Thirteenth Birthday

Cuzzie Sammie organised a birthday bash for Nicole at Burger Lab Sea Park. Eight of her buddies attended. Thanks Sammie!

TheMingThing, popular Malaysian YouTuber was at the next table.

SportsCare Basketball Clinic

Nic (back row, in black) and cousin Shannon at the basketball clinic. It was Shannon's first time at basketball and she enjoyed it.

Terrence & Elaine's Wedding in Johor Bahru - Part One

Friday (March 15); Brunch at Village Park Restaurant (Damansara Utama) before we start on our trip down South. It's Susan's cousin - Terrence who is getting hitched.

We make a stop in Melaka (Malacca) for a break. After all, it's been many years since I visited Jonker Walk - the place comes alive at night. We cramped into a little shop called Nam Seng for cendol (local dessert). The shop is adorned with all things Coca-Cola. I liked the cendol as the brown sugar had a most unique flavor compared to the ones at home. Come to think of it I should have added some Coke into the cendol.

Arrive at Thistle Hotel and unpack before going to Unc' Jimmy's home in Skudai for a delightful dinner - nasi briyani was good.

Thistle Hotel's pool

Sat (March 16); Time for the traditional 'tea drinking ceremony' at the groom's home.

 Nic collecting red packet (ang pow) from the couple.

Time to 'cari makan' and we hunt down Restoran Bumbu Asli for some Laksa Johor. I think we got the wrong place but it was not too bad. The joint was almost empty until we swamped it - all 12 of us.

Before the food was digested we found ourselves at ZZ Sup Tulang along  Jalan Petrie. The place exudes a rustic atmosphere with its attap roofed structures. We had mee rebus, mee rebus with tulang (bone) - you suck on the marrow with a straw. Nicole loved it.

Time to head back to the hotel and get set for the wedding tonight.

Chinese New Year 2013

We got to enjoy the city this time and glad to avoid the awful crawl on such.the highways. Everyone had fun especially the kids. Nicole spent lots of time with her older cousins at malls and such.

Lost Week

My world was spinning on Monday morning - can't sit up, can't even open my eyes. Not good! My whole body goes slightly numb and I felt as if something drained out my energy. I start to break out in cold sweat now. Sue gets Sherry to come over and between them they decided to call the cavalry, err I mean the ambulance. Heck, that thing's meant for people who are seriously ill, not me. Too late, may as well 'enjoy' the ride. Sue rode on the 'car' with me and poor Nic was very disappointed she was not allowed to and had to tail us in Aunt Sherry's car.

 But hey, that's in the past. Tonight we feast - no telling what is gonna happen tomorrow eh!

 Sarah saying Grace way before the food is served. Famished!

 Ah, little Shannon (R) has gotten used to the noisy clan and is quite a character. She's adept with facial expressions. Darling!

Some tomfoolery between cousins!

Happy Birthday Mum!

 

 Cosy joint with good food

Cake time!

Setia Alam

Grandma was in town from Penang and we met up for dinner at Setia City Mall in Setia Alam. After dinner we adjourned to the mall's park which had a well-equipped kids playground. Nic and cousins, Brandon and Shannon had a blast, naturally.

Dreamgirls - a Broadway Musical

A wonderful musical comprising of Malaysians (except for Broadway vet Kris Coleman, boy can he sing!).

Undoubtedly Sammie's biggest fan. Nic sure was excited!

One for the album!

Sammie (at right) and 3:18 to 4:32

Congratulations to Gary and Jenny

The wedding was held at the old Eastern & Oriental Hotel, better known as E & O Hotel. Well I did not know exactly how old it was but amongst it's famous guests were a Mr. Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks (actor), Rudyard Kipling (poet), Rita Hayworth (40s actress) and more. Wow, if walls could talk, what a tale they could tell!

Tonight E & O hosted a very special occasion - the wedding dinner of Gary Wong and Jenny So. It was spectacular and the 3-girl band helped to make it even more memorable.

             Jenny and Gary and Juli

Shannon, Nic and Brandon playing at the cocktail reception!

Lunar New Year - The Rabbit

Thursday (Feb. 3) After visiting grandma's we stopped for some Indian food to start the Chinese New Year - how about that! Nic always eats with her hand when it comes to mamak (Mamak is a term used in Malaysia to describe the Indian Tamil Muslim community). Next to Penang.

Nic in a gorgeous floral dress (thanks Yee Poh).

Nic and cousins in Penang.

Happy New Year!

Nic enjoyed the after dinner show at Legend Hotel very much. After the countdown she even went dancing and could not get enough. We decided to call it a night at 1am but she wanted to dance some more. This is kinda scary as we would not want to encourage her to be a party animal.

Denis down with dengue fever

Denis was hospitalized at Gleneagles a couple of days ago as a result of a high fever and it turned out to be dengue. We visited him in the evening and he complained of pain in the lower back area. He looked alright and with the proper medical attention I am sure he will be up and about soon.

For dinner we headed across the street to Alexis to get reacquainted with their succulent wagyu beef cheeks . Oh it was out of this world!

Sammie's 20th Birthday Dinner

We had a lovely dinner at Museum restaurant complete with Sam's translation of the  Loh Sang (the act of tossing salad with chopsticks) prosperity phrases - spectacular! And guess who's "back"? Our own Seinfeld - Dencyl cracked us up with his "Kids in the back seat cause accidents. Accidents in the back seat cause kids" joke. Was that meant for Denis?

Loh Sang! Nic actually used chopsticks successfully for the first time!

Oreo Cheesecake

Nicole getting some attention from Sammie

Dinner at Gen

We had dinner at Gen compliments of Mandy. It also turned out to be a birthday celebration for Susan too.