Happy New Year!

It is 2013 today!  We started the day by going to Botanic Gardens to view the Orchid Garden.  Well, we could not really plan much as Daddy had to work today.  Still it was a good one hour walk.  Gong Gong later came over and took TD swimming.  Hmm, he swam for an hour.  When it was time to go up, he said 'No not yet (in the cutest tone), TD wants to play.'  Because of his cutsy whinning tone, he got another 15 minutes, and nothing more.

Tomorrow TD starts Pre-nursery in a new kindergarten.  He has to wake up at about 7am and be in school before 8am.

It has been a good 2012.  Best of all, everyone is in good health with the exception of my Dad who really needs to watch his food intake and stress level.  The Company is doing better than before, although we know there will be a new challenge in 2014 when the new audit exemption kicks in.  There's Por Por and Jiu Jiu having dinner together at our place.  TD is always delighted to have people over at our place.  That's him doing the peace sign, & may 2013 be a peaceful, happy (lots of smile & fun), healthy and fruitful year for all!

Love

Last Day of Chinese New Year

It was the last day of Chinese New year yesterday, so we went to Ye Ye's house for dinner. Only Tai Por came. This year's Lunar New Year felt a little crazy with a 22 months old toddler. Juggling between his meal times, nap time, and being wary of individual or children who are sick. We also invited Ishitani-san and family on the sixth day of Lunar New Year. Celebrated with champagne and beer rather than the traditional chinese tea.

Seventh day of Lunar New Year, there was a dragon dance downstairs. We thought TD might be scared, but he acutally enjoyed it a lot. He kept saying 'See dragon, see dragon' when we wanted to cut the walkabout short.

Ok, this has to be a short entry...it has been a little crazy these days... hope to have more time to do reading, and to post an entry from time to time!

10 reasons to Practise to a Meaningful Life

It's that time of the year again, Lunar New Year celebration on Feb 3, 2011. This year we invited our Guru to our Reunion Dinner. I watched a DVD during the weekend on the Oracle of Dalai Lama. Somehow it gave me inspiration to want to practise more.

1. Anger and Egoism - I have witnessed how these are mischievous troublemakers.

2. If we can develop a warm heart ourselves, we can also transform others.

3. You may be rich, powerful, and well-educated, but without these healthy feelings of kindness and compassion there may be no peace within yourself, no peace within your family - even your children suffer (How to Practise, Dalai Lama) - this is so true!!

4. To achieve a friendly attitude, a warm heart, respect for the rights of others, and concern for their welfare you must train the mind.

5. Be constantly aware of what you are doing with your body and speech! I wish I didn't raise my voice...

6. Refrain from physical and verbal actions that cause harm.

7. Restrain the mind from falling into selfishness, i.e. refrain from self-cherishing.

8. Refrain from physical nonvirtues - killing, stealing and sexual misconduct.

9. Refrain from verbal nonvirtues - lying, divisive talk, harsh speech, and senseless chatter. Guilty.

10. Refrain from mental nonvirtues - covetousness, harmful intent and wrong views.

Trying to get Irwin and myself back into the chanting routine. It does require discipline. We hope do bring Theodore into our prayer session when he is a bit older since burning candles and joss are not good for a baby's lungs and respiratory system. We hope TD will also have the opportunity to embrace Buddhism!

My 2011

Happy New Year. It comes every year doesn't it? Hah, this year we had Sukiyaki at Wai Gong and Wai Po's house.

Irwin brought some sake over, while Mummy bought some really nice beef and kurobuta. I brought Teddy over...haha, this in itself is quite an effort. I get quite tired when I bring Teddy out, but a lot of satisfaction.

Teddy is really adorable. Quite frankly, he is the centre of attraction for family gatherings. I can't quite imagine time without Teddy (but maybe more quality time to myself haha).

2011. Today Irwin and I went to Great World to do our (or rather Teddy's) groceries. I was rather amazed at the egg range. There is organic, there's kampung free range, and there's Omega plus or Vitamin E plus... After contemplation, we decided to go for organic eggs so that we can limit pesticides residues at this age. Thereafter, I grabbed the same weekly groceries, fish, pork, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato. Looking at our trolley versus the others, I felt we had a really healthy selection haha... but thats because its baby food.

When I came home from the supermarket, I pumped milk, and then went on to puree parsnips + Sweet Potato. Frankly, parsnips has a rather interesting/ weird smell to me. I hope Teddy likes it, but I would rather he be exposed to as many different flavours than to overprotect his tastebuds. So far, he has been an easy and sensible eater. I gave him blended broccoli + cauliflower, and he ate them quite quickly... of course if there was a sweet touch, for example if I blended in apple, he would take half the time, for example 15 mins to finish the meal.

So there you go, this post is supposed to be about 2011, and I think the above says it all. My thoughts are all about Teddy...and I guess it will stay this way... ;)

Lunar New Year Evening

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it was house visiting as usual. Well, it was my first time, but I went over to Gui's First Uncle house and we had delicious bee hoon, treasure pot, and Nian Gao. Por Por was very generous with me and she kept getting food that was healthy for me from the treasure pot (*Blush blush).




When lunch ended, Gui and I went over to my house and there my cousins were. We had some beers and snacks. Of course I could only limit myself to some snacks (and yea no beer huh). I really miss drinking - a "habit" probably built up during my year in Japan - give me Ume and sake anytime!

In the evening, both my in-laws, and my parents and sister went over to Desi Tulku's house. We had about an hour of prayer and then potluck dinner together. Thats a celebratory cheers picture for the Lunar New Year!

Lunar New Year Guest: Desi Tulku

Desi Tulku (DT), pictured below is a Rinpoche. In Buddhism, he is one rank or level below Dalai Lama. He has been living in India. Due to his rank, he would probably be captured if he returned to Tibet.


This year's Lunar New Year was special as we invited DT back to our home to have Reunion Dinner with us. He was all alone, so we thought why not invite him home and get a dose of cultural exchange. For this year, it happens that the Tibetan's New Year falls on the exact same date as our Chinese's Lunar New Year which starts on Feb 14..hello Valentines Day!

For our Yu Sheng, we used smoked salmon since I really shouldn't be taking raw food - so I was glad I wouldn't be missing out on the tossing of the fish salad. Since it was DT's first attempt, mother-in-law explained the meaning of this dish (Yu) - which signifies abundance and prosperity.

We also ordered noodles from Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant, and noodles represent longevity. Of course, the Treasure Pot - which had whole abalones, dried oysters, prawns, fresh scallops, roast chicken, differeny type of mushrooms and Chinese cabbage. It makes a complete, satisfying and nutritious meal. (Hmm, but maybe less satisfying as we also had Treasure Pot - although freshly prepared - for the next consecutive four meals).

We took a one hour break after dinner, and then DT began making Dorma (offerings) in the kitchen. This was made from oat, butter, honey and water. Smells really good in the kitchen! but these are offerings for the Buddha, not meant to be eaten.

When DT finished preparing the Dorma, we went into our prayer room and chanted till it was Lunar New Year...well it was about half an hour of praying. It was a pleasant way to start the first day of Lunar New Year.

After the prayer session, we back to the living room and wanted to have something sweet (I guess its symbolic once again) - we had red bean soup, Pu-er tea, chestnuts and some dried longans. Had a quick chit chat and snacks and then went off to bed. Well, its important to look fresh to welcome the first day of Lunar New Year ain't it!

Welcoming the New Year

In Decemember, it has been a crazy shopping season for me. The typical me avoids shopping crowd during the Christmas season, but this year, I headed out to purchase baby equipment over four consecutive days, and running to various places. We finally purchased the big items from Takashimaya due to the year-end sale, with about 30%++ discounts after factoring in the Takashimaya credit card and the vouchers etc.

The world of baby & child gadgets is simply mind boggling. We settled on a Maclaren stroller. This company was actually founded in the 60s by the same aeronautical engineer who designed the Spitfire fighter plane (the "hero" of The Battle of Britain in WW2).

Looking forward to January 2010, I checked my calendar of events stored in my cell. I am expecting two more baby purchase deliveries from Takashimaya and Isetan, a gynae check-up in the middle of January, and meet up with three groups of friends who I know would be offering valuable baby advice.

Enough of baby talk, there is also a Fish Liberation event on January 3. Of course, this round I would not be boarding the boat out to the kelong. Mr Gui would be attending. I donated a sum though to purchase the fish from the kelong that was meant to be sent to the restaurants. Fish liberation is a buddhist practice of rescuing the fish that are destined for slaughter. The practice exemplifies the fundamental Buddhist teaching of compassion for all living beings.

In a typical fish liberation, we purchase the fish from the kelong wholesalers, bring them to some appropriate place, and let them go free. By liberating living beings, we nurture compassion in our hearts.

...To a great 2010..!

A Lot of Social Activities!

Hmm. Let's see, during this Chinese New Year I have had Yu Sheng six times. For my international friends, Yu Sheng is a famous salad dish traditionally eaten during the Chinese New Year celebration. It consists of raw fish, colourful vegetable, crackers, and accompanied beautifully by plum sauce.

Its been too many home visits for me. Today, I finally managed to get a good day to myself. I headed for Yoga in the late afternoon, and arranged for a foot massage with my gf. When I finished my yoga, I forgot I was scheduled to go to Hyatt to view a potential wedding venue. Bummer - I had to reschedule my foot massage later, and apologised profusely to my gf who was on her way to town already.

It was also unnecessarily chaotic and hectic on a Saturday. There were many call exchanges between Dad and myself. I was afraid he would be all alone since Mum is overseas. So I tried to invite him to join my activities, but actually he had already lined up a whole lot for himself on Sat - but eh, why couldnt he be frank right from the morning? All the phone ringing while I was having my foot rub, and low batt made my precious Saturday difficult.

Anyways, resting a bit now, and then heading out for a movie Gui picked. I dont even know what show he has booked.

Tomorrow I have another Bai Nian - visiting my boss's home. He is a Canadian, but anyhow, he is hosting a Chinese New Year celebration, and there will be 25 kids i heard! lol

tired and a bit stress... its just starting, but already I can't wait for the wedding preps to be over. We wanted to host it at the Scotts lounge at Grand Hyatt as it has such a classical charm. However they have a project going on, and could be renovating it soon. My mum-in-law said, Well if we really like the Scotts lounge, why dont we wait for it and choose another date. I blurted out immediately, No No, I just want to get it over and done with. She was laughing, she knew the many different rounds were getting on my nerves - ya, would like to get it over and done with - with grace.

So tentatively we might be choosing a Champagne Lunch. My father-in-law LOVES that idea. He wants to see all the guests pissed drunk..

Do You See the Light Yet?

For life is the mirror of king and slave.

'Tis just what you are and do;

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come back to you.

-MADELINE BRIDGES

2009 has began, and it is also the time where people start taking out their formidable pen to pin their resolutions. Gui and I would do an annual reflection on the last day of the year, and share thoughts of what is important and what we wana achieve in 2009 ...

On Jan 1 2009, my in-laws organised a New Year lunch at home (bribing us) with spaghetti with pesto sauce, grilled chicken wings and tiger prawns, salad, soup and German white wine. Soon after the hearty meal... the rules were laid out. On the first day of Chinese New Year, I have to follow the Gui family to visit the oldest and most senior member - Por Por.. no longer with my own family.

I have to go up to Kemaman for the QingMing Festival 清明節, and then check out some hotel venues there for a wedding reception in August 09.

Since it is a fresh start to '09, I want to maintain my positivity... so I smile and say 'ok'...

Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2009, to my friends...!

Never mind I started toasting since noon today...

2008 was kinda rough...definitely looking forward to a great 2009 for my family and all of you guys out there!!!

cheers!