MY FRIEND'S WEDDING-JULIA AND KOK HONG

I knew her approximately 5 years ago. We were working for an outdoor LED billboard media company. She’s always been beautiful, cheerful, helpful, wonderful and full of life. I had never seen her without a smile. A lot of women envy her for her success. I on the other hand am darn proud of her for she inspires me in many ways. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we grew a little silent but once in a while, popped in Yahoo Messenger (YM) to say hi. Then, a week plus ago, she YMed me saying that she’s biting the dust oops getting hitched. I am so happy for her and excitedly someone else who also knew her. We both agreed to attend her wedding.

What to wear?

That sounds so familiar..well this happens to me on daily basis. Wardrobe full of clothes still nothing to wear. I took the easy way..wear either red or black..black? This is a Chinese Wedding! Nah! Who really give too s*** about things like that...surely you can't wear white for another people's wedding *bwahh hah hah*. So, I chose both colors. I wore a black number with a glittery red shawl on top. There...solve all problems.
Well, you must be tacky to be in a wedding. Just be tacky...what the heck. I took my old red little bag to go with the ensemble. Yeah, Happy Chinese New Year ey! Well, I just hope my friend Mein did not wear any of these colors. Otherwise we were going to look like Siamese twins..
Oh ya! Black glittery shoes! That will do it! I bought this one at the Curve...conned by my sister into buying these..I thought I had no use for glittery tacky black open toe pumps..well, what do you know huh!
They fit me just fine. I was just going to figure out how to really walk in them ha ha! I waited for Mein to pick me up. Guess what? She had a RED dress on and she had a BLACK shawl on her car seat. Darn...we just had to be the SIAMESE TWINS. O well...such as life...Mein got a Crystal Vase as the wedding present from us. I didn't have a look at it. I just gave Mein my share and signed the cute card. We reached the Hilton just in time for everyone to walk into the Ballroom for the function to begin. I love the old Shanghai color concept..burgundy and white. It turned out that nite was filled with people wearing red and black *laugh laugh laugh*. I shouldn't worry too much!
They showed some videos and photos they took during wedding photo shoot. That's the usual thing for Chinese..but I seen some Malay and Indian weddings that incorporated this part in their wedding ceremonies. The MCs were addressing the audience in 2 languages; English and Mandarin. They were alright and strait to the point.

The father of the groom giving speech. Yaaaaaaaaaaaam Seng!!!!!!!! The door gift

nice and chocolaty

Uh uh...this girl had been taking photographs from her mobile..how old is she? she has a better mobile than mine and duh I do not think that mobile belongs to her parents...nah she
had that for way too long...

This is the Menu! Very scrumptious!

Four season hot and cold combo platter as the starter. I didn't take the shark fin soup's pic because I was too busy eating ha ha! Steamed promfret
The glass of red wine...
Deep fried roasted spring chicken with percik sauce...deep fried?? roasted?? both?? hmmm...pretty interesting eh!
Prawn with dried Chili - To die for!
Hmmm....waiting for more food... Four season vegies with braised mushroom and abalone sauce.
Lotus fried rice.
chilled pumpkin and sago cream topp with pistaccio is something I never had before and this one..I will definitely recommend for anyone.
Crispy corn pancakes topped with sesame seed..ok..don't pay attention to the eagle statue. A boy sitting on the table wanted to take it home. The pancake was served with mango coulis. Interesting and deliciously taste.

The truth about Chinese wedding in my eyes is all about 'Yam Seng'. The groom's face turned really red. Julia looked more radiant that night. She looked really happy. I am glad I came to this wedding, filled with happiness even when the father of the groom apologised for the short notice...

Ahhhh what a wonderful occasion. Short notice or not, I am happy for Julia. They dated for over 3 years I think and it's about time to tie the knots. I wish her and her husband a long and happy marriage. We left a few 'yam sengs after at around 11-ish. Mein took me home and called it a night with a smile thinking about how happy my girl friend was that night.....

CRAVING FOR CHOC BANANA!

This is ridiculous! I am craving for Banana Choc Cake from Secret Recipe! Unbelievable...I had a hearty dinner. Come on..this is not happening...

Rationalizing: OK perhaps I had been a good girl..perhaps I had been doing my house keeping today that I deserved the sweet chocolaty and nutritious cake! Oh dear, I am going nuts. I must stay away from these types of thoughts...I must not think about chocolate! Ughhhhhhh...where the heck is my car key????

CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT

I had an early meeting with client this morning, so I only came into the office in the afternoon. I parked at my usual expensive but shitty parking area which situated a world away from my office. I managed to park not too far away from the attendant booth. Before I came out of the car, I was looking at the booth just in case I could ask whether my monthly car pass was ready or not but to no avail. Then I saw a family of monkeys wandering around; I came out of the car and they didn't even notice me. They just continued with their business. I smiled..perhaps the parking management needs a change of management..I can think of one *winks*.

JUST ANOTHER DAY

It was pretty boring today. I woke up at around 6:30am even when the alarm went off at 6:00am. It was a little struggle this morning to get up but I am glad I got up and had the chance to walk and jog a lil. I made some 'Old Town' Coffee with whipped cream and I asked my sister to take a sip. She did. When I told her I mixed the coffee with whipped cream she sounded so enthralled. Well, I guess I was exposed to 'bad behaviour' doing that. The coffee was delicious nevertheless. I went to the office. I did some spring cleaning on my table. A friend (A) called telling me how pissed off he was when another friend (B) offered him some small contracts and he did not gain too much profit and yet this friend kept on bugging him with an obscene amount of money as a gift for B for getting A the contracts.... Oh dear...I was more angry than A. FFS we are friends...B should have told A to include his 'portion' in the price rather than asking A later on, cornering A some sinful amount of money over a schmuck contract.

The poor fella A was scratching his head how not to 'hurt' B's feelings for A unable to give the amount of money B asked for. I told A to tell B to shove it in his ass. Yes, perhaps because of B, A secured the contract however B should have been cleared about whatever his intention was to A to begin with. NOT after the fact.Grrr...people and money....

Then my sistah called me asking what I wanted for dinner. I told her, "Whatever, I am easy.."..I left the office. Maybe I will continue watching my STAR TREK-TNG (re re re re run..ha ha).

CHANGE? A LONG ELECTION DAY...FOR "GALLAVANTERS"

It's Saturday, 8.3.2008. My parents were around. It's Malaysia's 12th General Election (GE). Mum woke up pretty early and my sister, got my dad up to buy some breakfast. She had to go to work after breakfast. So, we made our move in the afternoon. I had this funny feeling that this time it was going to be different. I am not blogging about politic, I leave it to the people who have passion about Politic. I am just an average citizen who live to make ends meet. I do not really understand the language of Politic even when we are the ones who created it. All I know it is the game which I do not know how to play. I am simply too emotional to do that. So, today, we are out there witnessing the "Democracy" being evaluated by the people. I am sharing this blog to show you some of the shots I took on this memorable day to Malaysians. The streets were filled with posters and banners. Believe it or not I was more 'concerned' about the money that people spent on this GE. My sister held a flag and was given RM60, attending a gathering and given RM50..being there..just being there..not even 'supporting', people were given money....

Yeah..I can understand the excitement to vote..but do you have to be 'vulgar' to show it? Ha ha..I got this shot passing by the street on the way to go to "Hulu Langat"..

Hmmm....who to vote???? Decision, decision, decision...

After a long wait on the GE area..we decided to scram and headed to town. By that time, it was pouring. When we reached town, the rain stopped. We started our evening project...The real thing done by the real average people in this part of the world..looking for bargains..looking for things to do being with family or friends....Cheap shoes! This is great! I don't have to pay hundreds of ringgit to get a pair of comfy sandals *winks*.

I was pretty bored waiting for mum, dad and sis gallavanting..so I looked around and snap some more pics. We were planning on going to the heart of Masjid India..but damn sure took us 'gallavanters' a long time to get there. So, I decided to get a little something to munch on.

Jagung Manis (Sweet Corn)
Mum was feeling a little hungry but we couldn't sit down and eat as yet for we wouldn't have enough time to walk around... We passed through "pasar malam" (The night bazaar) to go to Mydin in Masjid India; Mum and Dad's favorite place I kid you not. They love the bargain and the fact that being in a crowded place like that give them this kind of 'thrill'. We finally made it to the store;

I was fascinated by the colors...

Pretty cheap eh! They are actually not bad..if you don't give too hood about "branded" stuffs.

Nice lights in the middle of "Masjid India" area.

Oh, a reminder about GE. I must tell dad to hurry home for the results. Not that I know much about politics but at least I keep my self up-to-date with what's going on around me...

Running out of "Sajadah"(Muslim's prayer mat)? You can easily find them here.

Sata, originated from Kelantan, East Coast State of Malaysia, near Thailand. Primarily of Fish and local spices. Interesting taste but if you like fish, this is an addition to you palate. I am a poor eater of Malaysia, I just discovered this dish through my ex-boss a year ago and re-exposed tonight by my dad.

Pretty cool design don't you think?

Funky sandals with pretty colors.

Pretty handicrafts made of rattan I think. I can think of ways to use these things...(Oh, I leave it up to your imagination). I was very tempted to buy the whole thing. I just realised that I will not have space to accomodate them.

Lotsa head scarves. Just choose the colors that suit you. They are all very very cheap. Mum just loved them.

On this GE night, a busy street seemed dead...

Kowloon in Kuala Lumpur? I think that bike parked right in front of it tells the whole story..

Sarah Hughes? WTH is she? She's like Yves St. Lauren is she? Bwahh! Hah! Hah! oops..that evil laugh again.... I can't be the 'critique' on this for I am not a fashion expert. Plus, I had never set foot on this place. I was just passing through....

The Gulati's...My mum said when she was younger her relatives used to brag to her about this store and how 'exclusive' the fabrics purchased from this shop. That seemed like too long ago. Nowadays I am not even tempted to go in. Don't as me why, I am just not tempted. Let's leave it at that...

Yess!!!! The Manhattan Fish Market! After hours of walking, of course we were a little exhausted and hungry. Mum and Dad wanted to go to their usual cheap place on the way home...I was like, Oh come one parents..let me buy you guys some fun food. So we stopped here for a while to pig out.

Simple menu. Easy to take family with you. Healthy for the oldies, yummy for the youngites.The decor was alright. No big deal but I think it's simple and clean.

This is the part I felt like I was not under the fish net rather underneath the mosquito net.

Pretty alert and courteous staffs who at this time were directing my parents and sister where the washrooms were. So, I was left here alone snapping away...

Lethal weapons: Tartar sauce, red hot chilli sauce and potent garlic.

Yum!

Feasts like ancient Kings *winks*

Mussels (Kupang) with Garlic and Butter Sauce. Yummy to scoop bread with.

Mussels (Kupang) closed up

My favourite chamomile for a long hard day :-)

Pigs! He He!

Holy! I didn't realised we were that hungry! I was happy that we ate the way we did. We did not waste much huh. Waaa.... I wanna go home! Badly! No! Not because of the GE..I just wanna go home!

On the way home, we bumped into one of my colleagues in the elevator going to the carpark..I was a little surprised coz ..o heck, the world is small, especially in KL. Even in the least expected place, you will meet people you know..We reached home just in time when the media were announcing the vote results. There were some 'surprises' but I was not surprised at all. I was expecting some change this time. I was expecting some 'slap in the face' this time to some politicians. I was expecting Malaysians were going to retaliate towards leaders who'd been asleep all these years. I was hoping that this GE will bring brand new Malaysians to a different level of thinking and to renew our very reason for living in this world. I fell asleep right away while dad continued to watch the election results. I will ask him tomorrow morning what happened. Perhaps, I will know what kind of change we will be facing in the next few years. I am just happy that I contributed to the economy tonight with food and clothes for my beloved mummy and daddy.