A Wedding, A Charity and An Election

The Wedding - He was just a little boy when we and his parents, first  moved into the neighborhood. He and his little brother is just a couple years older than my boy then and went to the same school both in primary and high school.

Today, Adrian is a fine young man and has found a life to share with the girl of his dreams. The elder of two boys, Adrian weds Angeline on the last weekend of April just before our intense 14th General Election.

Two souls but a single thoughts, Two hearts that beats as one.
Congats Adrian and Angeline, wishing you both a blissful life and happiness always.

The Charity - The Penan Charity Drive is back !
Held at the same venue as the last, The Verdant Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on March 5th
I volunteered again this round  and like the last time couldn't resist not buying a few more to add to my collection . Well considered that  my contribution to the Penan caused.

This dish known as Sarawak Tomato Koay Teow (Flat noodle)

originates from Sarawak in the Borneo Island

June my partner in crime (Black dress) at the Charity sales with my long time friend, Datin Sally (in White overcoat) from college who came to shop in support of the Penan's plight managed to steal some time for lunch.

The Election - A moment of history : For the first time in our history, the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan not only won our 14th General Election but saw a huge wave of millennials going to the polls for the first time ever ending a 60 years rule by the then governing Barisan Nasional  who had ruled this country since our country's independence. It also saw our overseas voters was ever so determine to have their votes included despite some received their ballot papers late. A facebook was even created where  people  volunteered to be personal courier  from airport to the voting destination  so that overseas voters could reach out to ensure that their ballot papers arrive on time. That was how determine we are to want a change in government.

Since this Election date fell on a Wednesday, with much criticism and outcry from the people , the then PM announced the day as a nation's public holiday.

The win scored a historic shift of power and our now newly elected Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir who was our longest serving premier of 22 years and 4th Prime Minster from 1981 to 2003 is now the world's oldest premier to return to power at age 92. Another first in our history, is the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minster;  Dr Wan Azizah is the first lady Deputy Prime Minister in the country.

With the win, the newly elected Prime Minister announced a two days public holidays 

With a total of five days off from work, my kitchen was finally smoking , LOL

On election day I made lunch

Nyonya Herbs Rice served with Mustard Green Stew (Chai Boey),

Fried sesame chicken in soy sauce and Salted eggs

Breakfast for the day after

Blue Pea Kueh Sago with shredded coconut coating

(Steam Tapioca Pearls in Blue Pea Flower color coated with shredded coconut)

For afternoon tea on Saturday

Taro and Sweet Purple Potato sandwich with Sweet Sticky Rice Cake (Nin Gao) fritters

Sweet Dessert Nyonya Bubur Cha-cha

(Potato, Taro, Pumpkin in coconut Milk)

Lastly, my mother's day bouquet from the kids and the five days break ended

Thank you everyone for coming by and leaving me your comments in my last post. Hope you enjoy looking into another non-crafty post.

Let's talk about hooking

I have been hooking aka crocheting a lot lately.
Finishing up mostly from my basket of shamefulness, the UFO basket, picked randomly to finish.

A cape or caplet in pineapple motifs. I thought this would be fast, but it took me many hours of hooking and unravelling. Seriously, I don't have the pattern for this.  It's a good alternative to a jacket or a shawl, 6 balls of  I think less than 50gm Coral colored yarns. I actually can't recalled what yarn this is, it's been so long. All I remembered was I bought these during one of my travels. My first with this brand too , don't quite fancy working with this yarn.

The brick colored crocheted blouse/ tunic was done and put together some weeks back yet I left out  the hemming finishing.  I was running out of yarns and had to  rummage my basket for any yarns left but apparently not. With that,  I had to be thrifty with what's left and somehow managed . Whew! that was a close call.

The sleeveless lilac pineapple tunic it was.   I didn't like it's length now. Couldn't figured out why I made that length then when I have already stop growing. LOL.  In a way,  it's possible to  reconstruct it's length; only tedious, lots of patient and took 3 hours of unraveling time.  Currently I am adding the sleeve, sleeveless sounds unappealing now.

And because these crocheted projects was done ages ago, I no longer could find a similar color match for my old projects even thou it's from the same manufacturer. Variations in product colors is not unusual and may and can occur from batches to batches with every production .  To make matters worst, my projects had been hibernating for some 5 to 10 years and even more.

This weekend, I'll be heading to an ancient city.

Sunglass, hat, scarf , a mini fan are among the things I have packed.
I hope the weather is kind and favorable during my visit. We are experiencing some extraordinary continuous heavy rainfalls lately with some devastating flash flood disasters earlier in the weeks effecting our Northern States terribly. Hopefully the weather is clear and good where I am heading since we are only about 2hours flight time away.

Before I end my post, here are some wedding photos I attended last weekend,  hosted by a dear friend from college for her son  at the Shangri-La Grand Ballroom .

Extravagant  and elaborate wedding dresses to lavish deco is all I can say about the wedding

Fairytale is the theme

One at the cocktail reception

A groupfie with the ever lovely Mother of the groom, Sally

I hoped you enjoyed my last post and took time to check out Stephanie's reveal day blog post to read about the fantastic swaps sent and received. I thank everyone who came by and left comments in my last post. Wishing all a wonderful fall and a blessed Thanksgiving. 

A bit of everything in May

I thought the month of May would be quieter to allow me to ponder on a few things. First, the Birthday exchange with the girls at WSG is still pending, the exchange due date is in December and believed me December is not very long these days. Just look at how the days goes by week after week and June is up next.  Lucky that this round we only had one partner and I assured you with one partner it's not an easy task either.

May Wedding - we were flooded with a total of  six wedding invitations and what a coincidence that non of these weddings had dates that clashes as if 'they' had planned out. Just saying other wise it will be hard to decide which to forego . The Chinese believed that May is an auspicious month for marriage but six in a month is well a lot where the pocket is concerned since we are giving 'Angpow' as the wedding gift.

A lil' fun read that I stumble upon about the monthly bride
A January bride will be a prudent housekeeper, and very good tempered.
A February bride will be an affectionate wife, And a tender mother.
A March bride will be a frivolous chatterbox, Somewhat given to quarreling.
An April bride will be inconsistent, or forceful, But well-meaning.
A May bride will be handsome, agreeable, And practical.
A June bride will be impetuous, And generous.
A July bride will be handsome, But a trifle quick-tempered.
An August bride will be agreeable, And practical as well.
A September bride will be discreet, affable, And much liked.
An October bride will be pretty, coquettish, Loving but jealous.
A November bride will be liberal and kind, But sometimes cold.
A December bride will be fond of novelty, Entertaining but extravagant."

and the monthly Wedding
Married in January’s hoar and rime,
Widowed you’ll be before your prime.
Married in February’s sleepy weather,
Life you’ll tread in time together.
Married when March winds shrill and roar,
Your home will lie on a distant shore.
Married ‘neath April’s changeful skies,
A chequered path before you lies.
Married when bees o’er May-blossoms flit,
Strangers around your board will sit.
Married in month of roses- June-
Life will be one long honeymoon.
Married in July with flowers ablaze,
Bitter-sweet memories in after days.
Married in August’s heat and drowse,
Lover and friend in your chosen spouse.
Married in September’s golden glow,
Smooth and serene your life will go.
Married when leaves in October thin,
Toil and hardships for you begin.
Married in veils of November mist,
Fortune your wedding-ring has kissed.
Married in days of December’s cheer,
Love’s star shines brighter from year to year.”

The UFO Basket - I have a number of  knitting and crochet projects in the UFO basket which haven't seen light in a very, very long while plus a couple of stitching projects that I seriously need to look into. But I am currently low on motivation and the "calling"

A little peek - Slow like tortoise is a couple of crochet doilies in the making , this is new, I'll need to make a few or until I run out of threads.

I have been crocheting this Granny squares for ages, can't even recalled for how long it hasn't seen light and I am currently working slowly on this. Will see what it will become when I am done since I am so fickle minded and can't really decide.

Festival - Chung Chow Zie, Dumpling & Dragon Boat Festival, a  day when we celebrated the day with wrapped bamboo leaves dumpling of glutinous rice. I like mine the Nonya Dumpling. Not making any for now, since my quinea pigs are all away from home. I received a few dumplings when I attended an event for the dumpling festivity last weekend, so that will do for any cravings.

Weather - Currently we are experiencing inter-Monsoon weather which will bring afternoon showers and thunderstorm rain especially  in the early evenings and when it's hot, it humid and sunny and skin piercing, average 32C/23F.

 Thank you for coming by and leaving me your comments in my last post. Wishing all a wonderful month of June.

A new chapter begins

Hello everyone, hope all of you had a wonderful blessed Christmas and a wonderful time with your love ones and a great start into the New Year . I have intended this post before New Year with my New Year greetings, but didn't get this posted since I couldn't upload the photos then until now.  

I haven't done much serious stitching in the past year except for exchanges. I was more into crochet and knitting in the later part of the year.  The only one stitching I started in early December didn't got  finish in time before Christmas but after. January actually. So, I'll consider this my first January finished.

Mosey n me - Santa's Helper - 32count linen

However, I am happy that I got my Gold Tunic done days before Christmas as I had in mind.

On Christmas day, the whole family including  mom, took a trip up North, first to Penang Island where we had Korean Dinner at Uncle Jung on Christmas Day. It was by circumstances that landed us here, not going into the details. I believed this is called Dakgalbi, a popular Korean dish, stir fried on a large hotplate with marinated diced chicken, cabbage, sweet potato, scallion, Korean Rice Cake in chili pepper paste with slices of onions and kimchi as side dish. We later added rice and made it into fried rice. The kids enjoyed it, but not so for mom in her age.

On Boxing Day, we attended a wedding of a family friend's daughter, Annie to Douglas in Bukit Mertajam, a state located in the Central Seberang Perai of Penang. She was just a kid, when I was a teenager and she used to be tagging  me around especially during the weekends and look at her now getting married.

The town of Bukit Mertajam is named after a hill nearby with the highest peak of 547 m above sea level where Mertajam tree (Lepisanthes rubiginosa) with white flowers can grow up to 5-12m tall.

It's the town where the  Old Shrine of  St. Anne's  Church is located and the annual St Anne festival is held. I didn't took the above image (credits goes to google search) but we did went by only didn't stop so as the kids get to see the church, afterall it's not always that we get to visit this little town

Pisang Goreng (Banana fritters) was a miday brunch on New Year 's day,

followed by an Anniversary Dinner cum Students Achievement Recognition Awards in the evening.

Above is the spread at my Company's Annual  Dinner on the second day 

A little arrangement I put up for the house this year, it's a yearly thing.  I would change the deco on this vase. I had had a variety of ponies, cherry blossoms and roses in different colors over the past years and this time around, I thought I go green. I called it "weeds" cos' it's basically all leafy in various shades of green including yellow and  purple . I had no heart to discard that 2 peacock feathers for now. I bought that from an Indian Temple I visited 2 years ago. 

This is where the vase is place, a corner in my living room

Sampler Alter Echo by Passion Broderie

Anyone still remember this? It's been 11 years since, yes that long. A seven month SAL that began  in January 2005. It's time to revive this. I have three more panels to call it complete. So this will be my first 2016 to do list, not forgetting I have my Red Hexa SAL which I still have 7 more flowers to complete and my Birthday Blocks Exchange.

I have no New Year resolutions like always, as being me, I never can follow nor plan ahead. I like to go with what I feel but  I do hope to finish all of my UFO's or as much as I could before embarking on something new but restraining for something new is not an easy task. there's always the distraction.  I am very sure, I am not alone in this, LOL. I would like to travel a little more too next year if time permits. The company has recently set a new rules concerning our public holidays and annual leaves for next year, so hopefully it will not be hard to tackle. I just wanna go on more adventures, connect with people, learn new things and do what makes me happy.

Better late than never as the saying goes,

I would like to wish all my blog readers

May everyday of the New Year

glow with good cheer and happiness

for you and family

It's in the air, the goat year

Progress of my Weekly Red Hexa SAL as at end of January, seen here are 5/52. whew!

Me and some girlfriends had a day's trip out to Carey Island, famous for it's seafoods

The Restaurant Kang Guan overlooking the island. Once upon a time sampan is used to cross over, now there's a bridge which is visible in the photo located at  the far end, it was a pleasant ride sandwich by palm trees

Spicy Fried Crabs

and steam prawns are two of the few dishes we had

AC who grew up here and never left her hometown  took us on a tour into the Palm Oil Estate where this bungalow stood, a  residence of the manager.

I hope we didn't kill the Orchids when each of us grab a tree for a photo shot playfully, LOL

Here we are, all nine of us including our host AC, third from left

Here we are all waiting for our cup of  Tanjung Sepat coffee 

 Mr Goh's, a colleague weds his beau was the start of my February

The weeks went by rather quickly this February, it's almost two weeks since

 Another dinner function last Sunday. I need to shed some fats gained from  all the good food..LOL

Chinese New Year festival is just about a week from now. Like any festivity, there's lots to be done like spring cleaning the house and shopping for the festive stuff. I haven't done much of either yet as I have been preoccupied every weekends. MIL's annual medical checkup took three weekends away from me and then the dinners follow with Diane's graduation but I manage some bakes on some weekdays night.

Seaweed Crackers are the most popular with my two adolscents and therefore never could wait until  the festivity for consumption, normally the last to make but this round I had to make some for some early gift givings.

Kuih Bangkit, literally translated as Rise Cookie is a traditional cookie. I failed miserably last year  as it wasn't soft nor melt in the mouth as it should be. There was a slight improvement this year yet there was no melt in the mouth. I might go for a second attempt soon.

 Peanut Cookies, was soft and fragrant. Initially I was worried that the peanut was a bit coarsely  grind but it gives a crunchy bite. 

Some old charms deco for the Chinese New Year festival at Nu Sentral, our newest mall

One can really feel the festive season of the Chinese New Year is being celebrated. Red lanterns, cherry blossoms or ponies and  red dressers are on every window displays accompanied with blasting Chinese New Year songs. It can really set one into the mood or scared one away. LOL

Soon malls everywhere will host Lion dance and cracking fire crackers.

Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone. Thank you once again everyone for coming by and for your wonderful comments in my last post.

The new journey

A Red Hexagon SAL for year 2015 with some ladies in my group, it's been an on and off topic for quite a while before this came into action. One per week was the deal and I am waaaaaaaay behind. Here's my stuff at 3rd week.

 I have five sets waiting on my palate,  I should get ahead  I know, I shouldn't have put it down...you know how one can get drawn away in a split seconds

 Attended an Indian wedding, a long time friend and personal Maths tutor to my kids.

This is where the wedding was solemnized 

The blessing ceremony

Mr Avinash or 'Ane' as he is fondly known to his kids..err...his students I mean, hahaha, 

and his lovely bride

The location of the Wedding where the tallest Lord Muruga stood in front of the iconic Batu Caves Temple, a limestone cave  with its 272 steps behind

The temple where the wedding took place in the vicinity 

- stepping up to the temple hall where the wedding took place -

When Indian wedding is held in a temple, the food has to be vegetarian

 Lunch reception accompanied by Indian musicians

When this is served  at a dinner, it means non other

that Chinese New Year; the festivity is in the air

This dish is only available during Chinese New Year

"Yee Sang" a dish to begin with tossing with a pair of chopsticks as high in the air as possible before one eat denotes prosperity and raising to the higher level in whatever one ventures into

one must also make sure that the Yee Sang falls back onto the plate with every tossing

or there will be nothing to munch

*  At my Company Dinner last weekend  *

Desserts was Chinese pancakes and Osmanthus Jelly with wolf berries

the inbetween meals are like Shark fin soup, Steamed fish, a Prawn dish, Baby Abalone with Broccoli and shitake mushroom , Duck and Chicken platter 

and Steamed Glutinous rice with Chinese sausages and shrimp

I have this in mind for someone, been stitching this from last year with my dateline  by Christmas but no, only got to what you see here, so close to finishing. A design by Lizzie Kate, just love this design when a stitching gift is needed. I've change the color for the house as my 28ct evenweave is actually creamy, almost the same colour with the original thread colour it called for the house and the grass to compliment the house.

Thank you for coming by and for all your wonderful comments on my last post. Sorry if I didn't get to thank you with a personal mail but do be known that I read each and every comments and all are appreciated dearly.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, take care