Happy Year of the Rabbit!!!

Wishing everyone a fantastic Year of the Rabbit!!

May it be a year of hopping joy, abundance, good health & luck for you and your family!

恭喜发财！

Called Home To The Lord - We Will Miss You Ian Tan

It was so sudden, so shocking. We hoped that it was someone else...

COWs Update - 14 months

Time passes by so quickly.

I could remember almost a year ago when the little COWs were just learning how to adapt to their new environment.

Now, they can do almost "adult" tasks...

The COWs 1st Birthday

Finally... Both little COWs have turned 1. They've moved up from babyhood to toddlerhood and the "fun" is just beginning...

My sister and bro-in-law held their party at Marmalade Cafe, Plaza Mont' Kiara. I've been to the branch of Marmalade Cafe at Bangsar Village II quite a number of times and like the healthy food there. The cupcakes are good and the Oreo cheesecake is just spectacular.

1st Milestone

It's amazing how 1 year goes by so quickly... Here's to many more happy milestones... ;-)

Stay tuned.

Quiet Month...

It's been a quiet month on my blog. Yeah, I've been a bit lazy to do my updates. I've got tonnes of photos to edit and burn but didn't quite get up to it.

So, what have I been up to?

1. Parents went to Chiang Mai for a holiday - leaving me to take care of the dogs and etc.
- I have to rush back from the office during lunch to release both dogs for their toilet break.
- Good that I can have lunch at home which is cheaper and healthier.
- Bad that I had to race up and down, paying double tolls for the time they were away.

2. More work
- Yes, I had some work to do which was both interesting and frustrating at once.

3. Rush, rush, rush on my b'day yesterday
- Yes, I've turned another year older. Am I wiser. Errr... Jury is still out on that.
- I had to rush quite a number of things yesterday. It feels like last year all over again when I was under immense pressure to get something up to show to my client.
- This year, I had to prepare for a small demo but thank goodness it's only for the R&D team.

4. My photos?
- Aaaaaahhhh.. I'll post something up on a lovely small eatery I visited a couple of months back...

Anyway, it's a Friday. Time to take it easy.

Have a great weekend folks!

Happy Woo Hoo Year of Tiger!

Hope that everyone will have a fantastic reunion dinner with family and friends tonite!

Here's wishing that the Year of the Tiger will be a ROAARRRRIINNGG success and happiness for everyone!!!

1, 2, 3....

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM SEEEEENNNGGGGG!!!!!

恭喜发财！！！

So Curious...

I can't believe that the twins are about to turn 5 months old!!

They are both quite adorable now and are very curious about their surroundings.

We don't take them out often as they were not strong enough to sit on their own. Besides, it is quite a hassle to bring the twins out. You have to prepare 2 of everything...

Anyway, on a rare occasion, we brought both of them out for lunch. Charlotte was sleeping, while Olivia was being entertained by a clown in the restaurant. Her Papa was holding on to her while she leaned forward...

Don't let looks deceive you. She was actually very excited with the balloon dog she had. She kept talking to the toy until she fell asleep.

Haha.. So adorable!

Children of God

Last week was my nieces' baptism!!

Finally, after months of waiting, my sister & bro-in-law got them baptised...

Charlotte being baptised with water after being anointed.

Olivia being baptised with water after being anointed.

Being baptised is just one of the many milestones in life as a child grows up. Soon, both Charlotte and Olivia will go through the rest of the sacraments like First Confession, and First Holy Communion when they are 8 or 9 years old. At that age, both of them will be able to partake with the Mass where they can partake the Body & Blood of Christ.

When both of the twins reach their adulthood at about 16 or 17, they will go through Confirmation where they will fully realize their gifts during baptism, making a commitment to God. They will most likely take 1.5 to 2years to prepare for this as it is a BIG step in their lives.

The twins were fully awake during the celebration and did not cry when the priest poured the Holy Water over their heads. In fact, both of them smiled and laughed when the priest blessed and anointed them!

It is such a joy to see people being baptised, knowing that they will embark on a journey of faith and love with God.

Anyway, I've friends who were baptised as adults and they usually went on "fast track" where they also had Holy Communion & Confirmation at one go. One of my friends also symbolically changed his clothes to wear white once he was baptised to show that he was cleansed from original sin.

Well.. it's a long but fruitful journey in faith for both Charlotte & Olivia now..

It's FRIDAY!!!!

Smile folks!! It's finally FRIDAY!!!!!

Hope that you folks will enjoy the weekend. Well, it's about 1 month to CNY and so, I'll be going around to take photos of those lovely decorations again. Hmmm.. Wonder if I should get a new lens first before I go around shooting.

Anyway, have a great weekend!!!

Merry Blessed Christmas & Seasons Greetings

I'm taking a break from all the Sekinchan postings...

Anyway, it is that time of year again where hedonistic consumerism may consume us all, or the spirit of giving redeems us... Yes, it's Christmas.

I didn't have a lot of time to make my way around the malls to photograph all the merriment and decorations. So, I'll just post up what I have.

I finally did put up my Christmas tree. Although it isn't as big and as lovely decorated as this one, the tree gives a warm glow to everyone in the house.

Here's wishing everyone a Merry, Blessed & Joyful Christmas! May you enjoy the festivities & good cheer with your loved ones around you...

World Diabetes Day

14th November is World Diabetes Day.

The reason why I'm blogging about this is because my mother's sister suffers from Type 2 Diabetes. We don't have any substantial medical history if my mother's parents or other relatives suffers from the disease previously. So, when we heard that she had it, we were shocked.

A lot of folks do not realize the dangers of consuming too much refined sugars in our diet.

There are also alot of myths surrounding getting the disease such as "I'm thin, I won't get the disease" or "None of my family members had the disease and so, I won't get it."

Based on what I've read, it seems that researchers cannot pinpoint exactly why some adults will develop the disease despite being perfectly healthy and active. Of course, being overweight and not having a healthy lifestyle makes us more susceptible to developing the disease.

Some years back, my family discovered a book on the dangers of sugar and we started to cut back on our intake of processed foods. However, I've learned now that cutting back sugars is only 1 small part of the puzzle. The major part of the staying healthy is to be active, i.e. exercising.

My recent health scare has prompted me to take a more serious action on this as diabetes can cause many problems such as heart disease and kidney problems. Diabetes can also destroy nerves which leads to limb amputation and blindness. I learned that my blood sugar was a bit high and so, decided to learn more about this disease.

However, if you get diabetes, it does not mean that you'll need to have insulin injections. There is oral medication if you are found to be insulin resistant. That's why it is important to have a full medical check-up as the doctor would be able to prescribe the right therapy for you.

Besides that, getting diabetes also does not mean that your diet must be entirely sugar free. Diet changes should be to cut back on all foods with refined sugars such as white bread, sugar (obviously), soda drinks, anything which contains "corn syrup or high fructose syrup". Diabetics can still take sugars but in very very small amounts and less frequent as possible. Our bodies still need sugars as fuel.

Get your blood sugar checked. Prevention is better than cure...

The Twins Have Grown... A Lot!

The twins celebrated their full moon on 3rd October but I did not have the time (and energy) to organize my full moon photos... :P

Now that they are just past their 2nd month, I'm sure lots of people are curious as to how big my nieces, Charlotte and Olivia has grown.

I can tell you that they are doing very well and I noticed how big they've grown after 4 days in the hospital. It was as though they sprouted overnight.

Give me a "T"!!!

I took this photo at the end of last month when I was resting at home. Both twins had just woken up for their feed and we were waiting for the hot water to be ready to give them their morning bath. As you can see, baby Charlotte (in the foreground) has grown taller. Her face has gotten a bit rounder.

Give me an "L" (reversed...)

Here's a picture of baby Olivia. As you can see, she is almost bursting from her clothes... Yes, she is a bit heavier than her older sister, Charlotte.

According to my sister, both twins are slightly overweight. However, it is not too bad at this stage as they seem to be self-regulating the amount of milk they want to drink. They will stop feeding when they are full and no matter how hard we try to get them to complete their milk, they will refuse to drink.

Anyway, as long as both kids are healthy, that is all we care about at this point. :-)

Dim Sum @ Taman Desa

One of the favourite things which I will miss is having dim sum... Not that I have it very often but just that being on a strict diet (and exercise regime), I don't think I'll be having dim sum so soon.

Anyway, after this dim sum lunch last month, my parents and I agreed that we can't have it too often as the stuff we order makes us feel too bloated after eating it.

We ordered all the usual stuff and we typically like the steamed stuff more than the fried stuff. We even ordered the pork and century egg porridge to share amongst us.

Dim sum is great to be shared with 3 people as the dishes come in threes which is just right.

The "Loh Mai Gai" was pretty ok. It wasn't too oily and I like that there was enough meat and mushroom filling proportionate to the amount of glutinous rice.

BBQ Pork Buns are my favourite. Since there were three served, each pork bun is not too large and just great for a taste. However, since we were already quite stuffed by then, we struggled to finish the buns.

One of my favourite dishes is the Har Gao or steamed prawn dumplings. For me, this is the epitome of a good dim sum. The skin of the dumpling should not be too thick or thin so that the prawns would not be too dry when eaten. Besides that, the prawns must be fresh too or else, the dish will be bland and tasteless.

I love steamed fish balls. This fish ball was quite good as it wasn't too hard and the texture was just right.

For me, no dim sum is complete without the Hong Kong styled Chee Cheong Fun. My parents wanted to try the BBQ pork and so, we had the pork variety instead of the prawn.

By the time we finished our meal, we were really full. Thank goodness we decided to have some hot Chinese tea to wash away all the fat and oil, though, the food was not all that oily.

I can't really remember the name of the restaurant but it is in Taman Desa, near the field where the dogs are being trained.

It will be a very very long time before I can head back to this restaurant again. Aside from dim sum, the shop does sell some noodles too.

Introducing Charlotte & Olivia

Finally... Both of them are here!

My sis safely delivered both Charlotte and Olivia just past 10:30am with both twins a minute apart. She underwent a C-section as her pelvis was too small to deliver both babies.

In my last post, I mentioned that they were identical but turns out that I had the wrong info from my Dad.

They both have their own amniotic sacs, hence making them both fraternal twins. However, time will tell if both of them would look similar or not.

Well.. Here they are...

Charlotte Wong - COW I


Olivia Wong - COW II

They are barely one day old and their father has already given them nicknames...

Anyway, Charlotte looks more like her father, while Olivia looks more like her mom. Seems only fair... Kekeke... I just hope that the kids won't be as bratty as her Mom... Kekeke

Congrats Melina and Dallas!!!!

Update: Countdown to The Arrival of the COWs

Latest Update...

Thank God that both the twins were delivered safely this morning.

Seems that Olivia is bigger than her sister, Charlotte by 0.4kg... I'm not sure about the weight of both girls.

Yes, the twins are identical. I wonder which one will be right-handed, and the other left-handed... As the mirroring of the dexterity happens in identical twins...

Both twins and mother are doing fine.

Countdown to The Arrival of the COWs...

In about 10-12 hours time, we will be expecting the new arrivals of the twins Charlotte and Olivia Wong.

My sister has checked into the hospital at around 10pm last night and my bro-in-law has opted to spend the night there with her. The cesarean operation will take place late in the morning...

STAY TUNED!!

My B'day Dinner @ Monte's

It's finally the end of the month. *Phew*!!!

With the end of July, we must remember that there is only another 5 months left before the end of the year comes around... So, officially, we're in the 2nd half of 2009 now.

Now that Bangsar Shopping Centre has completed its face lift, I suggested that we head to Monte's for dinner as Dad misses the steaks there.

Monte's has undergone a major face lift too, where the place now looks like a very up market restaurant & wine bar. It has shed its western cowboy look of the 90's and early 00's.

The best part about Monte's is that after you've ordered your meal, they will serve you bread & butter. Most other restaurants will not provide this unless you order soup.

As for starters, my sis, bro-in-law and myself love the escargot served in garlic butter. It is decadent and sinful but we don't have it often. Kekeke...

Yes, escargot does mean SNAILS but these are not the ones you find in your garden-lah! It is a different variety and yes, maybe the snails can speak French... I used to be turned off by this dish but after tasting one, I realize how succulent snails can be! Now, I know why Snoopy love them snails in the garden when we had an infestation once. LOL!

Aside from all this, Monte's is great for their steaks. We ordered our usual beef sirloin and it was magnificent. The seasoning was just right and the meat was well rested before serving.

However, I did ask for Medium and it came out almost Well-Done which meant that the meat was a little too dry for my taste. Yes, I do like to see a little blood in my meat. *evil grin*

It was a simple birthday. It would have been nice if I had some Haagen Daz after dinner but we discovered that the ice-cream parlour was closed down after the face lift.

Well... Another year older... *sigh*

Simple Dinner(s) @ Restoran Wei Hiong, Taman Desa

I just finished a 15-hour work day. And I'm not happy as I didn't complete most of the stuff I wanted to do. Granted that I set very high expectation on myself to complete 3 major documents by today. ;-)

Anyway, regardless of work; we need to still find time to eat/poo/pee/sleep. My friend said this, better not neglect your nature calls as your company will not pay for your new kidney/heart/lungs. It's much cheaper to pick someone off the street to do your job.. LOL!

I added the last line... Kekeke...

Nevertheless, I find time to have a sit-down dinner with my family at least once a week.

For this occasion, we went to the same restaurant twice in 2 weeks running. (^ ^)

Why? The food was tasty and reasonably priced.

The first time I went there was with both my parents, while the next one was with my sis and bro-in-law. In both occasions, we ordered simple food...

You've got to becareful to eat this dish as it is loaded with little chilli padi!!! The balance between being spicy while keeping the vegetables crisp is a challenge as you've got vegetables of various cooking times, i.e. 4-angled beans may take longer to cook than the eggplant.

The specialty chicken dish was a fried chicken stuffed with yam...

The reason why my Dad brought us to this restaurant was to try their specialty pork dish...

The pork belly was delicious! It was sliced finely and cooked gently with just the right amount of saltiness. Onions and ginger are added to enhance the flavour. Absolutely heavenly when you get a slice of "streaky bacon"...

The taufu dish was great. The taufu and tau kan which is actually soya-based products was drenched with the most delicious garlic-based sauce. Great with white rice.

For the other dinner, we ordered a different chicken dish and went for a Thai-based sauce. Again, the dish was peppered with lots of little chillis which were chopped finely to give the sauce a bit of kick.

The steamed eggplant was recommended by the staff at the restaurant. It was absolutely heavenly although it was oily as eggplants tend to soak up a lot of oil. We ordered a small plate but the next time we go back, we might go for a medium-sized plate. :-)

In the last dinner, we did order the pork belly dish again as it was my Dad's favourite. Boy, we've got to lay off the fatty food for a long while..

Yummmmy...

Father's Day Weekend

I woke up to a very hazy Tuesday morning.. Great...

Anyway, a couple of weeks back was Father's Day and we had a few small celebrations instead of 1 big one as Dad had to head down to Ipoh to conduct some training sessions.

It was also the weekend where we enjoyed a movie organized by a group in church to raise money for our church building fund. We caught the movie "A Man For All Seasons", a movie which won 6 Oscars, adapted from a very popular play.

Yes, the movie tickets were expensive but it was all for the building of our new "home" as for many years, we've been having mass celebrated in a badminton hall in Subang Jaya. The tickets came with a drink and popcorn which was marvelous.

We expected the movie to be dry and boring but the conversation were exciting and humourous too! To think that during those ancient times, people were just as conniving and cunning in order to manipulate the system to bring down an honest man - St. Thomas More, who happens to be my church's patron saint.

My sis and bro-in-law treated both fathers, i.e. my Dad and in-law to a meal that Saturday evening. Unfortunately... the pics didn't turn out right and so, no pics of that night will be posted.

I took my parents to Canton-i after church on Sunday as it was just about the only place less crowded that Father's Day. He had to catch a taxi to Ipoh right after lunch.

My Dad is a typical china-man, where he wants to eat something Asian for breakfast/lunch, i.e. be it Roti Canai or Dim Sum. So, I ordered a few things to be shared...

My Dad loves his pork and so, I couldn't resist ordering the roast pork again. Somehow, I felt the portion was a bit small but it was satisfying.

I decided to order some noodles and the beef noodles which I ordered was succulent! The beef was tenderly braised, with the tendons which are jelly-like but not entirely gooey.

Another egg tart photo. My mom, who loves egg tarts approve of the Canton-i version. Although small, it is a perfect dessert after you've had lots of dim sum. Just looking at it makes me drool...

My Dad is someone who is shy when it comes to gifts as in, he is very unwilling to accept it. However, when you do get him something that you think he likes it, he will chuck it aside but not tell you whether he likes it or not. It is a bit infuriating but thank goodness he is the kind of guy who loves to eat. So, taking him out to a good restaurant is something which he will appreciate and enjoy.