新年快乐 ！！

大年除夕，到处喜气洋洋。气氛好开心 ， 心情也很漂亮。

昨晚 在 父母家中 享用了一顿 丰盛 的 团年饭。吃的 好开心。 因为 和 心爱的 家人 一 起。

爸爸 煮 了 好好 吃的食物 ：

1．海南鸡饭
2．大虾
3．鲍鱼
4．烧鸭
5．鱼
6．青菜
7．鱼生

用过了晚餐，就是给红包。 也祝福 父母亲 ：身体健康！！ 两位个哥哥 ：事业顺利 ！！ 大家过个大 好年！！

祝 ：新年快乐 ！！万事如意！！

迎新春

“财神到 。。。财神到 。。。财神到我的大门口。。。“

Everyday when I send Anthea and Anders to childcare, I will have the pleasure of listening to the children singing this Chinese New Year song. They are practicing for this Friday celebration. I always feel the joy, especially when it comes from the children. There are other songs that they sang and each day, when Anthea and Anders walk home with me, they will sing the songs over & over… : )

We are exactly 1 week away for the 1st day of Chinese New Year. So far, the Ace family are pretty updated with our spring cleaning tasks despite Anders Fever saga. I am keeping my fingers all crossed that the viral will be gone by this weekends, so he can has a good Chinese New Year celebrations.

So far, tasks accomplished:

- washing of curtains
- washing of blankets
- decoration of the home
- change of NEW notes for Ang pows
- bought mine & children new year clothing
- change of sofa covers

Things to do:

- change bed sheets
- clean the kitchen cabinets
- clean the windows
- sweeps and mops the floor
- buy mandarin oranges

Now I am looking forward to our reunion dinners next week. My parents have been very kind to accommodate my request and have our reunion dinner on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we will be eating with my In Laws – I will keep my stomach for the special dish – Braised Abalone (recipe by celebrity chef Sam Leong). Yummy ...!!

Then it will be time for 拜年and having feasts after feasts. . : )

“每条大街小巷，每个人的嘴里，见面第一 句话 ， 就是 “恭喜恭喜“。。。。"

Chinese New Year Kueh

Chinese New Year is exactly 2 weeks from today. Usually at home, we don’t buy New Year goodies because we have no visitors. Also I do not want the children to eat too much of these stuff as most the food are quite heaty. We will, however, do a bit of decoration this weekends as both of them kept asking to buy New Year decoration items.

The children childcare will be having a celebration on 1 February 2008. Parents are requested to bring CNY goodies for the celebration.

For Anthea Class – it is Kueh Bolu and for Anders class – 5 mandarin oranges.

It’s quite a task to buy the kueh bolu as it needs to be Halal as there are Muslim teachers in the school.

I was chatting with a colleague about buying this kueh bolu and she mentioned that there is this Malay store that sells this particular kueh and she shows me the name card.

Warisan Recipe Pte Ltd – Bendemeer (Boon Keng MRT Station), Blk 25, #01-591, Bendemeer Road, Singapore 330025. And on the name card, there is a MUIS certification.

I was so happy and with this in mind, I went on island chase for this Kueh Bolu.

It was quite easy to get to from my workplace and I managed to find the shop quite easily. I bought 1 big container for the home and I small container for Anthea’s class.

At the same time, I found an interesting stall that sell 莆田 炒 面线 and bought it back as my lunch. It was a HUGE serving and I make it into 2 portions.

I know I will sure go back for lunch or dinners as there seem to be so many nice stalls around.

This remind me that I will need to do my Spring Cleaning this weekends…little by little... : )

元 肖

Read this from a Chinese website :

"Yuanxiao Festival or the Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, fourteen days after Chinese New Year's Day (around the end of January and the beginning of February).The most popular food for this festival is yuanxiao, a kind of sweet dumpling made of glutinous rice or wheat flour. "

In celebration of this special day, i decided to fry some 年糕 for the family. This is my yearly contribution to the family. Hoping that all of us will 步步高升, in respect of quality of life and career.

As today is the official last day of collection of Ang Pows, i have summed up both Anthea and Anders's ang pows's and will banked them into their Bank Account. This will be part of their education fund.

Hmm..talking about ang pows - would like to pen in this small incident in my office. On Friday. our GM was very kind to give the department staff one ang pow each, totalled 5 of us. Before getting my ang pow, my colleague kept telling me that "Boss had given a VERY BIG Ang Pow." When i got my share, my colleague ORDERED me that i should keep only $20, the rest shall be given back to Boss as ang pows for his 2 daughters. Well, i am not against the idea of giving ang pows to his daughter as chinese we always return ang pows. The thing i am troubled is my colleague being so AUTHORATATIVE and controlling our ang pows $$. This is what i am upset about. Well, i would think the returns should be according to my own liking and not CONTROLLED. Anyway, just my thoughts.

May all of us have a Happy YUAN XIAO jie !!

Company Lo-Hei

This has been a busy week for me. On Monday & Tuesday, i attended a Minutes Meeting course at the British Council in GB Building. Well, after working 2 years in the "wood jungle", i find it a bit hard to be in sync with the 'concrete jungle'. Anyway, it is good to experience it once in a while.

On Wedneday, when i was back in the office, i found a small CNY Hamper on my desk and it had all the CNY goodies in it. At lunch, there was a Lo Hei session organised by the Management. To our surprised, the new CEO Dressed as FORTUNE GOD and distributed ang-pows to all. Followed by his CNY Speech, we lo-hei and then buffet lunch.

On Thursday, we had our own Department Lo-Hei lunch at Teochew City in Centrepoint. The Lo Hei set included a Salmon Yu-sheng and our GM said he liked it very much. The rest of the food were also very delicious. After lunch, we pooled our investment and "invited" our GM to buy Toto for the department. So May today be a GOOD and HAPPY day for us and most IMPORTANTLY : WISH COMES TRUE !!!

Good Old Times...& HONG KONG, Here We come...

Today Peter organised a gathering at his home in Bishan. In the afternoon, i went to his place for the gathering. Our Mahjong Kakis were there - Fred, Madeline and myself. The rest could not make it.

We had a good time chatting over topics like child bearing (encouraging Peter to try for his no.2 as Malcolm is a really cute and happy baby..: )

Housing - Madeline mentioned that she bought her resale flat in Yishun, near her mom's place. She is really lucky to have the support of her mother in term of taking care of her children. She has 3 children - Rebecca (6yrs), Dylan (4 yrs) and Romaine (6 months plus). As the old folks says - More children, more blessings.

We had mee siam, fried chicken wings, cuttlefish balls and bee hoon for lunch. It was simple but heartwarming.

In the evening, we had dinner with the family at Vines. Louis left for Portugal in the morning and Cherry left for Hong Kong in the evening. This family is really all over the World...hee : )

My company's Interact Event which was postponed from January is confirmed to take place on 13 March 2007. As mom is on leaves for the week, we had planned for her to bring Anthea and meet me in Hong Kong.

We are vacationing in HONG KONG from 14 - 17 March 2007...yippy!! Anthea is looking forward to this trip and has been pestering us to buy her a luggage bag.

For this trip, I do not intend to bring Anders yet as there will be much moving around required. So Dear Hubby is taking leaves on that week to take care on the homebased. I am really thankful for his understanding as this means i can shop with a peace of mind...hee !!

Happy Birthday to All...人日

Todayis the 7th day of the Lunar New Year and it is commonly known as 人日, translated as birthday of all people.

As this is the Year of PIG, for me it means i need to Pray to the TaiSui . So in the morning i went to Shuang Lin Shi to pray for Anders and myself.

流年犯太岁表

属猪-
37岁(1971 辛亥)

属猴-
4 岁(2004 甲申)

After that, i did some marketing and decided to make a meal for my 2 elders brothers since my parents are away in China for holiday.

As Da-ge & Er ge are always busy moving around, so drinking soup is alway good for them. I boiled a pot of Lotus roots with pork ribs soup.

In the late afternoon, i went NTUC to stock up groceries for next week. Busy, busy...busy.

In the evening, we went to Boon Lay Raja restaurant for dinner , this dinner is also in celebration of Mom's upcoming birthday on 02 March. We had Lo-Hei and Longevity Buns. It was an entertaining evening as there was Live Performance.

"Dear Mom, Aces Family wishes you a very Happy Birthdays and many happy returns."

For the rest of the family members, may we all have a smooth and properous PIGGY Year.

In dialect we says "发 呀!!!"

恭喜发财

Chinese New Year Day 1

As lao pa and lao ma are away in China for this lunar new year, so we do not need to go 253 to 拜年. So our one and only visiting place is 716...hee : )

We had simple lunch at mom's place and after that, brought anders back home to nap. In the late afternoon, we went Suntec city to swim as we all needed exercises after feasting on so much rich food. After swimming, we had dinner at Swenson in Suntec. Then we adjourned to 716 for MAHJONG. It has been a long time since our family get-together for Mahjong. It was a friendly game and i ended losing $4.00....hee : P

Chinese New Year Day 2

Lunch was dimsum at Xin Cusine at Holiday Inn Atrium. After lunch, we went to Aunty Siew Gwee house to visit them. She is the 2nd sister of mom. All these years , this is the 1st time we visited them during chinese new year. Anthea is always looking forward to going to her house as she likes the staircase to walk up to the 2nd floor. Anders also enjoyed the Chinese new year goodies at her house.

After Aunty Siew Gwee, the Aces Family went to my 1st uncle house for visiting. This is our yearly affair to meet together with the relatives and cousins. Anthea and anders were busy collecting ang-pows while i was busy distributing ang pows. We had dinner at my 1st uncle house and as usual home cooked food is the best. One of my cousin , Ying Herng, is in wales now, so we managed to skyped with her.

Day 2 is busy with visiting but the atmosphere is felt during these visitings. End of the day, we are all tired but HAPPY.

新年快乐 心想事成 !!

Reunion Weekends Part 2

Reunion Dinner at Imperial Herbal, Vivo City, 17 Feb 2007

This reunion dinner is celebrated with mom's side of the family. Uncle Han Thong's family will be celebrating their holidays in Thailand, so we had an early reunion dinner with them.

As usual food at the Imperial Herbal is good. We had 2 tables and mom ordered the set menu for 10 pax. Food included the YU-Sheng, Egg with scallop, Fish maw and shark fin soup, Fish,Chicken, Vegetable and dessert. We ate untill we were filled to the neck... : )

Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed themselves very much playing with their Uncle Meng Kiat.

After dinner, it was ANG-POWS presentation times, so all of us were busy distributing ang-pows to the cousins and children. Another HAPPY Reunion.

Reunion Dinner at 716, 18 February 2007

We had steamboat for dinner and this year the FAMILY is all home based for this reunion

dinner so it is a very special and meaningful reunion. Dinner included special Shabu Shabu beef which Eve ordered specially. Also there were abalone, prawns, fish and of course, our very own LO-HEI.

May all of us Have a Prosperous GOLDEN PIG Year...!!

Reunion Weekends Part 1

Saturday, 10 February - Shopping Day

In the morning, brougth anthea and anders to 716 as mom is at home. As usual, both of them enjoyed themselves very much at nai-nai house with all the toys and drawing materials. Also at mom's place, she subscribed to Disney Channel for Anthea, so she is always happy to go to her weekend home.

In the afternoon, i went to NTUC X-tra to stocked up my this week grocery and also bought a canton of Guiness Stout for Lao-pa. This is the son in-law Chinese New Year gift to the In-laws.
It is a tradition that Adrian has been following faithfully.

In the evening, dinner was at Crystal Jade Kitchen in Toa Payoh, after dinner, we went shopping at Kiddy Palace for Baby stuff. Eve is now in her 3rd trimester, so it is time to start buying things slowly, comes end March / early April, both of them will be ready for Baby's arrival. As Baby gender will be known at birth, so all clothings bought now are neutral.

Sunday, 11 February - Airport Arrivals

This weekends spell the reunion of the family members. Both Terence and Louis are back from their Overseas work attachment on Sunday, arriving at 7am and 12 noon respectively.
As Terence flight are too early, we did not meet him on arrival, Cherry met him instead. We went on the 2nd arrival around 11am, ie: Louis flight.

Siti took her day off on this same day. So Anders was with me from morning till evening. Well, this is also a good chance for him to get used to Siti not being around.

He went with me to the airport and we had lunch at Sakae Sushi. He enjoyed the noodles very much. Then after fetching arrival, we went home to rest. He had his afternoon nap. After that, Adrian brought him to the playgroup while i went for my usual Sunday jog.

In the evening, we had our Reunion Dinner at 253. It was another relaxing and enjoyable Family dinner. After dinner, i distributed "ang pows" to both Lao pa and La ma, and my 2 elders brothers. Wishing them 新年快樂 and also for Lao pa and lao ma "一路平安".

One more week and we will be celebrating the Lunar New Year !! Looking forward to another weekends for good feastings and making Cheers.

Spring Cleaning Weekends

2 more weeks and we will be celebrating Chinese New Year, welcoming the Year of PIG...this is MY YEAR !!!

In order to welcome the PIG Year in style, i started Spring cleaning the house on the weekends.

Item 1:

Change cushion covers - adrian will take out the existing covers and sent to the laundry shop, then take the new one to cover the cushion. This is his annual duty.

Item 2 :

Balcony windows - as the balcony windows are too high, i usually tell Siti not to climb on the chair to clean them. There are too many cases of maids falling off while cleaning windows, so i am very concerned. On Saturday, i used the Magic clean handle and with a wet clothes , i managed to clean the outside and inside of the windows. Now the windows are sparkling clean.

Item 3:

Curtains - I managed to buy a set of ready made curtains from AMK Central shop. Cost $49.00
On Sunday, i changed the curtains in Anders room and our sleeping room, now with new curtain, it feels good. The old curtains are all washed and clean, now kept in my wardrobe.

Item 4:

Dusty corners - i bought a car vacumn for the car, so i used it on dusty corners of the house, since it is just a small area. Adrian was impressed with the vacumn cleaner and said that the next household item we can consider buying is a Vacumn Cleaner, since Siti is going back and there will be no one to sweep the house daily.

Item 5:

IN the plan - After watching too many episodes of the variety show "Home Decor Survivor 2 ", i got this urge to try DIY...haha. Painting the wall of the Living room. I am toying with this idea as the walls are 'dirtied' with all the children's creativity. Will go to the paint shop this week to check out the details.

On Sunday night, we had dinner at a Korean Resturant at Amara Hotel by the name of Hyal To Go . The reason for going to this restaurant is i received a SGD 100 voucher from my colleague. So it was a good chance for us to discover new venue. The food were delicous and service was good as we had a private room. Very good experienced.

Well, looking forward to this coming Sunday for our advance Reunion Dinner at 253 as Lao Pa and Lao ma is going China to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Night Shopping at ChinaTown

On Friday, after school, the childcare organised a night bazzar to Chinatown.

We assembled at the school and at round 7.15pm the bus took the whole group from the centre to Chinatown.

This is Anthea 1st outing with the new childcare and she was very excited and kept reminding me of the trip, during the weekdays.

Once we reached our destination, it was free and easy. First thing was dinner, i brought her to the People's Park hawker centre and it was very crowded. We had crispy noodle with prawns and a fish soup.

After dinner, we met up with Yao Li and his parents and started to walk the night market. I must say, there are so many stalls selling the same things Taiwan "mi-gua" and "muar-chi". So in the end, we only managed to walk one lane. It was very, very crowded. I am glad that i decided not to bring Anders. The Q for bak-kwa was LONG...really don't understand why people want to Q ... ??

Overall, it was an enjoyable trip for Anthea and she went home a very happy girl.