Apoh’s Birthday-backdated

It was Apoh’s birthday on 25 July and we had actually planned to go out for steam boat but I thought my sis-in-law was going to inform the birthday girl and she thought I would inform so at the end what happened?? Birthday girl cooked dinner herself! *piak piak* tsk tsk tsk…. “har yee but how..” (we were not filial to her)

However, I had prepared the cupcakes before hand, baked some over the weekend but we ate some so I had to bake again and as usual I had not much time at home as I reach home about 10.30 pm during the weekdays. No choice, I started baking despite it being late and finished just past midnight!

The morning of her birthday, I got the kids to run to her wishing her happy birthday and gave her hugs & kisses. I think that was her best present of all. As usual the kids were more excited they were fighting to blow the candles.

I tried to finish up work early that day to complete my cakes with decoration. It was quite a rush job and the below was what I could manage to come up with.

As I was busy arranging the cakes, Apah was taking pictures and a lot of them were not publishable! Too bad…See the distorted “67″ figures…hahaha..shaky fingers la…yes Apoh turned 67..

Hope she wasn’t too disappointed that she had to cook dinner for her birthday! But I am sure she was disappointed that her other son & family didn’t come celebrate with her…don’t know the reason why they didn’t turn up..

Kylie turned 3!

I was so busy I actually missed out the post on her actual birthday which was 20 May. So sorry baby…

We had a small party for Kylie at the house. This time I thought of minimising my work (since I’ve been really busy and stressed lately). I had my dearest cousin Yong to prepare the soup and marinating the meat part. All I had to do was bake the cupcakes, fry the meat & some other kids food plus prepare the salad. Easy peasy…but still ended up kelam kabut (chaotic) and was late in serving the food..again! Thousand apologies folks!

I baked the cakes the day before and to my dismay, it sank over night! Must have done something wrong. Blame it on the aparatus! hahahahaa…my cake mixer conked out on me from Kieran’s party last year and haven’t gotten round to fix it or buy a new one. So I used the food mixer and then Apah’s strong arms to mix it.

The party went on fine, I hope! Only thing, I thought the food was not enough ler…so embarrassing! I kinda underestimated the number of people coming. (good thing some ppl couldn’t turn up! :P)

This is going to be short as I have to rush off….can read about the party from here & here. In fact I haven’t downloaded my photos in my computer so I’ve selected 3 out of Sasha’s photos. Thanks Sasha for helping me take the photos.

got that ribbon from Tesco..cute huh?

rushed work cupcakes….

Kylie was so shy and didn’t want to stand in front of the cakes for the cake blowing session..

How I celebrated Mother’s Day

Woke up annoyed as usual as my maid slept in while I slept in…

Then Apah made breakfast and I had to monitor since I don’t trust his style….and yes….he did it again…..ANNOYED me to the max as he didn’t listen to simple instructions…classic answers..

…how I know your style? (we will be married 10 years by year end…)

…how I know what you are thinking? (errrr..how about asking?)

bleh bleh bleh….

Then he said something really stupid (actually this is nothing new as he always say things liddat) and got me real mad and I went on with my usual speech….soooo annoying!!

Then as we dilly dallied…(ok ok mostly my fault…) we were really late for church and when we departed the house we were already half and hour late..so by the time we arrive church mai almost over!! So Apah decided halfway to go straight to MidValley and skip church…(tsk tsk tsk….bad bad bad….).

We headed straight to Gardens as I no longer have interest in the old MidValley besides Jusco…really…

Shopping began in Isetan, then Pumpkin Patch was on sale!!!!!!!! I know I overbuy for the kids and most of the time they outgrow the clothes so fast but I really can’t help it. They are sooooo beautiful ma….

Then we proceeded to Robinsons and ngam ngam it was on the household item floor and there was a cup cake decorating session going on! So I quickly sat down and there were not many people around anyway eventhough the session already started like 15 minutes. Probably it was during lunch time. The decorating tips they were demonstrating was not interesting at all, in fact they kept decorating the same style again & again & again, which was piped butter icing into a clown sitting on the cup cake!….YAWN……..and bigger YAWN….but I stuck around as they had a decorating contest and looking at the people there, they really don’t look like the baking type so I thought I have a very good chance!!!

Contest began and I decided not to follow their style since it was only one style they taught! They were open to whatever design we like. So I decided to make a clown octopus instead. After glancing over to my opponents’ creation (including Kieran as they allowed him to join in also!!) I was sooooo confident! Hahahahhahahaha…

Then they had to call in more participants as they were giving out 2 prizes (RM50 Robinsons cash voucher each and the grand prize was some Italian plastic household item. After the next batch completed their decorating, I was still very confident! (eh eh perasannya….)

Well, what do you think? The judge took out 3 best designs out of the 10 cupcakes and of course mine was one of them. So my chances was like 2/3 probability leow! Then he took out one more and I was a guaranteed winner leow! Finally he had to choose the grand prize winner but really, it was not a very hard decision but he had to play along la….hahahahaha (me so proud…..) and the grand prize went to….

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Me! Naturally…..why? I had my kids cheering me on while I was piping the deco…

(the one on the far right is mine, sorry photo so cacat, cos Apah was the camera man!)

Then only we went for lunch at Crystal Jade. The service sucked big time, we had to search for the menu ourselves, then we had to take our own cutlery and after several attempts we finally got the attention of somebody to take down our order. I get really annoyed with such bad service as I felt the service should be at tip top condition since the price of the food is of the high high side ok! If I don’t require service I would have gone elsewhere on the lower ground floor ok!

The food HOWEVER was soooo blardy good it took our blues away…and Apah was saying…aiya forget it la don’t complain la…the food so good leh…

LB, the lormaikai was one of the bestest lormaikai I EVER had and sorry I didn’t take the picture of the before…KAKAKAKAKKAKA

slurpppssss…..

It’s a happy happy day…hoooray hooray..

First

Apah is awayyy & awayyy & awayyyyy…yeahhhhh yeahhhhh….and for 4 whole days! Can you beat that? No nagging, no grumbling…yippideayea!!! ok ok..calm down…calm down…it’s only 4 days!

Second

My maid has arrived!!! The agent did deliver as promised, meaning, she said January, means January even though it’s like end January! WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Meaning training begins tomorrow afternoon when I pick her up! YIKES!

Let’s pray and hope that she doesn’t can get car sick, she doesn’t smell weird, she’s a pleasant girl and most of all, willing to learn. I can take it if her English is not good, cos I already planned to talk to her with signs & pictures and some Cambodian which I picked up from the internet…So help me God, please grant me patience…and i want it like starting now…no no no just kidding! :p

Meaning……don’t mess with me the next 2 weeks, as I’m going to be ambitious, we will start spring cleaning & baking cookies!!!!!!!!!!

Gong Xi gong xi gong xi going zi nii yah

Gong Xi gong xi gong xi going zi nii yah…(Wishing you a prosperous Chinese New Year!)

Protected: Protected : Worst-ded birthday ever!

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Christmas dinner (backdated la..)

Remember I bought the turkey from Singapore? It was frozen hard like a rock and it was still very frozen when we reached home!! (cost of frozen turkey at only SGD29+ converted to RM should be around RM80+ for a 5 kg bird!! We can only get like 1 kg + with that amount here la!!)

 

Then it was taken out to be thawed over two days (since it was so frozen!) and was roasted and ended liddis…

It was the yummiest turkey I ever eaten thanks to my cousin Madam Yong who happens to be bestest cook in the family! She also baked chicken pies & made the mushroom soup (mushrooms also from Singapore and according to the cookspert aka Madam Yong, the turkey & mushrooms were of the bestest quality which we can’t get here in KL).

The cupcakes were baked by my friend’s daughter..delivered just on time for the occasion but we were just simply too full to eat them…

However, the dinner did start off with a bang, I mean BANG as in BING BING BANG BANG….well, as usual we have a certain family who never fails to turn up late for any family gatherings so that got Apoh kinda agitated and of course someone has to irritate her and “fireworks” exploded till a point of no return and for all who knows how Apoh is like when she starts cracking up..it was quite a scene…nevertheless, the arrival of our lovely cousin Madam Yong did lighten the atmosphere up and we still managed to enjoy the dinner of cleaned up the turkey till there was only bones left!! Burrrpppp..

Kieran’s 7th Birthday Bash

Before I go into the birthday….would like to wish Apah Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary! He’s going to take me out for dinner tonite which he started to tell me since last week and every day reminded me till last night!!!!! Yes la I can remember la! Well 9 years have gone just like that..and of course it has not been always happy la…but I guess we have our ups and downs but we have worked thru it…(and still working at it!!)

Ok back to the party…Kieran’s actual birthday is on 7th December but we celebrated earlier since the actual date falls on a weekday.

Preparation for the party began a week earlier. We went to the supermarket like 3 - 4 times to get our supplies and to sum up the bill..I think to have it catered by e.g. fast food place or restaurant would be cheaper!!

I decided on Batman theme and I decided to make a bat for the pinata. It really didn’t look like a bat according to Angie (looks more like a cat’s body!! LOL!) but it was the best I could do….hahahahhaa the expert is not around to help me.. Kieran was supposed to help me with the paper mache part…but he only help to start it off and then said he hated the glue part…so I had to finish up myself!! I blew up 2 balloons, one smaller for the head and the bigger for the body.

Sorry I didn’t get the finished product’s picture! Maybe can see one at Jazzmint’s site!

Since I was like hero trying to do everything myself I dare not invite too many people…just in case…..true enough I ran out of time and on top of it..my electric fryer decided to give me a heart attack and decided to die on me when I set it up! I called my technician who happens to live in Klang to come and save me! Thank God he managed to fix the problem (which was quite minor..phew….) But due to all the ding dong ding dong…the food was served late la…apologies to everyone who was waiting…Then my Kenwood died on me…so I didn’t have cream on the cupcakes!!! Blechhh…

Thank goodness Aunty Fiona (my sister in law) helped to finish up the batman labels for sticking on to the cupcakes and also came early to help! That’s about all the photos I have since I was soooo bz and Apah was bz entertaining the kids. Thanks to Jazzmint & Barbara for taking so many pictures and posting them up! Muakssss!!!

I think I will never do this again…I should have at least got the food catered so I can spend time with my guests!! A lesson well learned!! Apologies to my guests for having to endure my grub..another sad note is Angie who lost her camera in the party! I feel so bad as it was her wedding aniversary gift and it’s only 2 - 3 months old!! I can’t find it as yet but I somehow know who did it! So, a reminded to all who’s out to parties even in friend’s houses, there are visitors of all sorts…so better be careful of your belongings…

 

Wedding Part 3

The dinner was a typical Chinese wedding dinner held at a Chinese restaurant. It was a hassle as in all Chinese weddings as the guests DO NOT RSVP! Even if RSVP, the result still causes a major headache, e.g. those who said will come in a certain number either don’t turn up or turns up minus the number originally given or plus a few more heads!! Fixing up the list of guests and table setting is no joke and it’s almost impossible to place where the guests would like to sit. We can’t please everybody right? But some insensitive and childish people cannot understand the trouble we had to go through and give unnecessary complains and comments…..we can never like foresee what’s going to happen when invitations are given out a month in advance and shit things happens and guests may not turn up due to unforeseen circumstances. That’s why we have reserved tables and flexibility of reducing the tables with special arrangements with the restaurant. This was no easy task as I was manning the reception table of course with help from my very reliable and helpful sidekick and another friend of the groom. After most of the guests have arrived, I have to go on my rounds around the floor to check the seatings and make sure people move to empty tables to fill the spaces. And…..I was wearing killer heels too!

On top of that there was another wedding held at the same restaurant at the same time and we had a few blur sotongs guests walking over to our side when they should be going to the other side. In fact there was this couple who dropped an envelope (presuming as the gift for the bridal couple) and proceeded to the dinning area. Then like after quite some time they walked out and asked if it’s Mr & Mrs Ah Kau wedding. Of course it was not! Then they asked if they could take back their envelope but it was already transfered to the counting party (which was actually Apah)! Why I mentioned it was presuming a wedding gift? Well the sotongs mistaken guests actually just gave back the couple’s wedding invitation card with no other gifts!! I was like duhhhh! No wonder they didn’t insist on getting it back!! Blardy nerve to turn up with nothing but the invitation card! Just to let u know they came to eat and went back is it? Some more is some Dr..bla bla bla…

Anyway, the dinner went on smoothly, even though it started late, the dishes came out very fast and there was no delay in between. The quality of the food was of course good as compared to most hotels..so it was a pretty good decision to hold the dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

Relatives had a good time mingling and chatting, it’s really during such times that they catch up, otherwise…there’s really not many chances to do that…

The kids had a blast of course…oh missing one as he had to be sent home!

Since I was so busy running around I didn’t get to take that many picture..and we haven’t got the photos from the official photographer..don’t why they are taking so long..duhhh

Anyhow here are some of my relatives..my uncle came from China..and of course my cousins from Sydney, and also one from the US (she’s back for her brother’s wedding which is coming soon..).

 

The groom was running around and we only managed to get a family photo but it was by the official photographer! Shiats! There were a few groups of guests who were getting high on the liqueur (which was enough to sell, too bad I didn’t take a photo of them!) and they were also trying to make the groom drink. Yes, the groom was slightly on the drunk side…as guests were leaving, he tried to stop some of his friends, and even closed the main door and didn’t allow his friends to leave! Took them quite some time to convince him that there will be another drinking session..and then finally his school friends drinking session was the final event. However, the restaurant had to close up for the day..and so it was cut short and it continued outside the restaurant!! Then I was getting really tired and so was the poor bride! I quickly got some sober friends to try to convince him to go home and finally they managed to get him into my car. We brought in some plastic bags just in case and guess what the groom said? “Wei why the plastic bags? I’m not drunk ok…” that’s what they always say when they are indeed drunk,,,they are always not drunk!

The End! 

The Wedding Part 2

We managed to settle the heng dai problem by last minute sending Apah, my cousin Liz Wong and another friend to go along to pick up the bride! Phew! They left on time and by the time they reached PJ they were like about half an hour early from the scheduled time. (what scheduled time? That brother of mine is so no 8 superstitious, got to adhere to the recommended good time to reach the house..). Therefore they stopped over at Taman Jaya and camwhored waited..

 

Then before the bridal party arrived, again the no.8 groom asked us to hang up the firecrackers to welcome the arrival of the bridal party..it was not an easy task and it was sooooo loud!! See all the geh pohs (busy body) looking on while my other brother tried to light up the firecrackers. BANG BANG BANG BAK BAK BAK BAK BAK!!!!

 

Here comes the bride…here comes the bride…n…groom…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tea ceremony…

See the happy mother in law receiving the tea…

 

 

and the bystander observing the ceremony…

 

Then my son had a very important mission..again more traditional practices that requires a male child to jump onto the bridal bed…meaning..first born to the newly weds will be a boy la…aiya if I knew I should have asked some lil girls to jump on my bed when I got married la..cos Amah wanted girls first ma…hahhaha… Then Kieran had to break open the potty and then was asked to pee in it!!!

 

He didn’t want to do it at first but changed his mind after being offered another ang pow (red packet containing money)!! See the happy face after receiving his rewards!!

 

It is again traditional that the groom offer a roasted pig to the bride’s family to show the purity of the bride… and then the bride’s family will chop up the pig and send the head and tail portions back to the groom side, signifying that whatever we do should have a beginning and an ending…

 

 

The Wedding-Part 1

The stress involved….hence the high blood pressure pills and bee pollen..

Eat and be merry…..hence…the buffet plus assam laksa..prepared by none other than my cousin, Madam Yong Delights!

 

Yummy yummy…the best was the yam cake..it was like heavenly lor..specially made for us lor..muaks to How Yong!

 

This assam laksa soup was like soooo yummy that a certain guest drank 2 bowls of it!

The reason she came all the way from Sydney, Australia…cousin How Wai. Cousin How Lai was around but I didn’t get a picture of her..oopss…Thanks for coming and stress with us!!

The surprise in eve of the wedding…

The party had started…guests started pouring in…but…but…where’s the groom?? Then a friend of the groom came in and I thought he looked so familiar…doesn’t he look like a singer/actor from Taiwan?? Can u guess who? Forget the silly girl next to him cos she’s fantasizing pretending that he’s the real singer…

We decided to have our cousin cater for the occasion and mom helped with preparing 2 additional dishes, which was the Hakka Char Yoke (Hakka style pork dish) and the Kai Choy pot (stewed sour vege). The food was simply delicious we had loads of leftovers enough for the next day..but since it was our dear ol cousin catering, we were able to keep the food in her shop’s freezer! Phew!

I almost dropped dead after the event as I was busy helping preparing the food and also entertaining the guests while the groom was nowhere to be found and the groom’s older brother (also mine..unfortunately) was also late! It was a very stressful time for the groom as he’s been organising everything himself and the worst part, he forgot to arrange for his “hing dais” (”brothers” to go with him to pick up the bride)!!!

More of the wedding in my next post!! Stay tuned!