I'm living my dream everyday.

CNY 2012 | Monday, January 30, 2012 @ 11:16 PM

I wanted to tower over J in my heels but his styled hair ruined my plan :p

I love what J, his brothers and Dad wore on the first day of CNY. They wore matching batik shirts! As pictured above is J looking ever inch of a happy Thai restaurant waiter/ rich Indonesian kid/ blessed lover. Haha, J's maternal side hails from Indonesia...I wonder if this has anything to do with their special dresscode this year. Anyhow, I'm loving it! :)

Here's Nic in his batik shirt.

My sis, kb and I dropped by his house on the first day for lunch :))

The entire house was buzzing with activities and I was soaking in the festive mood with at least thirty other of their relatives and friends! One of J's uncles opened an expensive bottle of ginseng XO so I decided to take a sip of it, despite being the alcohol snob that I am. Yikes...Alcohol definitely doesn't sit well with my system. I will never splurge more than fifty bucks at one go on alcoholic beverages!!! The way I see it, money is better spent on satisfying my food cravings :) I'm glad that J is on the same wavelength as me on this issue.

My gorgeous sister pulling off the cutie pie look...successfully.

Gong xi fa cai! :)

I AM VERY HAPPY TO BE FAIR AGAIN.

Like every other year after my paternal grandmother passed away, we'd visit my Aunt's place in the early afternoon.

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Hehe, it has become our new (immediate) family tradition to celebrate the lunar new year twice! We visited Jumbo a week before CNY eve to avoid the crowd :))

We had a steamboat feast at home on CNY eve. Sigh, obviously this was too much for our family of four to stomach! Anyhow, kudos to my diligent mom for busying herself in the kitchen to prepare this feast for us. As many of you would have already known, my mom doesn't fancy cooking for our entire family. She finds it too much of a chore. However, I grew up having dinner together with my family at home during the weekdays. How is that possible?! My Dad bought takeaway dishes and rice (Mom was too lazy to even boil rice omg) for as long as I can remember... Hahaha, if this isn't a testimony of accepting one's flaws when you're in love, then I don't know what true love entails :p

I enjoyed the seafood tofu best! :)

As much as the older generation loves their abalone, I've never been a fan of it until this year!!! I realised the trick to enjoying abalone. It can't be cooked, lest it becomes tough to chew. It's best eaten out of the can.

Sushi Tei's yusheng was ohsoyum! It's definitely the best yusheng I've ever had! We even had an extra portion of salmon sashimi :) Heh, J & I went on a double date with my sis and kb on the third day of CNY.

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Last Saturday, we had our annual CNY gathering at Zac's place.

We only started eating around 9pm... Preparing the ingredients for the steamboat is so time-consuming!

Jingleeeeeeboyyyy! So cute and handsome.

He reminded me of Charlie boy, whom I miss dearly.

J loves to carry dogs this way because he's so used to carrying Milo & Junior and swinging them in the air. Such a bratty behaviour... Anyway, Jingle was obviously too big to be lifted off the ground.

We went to shop for our steamboat ingredients in the evening and Z insisted on buying cheese. Hahaha, talk about polishing our taste buds! Well, I didn't fancy it much. I prefer my good old cheddar/swiss/parmesan cheese...with Carr's crackers :) Nope, I'm not missing Melbourne yet.

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On everyone's birthday (人日), I joined J & his family for a nice lunch at the national museum.

Every year, it only occurs to me that it's "everyone's birthday" when Ang writes it on her FB status. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with religion but my parents have never educated me on this day...And J's parents didn't make a big deal outta it too. What is the significance of this day?

Cantonese cuisine at Chef Chan's

Shark finning activists, don't bite back at me. As nemogirl has pointed out, it's the broth that is tasty. I''m fully aware of this.

Viviane did mention that she tried a version whereby the shark's fin was replaced by bird's nest. I'm all for abstaining from shark's fin but unfortunately, my parents enjoy this delicacy. When I tried explaining to my mom about the cruelty of finning, she brushed me off with a legitimate argument.

"What about those animals that we kill to eat? So we don't have to eat chicken, pork, and beef..."

Hmm, I was rendered speechless.