boutiques in the shopping complex, and finally, she decided on a floral long skirt for me. She was so tired that she felt asleep in the car on the way to fetch me off from work.

The messages in the card is simply pure and sweet though with some spelling mistakes which I do not mind at all. I love her thoughtfulness and her creativity. I read the card again and again, and always put a smile on my face each time I read it. This has become the wall paper for my computer at work. It takes the work pressure off me by looking at it. :D

Thank you, my precious Crystal, you have given mummy the best birthday present ever, love you lots!!

Especially designed by Crystal

Book : Secrets of Asia's Most Successful Internet Gurus

I found a very good and informative book on Internet Marketing written by Pearlin Siow entitled, "SECRETS of Asia's Most Successful INTERNET GURUS" at Popular Book store. The selling price for this book is RM45.60 with a 20% off.

It was so interesting that I managed to finish reading the whole book in a night, yes, in just a matter of few hours. For those who are into Internet Marketing will definitely benefit from this book, big time; it is very well written and easy to understand. It has enhanced my knowledge to the wide range of Internet Marketing out there though a lot of work still needed to be done in order to get the know hows on areas that interest me most.

The content of the book is written in an interview contexts. The content covers :

1. List Building - Jaz Lai
2. blogging - Alvin Phang
3. Pay-Per-clicj (PPC) Advertising - Eugene Ang
4. Affiliate Marketing - Ewen Chia
5. Ebay - Benjamin Marc Wee
6. Niche Marketing - Patric Chan
7. Membership Website - Ian Del Carmen
8. Search Engine Marketing - Fabian Lim
9. Content Marketing -Patrick Grove
10. Copywriting - Ng Khai Siung

You will find each Gurus revealed their success methods in this book and the best thing is that it provides the websites for each Gurus at the end of each topic which allows us to explore further on what they have to offer.

Personally, I reckon this is a very good read for a newbie like me and recommend to all.

Christmas Gifts Ideas

Christmas is fast approaching, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, it's also time for giving and count our blessing on this special occasion. Have you decided on the Christmas gifts that you would like to give to your loved ones?

To avoid the traffic jam, crowded shopping complexes and long queues at the paying counters, it would be a good idea to start your shopping spree on line, there are many choices and brands for you to choose from, the prices are reasonable too..

Nice clothing, shoes, designer handbags are among some of the gift ideas that pop up in my mind. For those who like golfing, a pair of fashionable golf shoes is what they are waiting for; a pair of sneakers or running shoes would be suitable for whom like to work out and enjoy outdoor activities. Why not buy yourself a pair of beautiful shoes for the celebration too..? I would love to.

Movie : Disney's A Christmas Carol

From Wikipedia

We brought our girls to watch The movie, A Christmas Carol (2009) on Friday night, they totally did not enjoy the movie. Right from the beginning, the face of the bitter and miserly old Mr Scrooge is not pleasant to them, there came the Ghost of the Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come scared the heal out of the kids. Just a few minutes after the movie has started, Pearl asked to go home. Crystal covered her face under her daddy's arm and slept almost throughout the movie just to let the time past. Pearl only watched those pleasant scenes when I told her no more scary ghosts, other times she covered her ears and used the jacket to cover her face most of the time.

The moral of the story for the movie is good, however, the kids would prefer not to watch it due to the scary ghosts scenes. When I asked Crystal what does she think of the movie, her replied was, " Not nice, made my mind full of *momok* (ghosts) now". Luckily she was able to sleep because she woke up early to attend her introductory class in the morning, she was very tired and sleepy that night.

Picture from Wikipedia

Crystal & Pearl were fascinated with the Barbie in a Christmas Carol which was released on 4th November in 2008. We thought they will be delighted to watch the newly released Christmas Carol, instead, it's was a very disappointing movie outing.

The stories of these two movies are similar. Barbie in a Christmas Carol is definitely merrier in comparison. The Christmas Ghosts characters are not that scary thus acceptable by the kids.

Home baked pizza

Nice to have public holiday! Got the chance to bake something in the oven. I bought a 10" pizza pan the other day, and eager to try baking a pizza. It's a home baked pizza cos I used the pre-packed pizza flour for the dough by just adding on the toppings so it's not a home made pizza.

my new 10" pizza pan
Our girls have longed been asking me to make a pizza after seeing one of the Barney VCD last year. After pressing the dough on the pan and spreading a layer of thousand island dressing, I let them put the toppings on the dough however they want it. They enjoyed the task very much.

An unbaked pizza fully packed with chicken sausages, crab stick, mixed vegetable and shredded cheddar cheese. It is too thick than I was worried whether the dough can be cooked probably or not, I took the chances by putting it into the oven anyway, just need a bit longer baking time.

The baked pizza after 30 minutes. 10 minutes longer than the instructed baking time.

Crystal kept saying it's very delicious, she finished the whole portion of her share (cos she is very hungry at tea break, no lunch earlier on for the day).

Like usual Pearl eat some and play at the same time, she only ate the toppings but not the pizza bread.

The pizza bread is not as nice as expected. Probably I should make my own dough from scratch next time (only if I have got the time :C)

Sarawak local produce

It has been a long drive from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to Kuching, Sarawak. After the first trip about a month ago, Clet told me that he would not want to travel to Kuching by road again. However, due to work commitment, Clet and his nephew Mitchell drove to Kuching last week, it took them 9 days for a return trip this time. Haha...the journey to Kuching by road does not take that long, don't be misled by the numbers. They took a few overnight stops along the way to and back from Kuching. They have to go through Brunei, Miri, Bintulu and other towns before reaching their destination. The good thing about driving instead of flying is that they are able to visit their business counter parts along the way; Mobility is the main reason why they decided to drive despite of the long journey.

Clet bought back many types of Sarawak local produce, all are dried food, very hard and crunchy snacks. There are two types that I have not seen and tried before, that's the vegetarian goose meat and bird's nest with rock sugar sweets. The goose meat is very hard and dry while the bird's nest sweet is overly sweet.

(Bottom left to right) Bird's nests with rock sugar sweet, biscuit telinga, ring biscuit, assorted crispy rice biscuit, Peng Piang, (Top right to left) vegetarian goose meat, keropok pisang