Allo 29, in advance!

We had a lovely feast in the homeland. The babes and the partners, with baby Kayson. In early celebration of this donkey's birthday.

Lovely ice cream cake

Han and Malcom brought yummy giant Sri Lankan crabs from little red house. Hui and Richmond did great deep fried buns. Jinny and Noven got wonderful ice cream cake (the exact same cake the dearie got moi last year). Moi, i did my roasted lemon rosemary chicken and mango with pomelo (or yang zhi gan lu)

Chix drumstick before roasting

Its a jolly feast alrightz, in the comfort of the homeland. With cute kayson keeping us all entertained. Its a great advance birthday celebration..simple, yet festive..its great having the babes with moi, along with dearie and baby kayson.

Pretty in Pink

Oh, and i really heart the pretties gift the babes got moi.. can't believe moi is turning 29 in a few days time. 9, the last year of my glorious 20s.. urrghh.

Paper Writing

Paper writing or mini project wannabe becomes a daunting task for the newbie without sound knowledge of the existing policies.. especially a topic so vast, so unsubstantive.

Oh wellz. I rather be blogging instead..the timing is so very wrong with the birthday looming and the celebrations planned... aiz..there goes this lovely week.. ;(

Carbon Copies

This is a generation which grown up under the ethos that one needs to study hard to move up in life. Yet, upon getting the requisite degree scroll..life becomes empty. You may not get to choose the type of job that you are passionate about.. you end up doing work for the sake of working and for money. Not really happy, yet not really unhappy because you are already more fortunate than many others..

Sometimes, it takes alot of courage to chase your dreams. Yet, the most pitiful are the ones who never have any dreams to chase. Life is simply living the motions of living. Carbon copies in this society of ours. I think, a blessed person is someone who is passionate about something, whatever that thing may be. Sometimes i wonder, if i had not been realistic in getting the required education, or had done badly enough to fail my exams.. would i be a more happy person chasing a realisable/unrealisable dream?! Like working in the hospitality line or working in the fashion line.. ??! * Ponders* Will i ever find something i am passionate about? This dreamless me..

Wifey cooks: Home-styled Roasted Chicken

We've been wanting to try out roasting meats since we got the oven. So, when there was a rather good recipe which i found online, i decided to try roasting a chicken for our weekend dinner. We got a chicken and some potatoes from the market yesterday with the intention of doing up "Oven Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Chicken". However, this silly donkey subsequently found out that she did not have rosemary for the marinate. Urrghh..

Chicken marinated with lemon zest, salt, pepper, honey, and thyme

Oh well, so i replaced the rosemary with thyme instead as i had a bottle of it in the kitchen and hoped that the substitute would work as well. I also added a bit of honey to the marinate. The chicken was marinated for a few hours before it was popped into the oven for roasting.

Potatoes to be roasted with the chicken

Potatoes tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper was placed under the chicken. The entire roasting process took about 80 mins but the finished product was well worth the wait.

Into the oven this goes...

Wifey's roasted chicken, with slightly burned skin.. opps

Overall, the roasted chicken was rather yums. The dearie rates it as a good attempt by the wifey.. which can be further fine-tuned for serving guests. The top part of the roast (chix skin) was a tad over done, but the meat was great. Even the breast meat was juicy, and very tender. The potatoes were quite burnt.. so i would probably twig the cooking time and remove the potatoes from the pan after the first flipping of the chicken. Hee, can't wait to try the recipe a second time, with rosemary instead.. :)

This year's birthday pressie from the dearie

Hee.. the dearie had initially wanted to get moi a bottle of Chanel perfume for the upcoming birthday. Wellz, as the wifey was complaining that she has nothing to wear for work.. and the shop was having a sale ( yah.. i noe, these days i only buy when there's sales.. so auntish.. urrgg).. so.. this became the dearie's pressie for this year's birthday.. many many pieces of clothing.. Thanks dearie.. ;p

Family Dinners

The dearie's family are Teochews. They enjoy their traditional Teochew food like steamed fish, braised goose and cold crab. Coming from a small family, its feels great to have family dinners with the in-laws. Typical dinner outings involves the sis-in-law and her family, the grandmother, uncle and the in-laws.

The Requisite Cold Crab.. *Yums*.

The family enjoys traditional Teochew cuisine, and a favourite restaurant which we usually troop to for festive occasions would be SWA Garden Restaurant. The food is traditional, with an old world charm which is lacking from modern restaurants. The place itself looks like the 60s.. but the place is full to the brim with patrons on the weekends. Reservations are a must. I have been duly induced into the wonders of Teochew food upon joining the family. I must say, the food's great.. especially the cold crab.. fresh steamed fish, goose and the "Orh Ni" or Yam Paste with Pumpkin. The food's best eaten with family. Yums.. just like the meal tonight which is so typical of family outings to the restaurant, or any other good restaurants that does Teochew cuisine.

Trying Kyoho Grapes

Expensive Japanese fruits are quite the rage these days. We've been wanting to try out the momo that looks oh so pretty and prefect in their boxes. And the special musk melons that cost a fortune.

I find it quite fascinating, how fruits can be so expensive and yet so perishable that their worth diminishes with every moment after harvesting. Its like the clock is ticking down. We came across some Kyoho Grapes at Cold Storage when we were shopping after work today. Kyoho Grapes were going cheap at $10 plus.. or rather, cheap by Jappy fruit standards vis-a-vis speciality gourmet supermarkets. A splurge if you compare with other types of grapes.

So, we decided to try the grapes for novelty's sake. I like the sugary sweetness of the fruit with a hint of winey musk. Yums, but a tad expensive.. so its gonna be a very rare occasional splurge.

August In Summary

August is the month moi started a new phase, with a brand new job and entirely foreign portfolio. This newbie is still learning after a month on the job. August is the month of adjustment to full-swing working life, as compared to the laidbackness of July. New environment, new people to be pally with, new beginning career wise. The new journey is long.. with loads to learn and this gal has just began. The goal is to gain experience in the field for mobility. Pronto.

fav seasonal fruit- Duku

Newly discovered passion fruit

August is also the month for fruits. Yah, I am a true blue fruit gal. I just gotta have my strawberries, pineapple, grapes, cherries, raspberries, plums, peaches , lychees and many many more. Moi tried passion fruit for the first time. Yah, i know i am quite a 'swa ku' for a fruit lover.. and the month for 'Duku' or Lansium Domesticum as the fruit is also known as. I am totally addicted to this tropical fruit which is native to the malaysian peninsula and have eaten basket loads (or is it lorry loads) this season. Its a yearly, six-monthly addiction that wans with the end of the fruit season. Just heart the sour-sweetish flesh. I can easily polish off 2-3kg all by moiself. oh man.. this gal's got a self control problem.. *sleepish grin*