Our Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner

Time to cook! The menu has been discussed and agreed on weeks before today and there is no turning back. We scrambled for the best seafood in Gadong Fish Market, shopped from morning to night to get new sets of the auspicious "red" attire for the new year...etc etc you name it! Now we're home and spring cleaning has been done, I think we're ready.

Before I embraced islam, the very much celebrated festive season was mostly Chinese New Year. Regardless of the religion I am in now, we're still celebrating it! This time, we do it for my mum! (We love you mummy!) I still cant help smiling when I heard my mum got all excited about my inlaws coming over to join us for reunion dinner. Rawan atiku mendangar. Whatever makes her happy, berkat jua bah anyway. Amin amin amin. :o)

How I see it, Reunion Dinners are similiar to any get-together. Something like Hari raya I would say. But the practise is that, after these dinners, you must have leftover for the next day. It symbolises continious flow of "reseki" the whole year. Among the other taboos are no fighting, scolding, shouting or any other negative actions/attitude to be displayed on new year it self. Or else, your life will be as such the whole entire year. Yesh, I dont want to go through that for very long. I will try to be on my best behaviour tomorrow!

And many thanks to Fel who dropped by earlier in the day with a box of sweet oranges! :o)

Initially, the dinner was supposed to be myself and my immediate family until my inlaws dropped by while we were busy cooking. Galat jua tu kalau inda invite so we extended the invitation lah. Hence, my "Self-service Table" on standby...

Arman *high* on milk! lol!

Tiger Prawns

Fancy some crabs?

Hubby takut2... or not...

Getting ready this fish for steaming...

prawns ready! Crabs ready!

Preping fish for Sweet and Sour (the sauce was the bomb!)


A little technique to ensure the steam stays put in the wok.

Mum chopping up the duck.

Food keeping warm before the actual dinner.

Aiman... all ready to eat. (actually he wanted me to take a picture of him when he saw me holding the camera!)

And there you go, the 10 auspicious dishes all ready to be makan! And Hubby cooked all most of the dishes. All that with a small stove (but we made a good team didnt we kan sayang?) hehe

Now, I know why this makes mum so happy. I would too when her kids prepared all (most of) these!

All in all, we had:
1. Steam Garoupa with Soy Sauce
2. Sweet and Sour Fish
3. Stir Fried Singapore Chilli Flower Crabs
4. Buttermilk Tiger Prawns
5.Mixed vegetables with Oyster Sauce
6. Sweet Corn Soup with Crab Meat
7. Stir Fried Beef with Leeks
8. Prawn Sauce Fried Chicken
9. Sambal Sotong
10. Crispy Duck


Nyamna kali ah.. *burrrrp* Alhamdullilah!

Bee-outch!

Happy Chinese New year!

Our new pet. Very dramatic..

Smoking makes your teeth go bad but not your problem if you still cute.

One day, Aziz went up to me smiling at me like this. Only when I noticed, sakit parut ku ketawa.. lol!

Can you see it?

Here's another pose. I'm sure you cant miss "that". hahahaha


Adui malaiku... maintain masih anak ani..

Aziz when asked to do "muka cute"..hahahaha

This is where he got his bright idea from.

then cut it out...

readykan mouth like so...

There you go... ejap ku!!!! hahaha (berbau lagi usulnya tu!) hahahahahaha

p/s - Thanks for allowing me to blog your pics jis! Love ya!

Bee-outch.

The Itchy Pussies Girls Day out

Who doesnt need their "My time" out? Thank god for the girls (Effy and myself had the bright idea to call ourselves the Itchy Pussies back then and I still think we are) hahahaha sorry girls.. Secret is out!

It was Sunday ( Actually I got busted by mum for using Sunday which is strictly Family Day for my fun time). Noted. So girls, no sundays for me again. Saturday kana bagi green light plang! hehehe I'm happy with that arrangement.

And so, we started our day with Lunch. Effy suggested that we go for Korean. Y not? Its been a while. The pictures gives you a visual description of the lunch saja lah.

Thanks for our korean food guide- Effy hehehe she ordered most of the delicious dishes which came with variety of side dishes.

Camwhore moment..

Ani moment *as mentioned above* but with a "s".. lol!

Posing maut....

Parut..parut.. PARAH!

puuurrr....

And after lunch, off we went jalan2 to the mall and watch the movie "Bedtimes Stories". Ok lah. I can still recall Bugsy eyes. His eyes were huge. Imagine having that for a pet. I would put on in the office just to scare off nasty plp. lol!

The next one bila? We have plans to watch another one soon. I think I will have another go with the girls after chinese new year.

Until then, enjoy the long weekend and drive safe.

Bee-outch.

Congrats Tini!

Wedding bells!

Tini Petite got married.! I wish her all the best and happiness for the many many many years to come. hot ia in her wdding dress!Amin amin amin..

Click here for Dena's blog of Tini's pic. kesian Dena that day.. Handbag nya tergugur in the flood only to be carried away by the water and all her stuff in there got wet! Termasuk mobile! Nasib she selamatkan her camera. Tapi last2, abis battery half way.. kwang3x..hehehe

Congrats Tini!

Bee-outch

Ready guys?

I'm back! Better late then never as they say! Sorry for the late posting. Cbuk saja ku babe.. Tons to do and so many things to prioritise aside from blogging. Met up with Dena in the office and she was like " Update your blog! Update it!" and so here I am!

Before I start, I know I'm supposed to post some Part 2 of my Perth trip. Skip saja ah? Batah sudah. Old news..hehehe

I'm in my beribi apartment now as we speak. Everyone else is in KB along with the kids. I'm here to accompany the hubby to get our Chinese New Year shopping done. ( YES, celebrating as making the 8 auspicious dishes to make my mum happy. Why not right?) Will share you out to do and to buy list later in this post.

To do and To Buy list:

1. Fish, prawns, squid & lain lain

2. Vegetables

3. Bigger cooking wok

4. A set of cutting knives ( Hubby had his eyes on them for some time now)

5. New Shower curtain

6. New Shoes for Arman

7. Attire - Janji Red and bling bling

8. Drop by college to pay January Fees.

9. Pay bills.

10. I'll think of it later.

How's everyone been doing? I bumped into a Senior Staff in my work only to be blushfully found out that he is a reader of my blog! Malu ku! (*waves to boss*..hi! Kita know who you areeee....heheheh) kawan2.. jangan cakap pasal opis sini.. sensitip nya mu.. But, hei.. this is my personal space and i can write whatever i like right? Right! but of course, you must maintain some sense of diplomacy in your writings nonetheless. (I'm still sticking to my cursing thats one thing for sure). Ok tu kan boss? hehehe

The boys are growing amazingly fast. Baby Arman now is 6 months. Still has his two small teeth intact and also with the 2nd visit to the baby specialist, alhamdulilah it seems that BabyArman's hole in the heart is closing up! All from Allah and I give him thanks for that. ( note to self - to make doa selamat when financially possible) Aiman? Up and about as they say. So active!! Hyper!!! My jumping joy ;o)

Aiman.. Taking his own picture.. This is his version of Cheeeeeseee!

Arman - Biting on daddy's fingers for attention.

The past few weeks have been amazing. Things seems to be shaping up. My best galfrens are going through positive changes in their lives. And congrats to Fel! Who had a good offer with one of the oil& gas companies in KB. Effy's beef who will be going overseas to pursue her dream soon and I just know it! Shikin who will be having her happiness back. They all deserve it. My spiritual brother and the best mate ever Aziz, who is going through a informal " leadership" training with my very best pals at work Peaches who is also will be doing what she aimed for her career development! Peaches will be working mates with Aziz! How cool is that? And thats just the beginning! My Nurul, who is working hard in her nursing career in the UK ( will meet u there soon!)

The MEN of my life :o)

My family is growing closer, the home with much felt love, my hubby and children with thier constant love and responsibility and lastly, my work which is opening doors of opportunities and challenges for me to prove my capabilities.

Is this just a good start to only end with a bad one? Will this last? Who knows? Only Allah knows what lies ahead of us. All we can do is to appreciate and have faith in all we do. Thoughts become Things. When you think of something, you will radiate that to the universe then only shall you receive it. How you may ask? Through hard work, having faith in GOD and being positive.

Are you ready for the challeneges? I am! Join me ;o)

Until next time.. Bee-Outch!