I was hijacking Keeyit’s blog a moment ago and came across a speed typing test he took. The curious and kiasuism me wanted to know how many words per minute can I type. So I took the challenge too.

First Attempt

The nervous me had 4 wrong words. I know I can do better than this.

Second attempt *cracking fingers*

I.am.really.typing.very.fast.you.know!

I don’t care. One more try. I must reach 80 words per minute.

THIRD ATTEMPT! *folding up sleeves*

*Sigh… even thought I’ve made it to 76 words per minute but the number of characters is less.

So, my best personal record is 75 words per minute with 392 characters. How fast can you type?

Every year without miss, majority of schools in Klang area will declare a day off during 8th day of CNY that is the Pai Tee Kong (prayer to the Heaven/Hell God). Since I have to take a day off from work to look after the kids, instead of staying home, we spent the holiday up in Genting while most school children around Malaysia is schooling. Woohoo! Which means no crowd and no room. NO ROOM? Yea, you hear me there. No rooms available cos it is also Valentine’s Day. Duhh!!!! Good thing Genting is only about an hour drive. So we make it a day trip. Save my $$$ too.

As usual, pictures started from Millennium Square (the entrance) at the Outdoor Theme Park. Eldest Princess was rushing to queue at The Spinner, the only rides that everybody hate

Other than spinning, The Spinner would occasionally oscillates and tilts that create a height rising up to 8 feet. It’s a whirlwind adventures that will take your breathtaking new heights of excitement! I just watch that crazy stuff spinning. *yawn*

Not wanting to waste my time standing there yawning while waiting for her, I go round Millennium Square admiring all the CNY flowers.

Isn’t God’s creation amazing?

Wait, I have more!

Such beautiful flowers. Of course I need to camwhore a bit.

Another rides that the kids will not want to miss out is the Rodeo Ride.

Prince is just accelerating. Those kiddie rides to him are nothing. Yet, he would just scream or making any accelerate action. *lol*

Eldest Princess was so sad that she had grew taller and is not allowed to go on the rides. Daddy distracted her by praising how brave she is going on The Spinners alone and that she is now a grown up girl. Her reply really got us by surprise, “Well, they minus my points too.”

“Why so?”

“Yea, now I cannot go on Rodeo Rides 🙁 .”

Awww…. that is something so sad to hear.

The next best item other than flowers to buy for your darling on V-day.

Isn’t that ‘sweet’ 😉 ?

Moving on, this is Baby Princess with her antic again. I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

Well, to pacify her….

Tada! Kau tim!

I know I shouldn’t offer candy to kids as that will make them more hyperactive. So, I have my evil plan. Instead of buying sweet candy, I bought peppermint candy! Of course the little girl can’t tolerate it and spit them out after that. *insert evil laugh*

This is one of the attraction that I have not blog about. The Dinosaur Land.

As we were passing by the Go-Kart on the way to Dinosaur Land, Prince always stop here to watch the tortoise racers drivers.

“Boy, it will take many many years before you are allowed to sit on the four wheels.”

While waiting to board the boat to Dinosaur Land, we camwhore again. Basically I just want to give Daddy an opportunity to feel the dSLR.

In Dinosaur Land, there is a Hanging Bridge. I heard Prince yelling at Daddy, “This bridge is moving!”

He is such a scaddy cat! Tough on the outside, soft on the inside. *ngek, ngek, ngek* Daddy have to carry him across. After seeing his Sister running about on the bridge, he decided to walk another half of the bridge to the other end by himself.

Only to be caught on film hanging on to his dear life. *snigger, snigger*

We went back to future. 2006 is not too long ago. Other than her facial appearance, the only changes is her long flowing hair.

Oh, and while editing the picture, I can see they removed the old dinosaur and replaced with a new one. That took me awhile to play spot-the-difference. *lol*

What is new this time in Genting?

The antique car is definitely an old rides.

Spot this!

A brand new antique car (pun intended) – New paint, new tyres, new pvc seat! Except I think the engine is still the old ones. So we was like taking the rides twice just because I failed to capture a better shot of the water fall.

This time, Son called his car a Falali. Wah lau! Ok la, an antique Ferrari.

I’ll just finish up the post with few more plants from the garden.

The kids love Genting and so do I, just because Cameron Highlands is further.

Spot this during my recent trip in Genting.

Anyway, Happy Chap Goh Meh or rather, the 15th day of Chinese New Year that is also the last day of Chinese community celebrate CNY.  Now I don’t have to go out with spare ang pows in my bag any more.  You know how embarrassing when someone gave your children ang pows and you have to go, “oops… I did not bring along any packets  with me.”  And also, time to take down all the ang-ang decorations around the house.  We’ll see them again on 26th January 2009.

Anyone up for baby Ox?  Not me, definitely!

How to get to FGS Dong Zhen? If you are coming from Kesas Highway, turn in to Banting interchange which is on your left. Just keep on driving (preferably on the fast lane). There will be a sign board directing you to turn right at a traffic light junction towards FGS Dong Zhen. Now, this town is called Jenjarum which is before Banting town. You won’t miss the temple as the traffic and the crowd is horrendous!

We almost did not make it to the temple this year as we are too lazy to move our butt. *lol* But the kiasu’ism in me did not want to miss out anything. Well, going there for 2 consecutive years is like a record to me. See, told you I’m kiasu!

Fyi, the temple put up decorations based on different theme/attraction every year. In 2006, their main attraction is the artificial cherry blossom. Last year, they have this tall man-made pagoda. This year, I doubt it must be the giant rotating lantern.

Like I said earlier, we need someone to shove our heavy butt and by the time we finally make up our mind to go, I know we won’t have much time to catch the daylight. It took us about 30 minutes from Klang to Jenjarum. So it was 7pm when we reach there.

By coincidence, there is a dinner reception going on too. We managed to witness the thousands of helium balloons flying up in the air.

Once you are around the temple vicinity, you should start clicking away as the crowd keep on coming and leaving. You don’t really have a choice as where the photographer should stand or how your kids should pose. The crowd just don’t give a damn even if you are in their way of taking a photographs. You know how when you are about to press the shutter and they just walk pass right in front of your camera? Call it rude or what but it seems like everyone is doing that COS THE CROWD IS REALLY HORRENDOUS! Thank you. Did I get my message across now? Teheehee…

I remember when they first open the temple in 2006, the crowd is still bearable. We have plenty of time to pose and such.

Probably it is because we reach there at peak hour. So bear in mind. Reach there by 6pm and leave by 8pm. I think that is the safest especially if you have restless kids.

Looking back at the photographs I took in 2006, Baby Princess is now a toddler! Well, as usual Prince was running away from the camera. We have to coax him by asking him to show off a few kungfu movement. Gah!

Therefore, I set my cam on multiple shots and later, all the funny looking ones goes into the trash bin 😉 .

I would say the flowers they had this year is much more better than last year. Flowers is my weekness too *blush*

If you like photography or just a stroll, this is the place that you must not miss. My pictures here is probably 30% of what they had there. Really! I kinda wanna turn back half way since I don’t like crowded places and it is almost dinner hour and the crowds is really unbearable.

The wishing tree.

… and a red ones…

Prices of Vegetarian food and drinks are sold at double. Well, if you intend to do a bit of charity, why not? Anyway, they are not charging the public any admission fee. This is like give and take even though we are not Buddhist ourself. Another reason why we ended spending for food. It is simply because we just love vegetarian food! Oh, and the kids are thirsty.

City kids doesn’t know how to ring a bell. Or at least I know my kids doesn’t!

They tend to just shake the rope instead of pulling it hard. So this Mummy went over and show them. Low and behold, I accidentally pull it quite hard and the sound is so loud it gave me a fright too! That is quite hillarious when passerby gave me a stare. *lol*

I didn’t notice I’ve shot a blurred picture as above. Or either that, there are always someone standing behind us while we camwhore. So sad.

Well, I really wish to take more pictures but the CROWD IS REALLY 100x HORRENDOUS!

Hopefully this weekend the crowd will be lesser cos last weekend when I was there, it is the last weekend of CNY. We do expect some crowd then. If I’m not mistaken, the decorations will be there till end of this month. Anyway, if you can’t make it this month, you can always go there other time but of course, they will took down some decorations and the flowers will wilt.

I won’t forget our first trip to FGS Dong Zhen back in 2006. The artificial cherry blossom was awesome! However, I was a bit disappointed with the flowers they had in 2007. Purple flower makes the picture so dull. How about this year?

Stay tune!

This is Nien Kau (mandarin).

They are make from sugars (lots and lots of them) and glutinous rice flour. The mixture was then steam in high heat for 24 hours till they turned brownish and sticky.

Some people like to eat them fresh which can be very sweet. But I preferred mine with grated coconut.

This is how you make it:

1. If you have a weeks old or harden nien kau, steam them for approximately 20 minutes. If you want a shorter steaming time, you may cut the harden nien kau into slices. Line them on a plate before steaming them for 5 minutes.
2. Tell the sundry shop that you want the grated coconut for eating and not for squeezing santan (milk). This is to make sure the man grate only the white part of the coconut and not touch the shell at all.
3. Sprinkle 3/4 teaspoon of salt on the grated coconut.
4. Lastly, coat nien kau with coconut.

Other than the above method, you can also deep fried them into fritters with yam or sweet potatoes.  Or how about some bubur cha-cha with nien kau? *drooling!*

Yesterday, like usual, I was on LDP highway driving home from work. As I was driving along LDP, from far, the billboard next to Kelana Jaya Seafood caught my eyes. It reads, “Kelly XXX XXX XXX, will you marry me?” Reading the billboard for the second time, suddenly it struck me hard. That was a wedding proposal! OMG! So romantic can die!

Let me sketch one for you.

(Name was accidentally mistaken. Corrected after I drove by again today after work. Please ignore the ‘Elaine’ on the billboard *paiseh* )

The billboard was nice and plain with bolded black font. Instead of him kneeling on his knee, you will have to imagine him standing with one hand tuck in his pocket and another hand holding the ring. Gosh! The image keep on flashing back even when I’m writing this.

Ok. That was really a romantic way to proposed. So I started to day dream a bit. Imagine I am Kelly now. I would have flatter and frozed in the middle of highway. Probably I would come out from my car, climb on the car roof and started yelling, “I am Kelly! I am Kelly!”

And the more I day dream, I started to think, “Dang! That is a whole lot of money. 5k! F.I.V.E freaking K!” Just give me the cash and the ring, I will marry you anyway!

I was surprised the sky in Sitiawan town during CNY is pretty quiet compared to Pontian. I’ve only witness one firework and heard a few firecrackers. The next 10 minutes, all went silent again. Suddenly my Mom exclaimed, “Let’s put firecrackers too!”

My Dad objecting, “You all not scare policeman ah?”

Mom: “Aiyah, fine RM100 only. Give them lor.”

Upon hearing that, in a lightning, I dashed out to the porch with my camera.

Time for some co-ordination work with hubby. Once he light the firecrackers, I command him to dash across the road and not dash to the porch just incase we bump into each other. He nodded.

On your mark…. (a bit kang cheong leh cos I’ve never shot a burning firecrackers before)

…get set?….

…..

GO!!!

The burning crackers put me to a fright. I was taken aback by the spark and quickly backup. Aiks, standing beside me is my hubby. Now my poor son was all alone on the car. Haha! Luckly the little boy was quite brave. He did not yell for protection. In fact, he enjoy the sparks and occasionally cover his own ear with his hand.

That’s all about it. The sky went silent again.

The next morning, we had Bird nest for breakfast. Woot! Since my childhood days, we get the luxury of eating bird nest only on the first day of CNY. After Church service, we went over to my maternal Grandma’s house in Pangkor Island. aitelyu, the crowd at the Lumut Jetty was horrendous! We have to queued for about 1.5 hours before boarding the ferry. And pardon me, standing for 1.5 hours on my 2 inches heels is really killing my foot!

Model – Youngest Sis, Shoes – Belongs to me!

Remember last year I took the pictures of spiral joss stick? This year no temple visiting. But I’ve spotted some giant joss stick around housing area.

Like I say, I am attending a wedding function of a cousin of mine. This is a good opportunity too to catch up with some relative that I’ve not seen for the past 11 years! (asif!). Well, I do see them some other days but seeing each other on New Year day is something different. It’s the mood of festive season that bring us closer. Many was surprise that I am back on the Eve. Hmm… maybe I should do this more often. *evil laugh*

After 11 years (how many times do I have to rant this. *lol*) of not seeing each other, the once little cousin brother of mine suddenly became a grown up man.

And of course some have new boyfriend since last year and I didn’t know about it till now. And, and, some getting married this coming June and I’m the last person to know. And, and, 2.5 years old know how to play game on the mobile phone. So kawai. See! Chinese New Year is the best time to catch up with each other. Tiok boh?

Knowing that on the 2nd day of CNY, I will be back to my in-law’s house again, I really feel homesick. I haven’t got the time to play a round of blackjack with my siblings 🙁 , and digged into the sweet and sticky nien kau with them. And this year, our kids didn’t have chance to fight with their cousins like how they usually do. There are always an ending to a happiness. While I crawl into our heavily stuff car, my siblings was busy chatting and laughing in the hall. I felt so sad and jealous. Sad cos no one send us off. Jealous cos I am not around to be in their conversation.

(Wah, si beh cheong hei. How to end the story leh?)

(Ok. Fast forward now.)

Not that I won’t be happy in my in-law’s place. Just that, after so many years not celebrating at home, I do feel homesick so my emotion kinda carried away. Back at my in-law’s place, all I do is eat and sleep! ….sheesh…. I have great SIL that cook awesome Hokkien food.

On the 2nd day, we had a round of Blackjack. And guess what? In my 11 years of gambling, never in my life I won so much cash. RM80!!! Fatt, Fatt, Fatt! What a auspicious number! Throughout the game, my cards is either double (ban lat) or picture (Picture = Ang Kong/Ah Pek = King/Queen!). And it was double and picture again! Jonk-er decided to chicken out cos other relative started to put some bets on my cards too. So it was like RM10 per bet and most of the time, my cards are all double winning. Well, gamble a bit on CNY day won’t die right? I do not have to pretend to be a saint. Christian also need to have fun right? At least I don’t go rob people on CNY day. I have my principal. My capital is only RM20. Once I lost all of it, I will called it a day. And I only gamble with relative for the fun of it. Not for the purpose of winning. But if I do win, I can’t deny my winnings wat!

Now that Jonk-er know I don’t play mahjong, I am back to my corner – i.e. catching up with SIL and munching on tit-bits. It is funny how conversation between 2 adults with school going kids is always about our children’s upbring and their academy.

At night, the kids was playing with some sparkles.

This sparkles is very unusual. I was told they are brought in from Sillypore. You know how our traditional sparkles produces nothing but sparks. This sparkles is so kawai. It has got SOUND EFFECT! Go figure 😉

We started our journey back to KL again on the 4th day (Chor Sei) of CNY. As usual the expected crawl near Seremban Highway welcoming everyone home. Blueh!

Today is Yan Yat that is 7th day on the Chinese lunar calendar. Yan Yat is also the birthday of all soul. Why was it so? Don’t ask me lor. Cantonese always called the 7th day a Yan Yat. So, Happy Yan Yat to all!

According to the Chinese customary, every married woman shall celebrate the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY) with their husband’s family. And for the past 11 years, I have faithfully follow the customary. But for once, the rule have to be broken. Here comes the Hijackqueen!!! Muahahaahaa….

No la. I did not disobey my FIL. This year was an exception year for me as one of my cousin brother (maternal side) is getting married on the First day of CNY. So I’ve decided to bend the rules a bit to go back my Parent’s house on the Eve. The feeling was great – to be able to have reunion dinner with my Parents. But on the other side, I was worry about FIL’s feeling. I am sure he will not be happy about it. He might feel offended. He might think that I disobey him. I just act according to my own selfish feeling, that is going ahead with what has planned no matter how much people is/going to talk behind my back. Those things are unavoidable.

Back at home, I can feel how lonely is my parents on the eve. The old man has only my youngest sister as company. And my youngest sister has only the housework to accompany her! Muahahaahaa…. Even when I’m back at home, I always volunter myself with the cooking. I hate housework. My poor Mum still have to mop the floor. Shame on us! Shame on us! But I feel so at home. All the pampering from my Mum. It reminds me of our childhood days celebrating CNY with my family.

Back to pictures at my parent’s house. This is Baby Princess playing with the lion.

For her size, the lion head can be quite heavy.

Finally after fiddling with it for sometime, she managed to lift it up.

But aiks……!

Wrong side!

She took them down again.

This time, she got them right.

But she can’t see cos the mouth is covering up her view. lol. Finally she managed to open the flap.

This lion head has been around for about 6 years now. Every year, there will always be a new kid to abuse it. Poor thing. You know how kids will fight over just anything. Last year, Prince pulled out one of the springy eye ball. This year with the rough handling from the kids, the mouth is almost torn. Andddddddddd my nephew Jonathan pulled out one of the ear during a photography session.

Talking about which, my youngest Sis and me decided to camwhore a bit with the lion head too. haha!

Why their composure is always out leh? *sigh…

There’s one thing that I just found out after 11 years. My Mom don’t cook at home during the reunion dinner. I was flabbergasted when my Sis told me this. All the while, I thought my Mom is cooking. According to my Mom, there is so much hassle to cook and wash. Afterall, there’s just a few of them eating. Yea, quite true also.

Feeling bored while waiting for the food….

My 2 other Sisters (eldest and fifth sis) joined us for the reunion dinner cos their in-law is just staying nearby. Sama kampung la. We had the foochow reunion dinner. I really miss foochow food so much! What do you expect for I am not home for 11 years.

We had the usual cold dishes and next is shark fins soup.

I’ve never captured my Mom in such a happy mood before. I really love this shots of her.

When I show her the shot on the LCD screen, she ask, “Who is that?”

That was hilarious. I told her, “You didn’t know a dSLR can make a women looks prettier, right?” (Ya la. I know. Angkat sendiri sahaja.)

The shark fins soup sure taste delicious. Look at how they lick their spoon.

Welcome back Hijackqueen! Bon Appetite Foochow cooking! Did I mentioned I have not had foochow cooking during reunion dinner for 11 years?

We had the usual bla, bla, bla. No time to take photo la. Busy eating. The pork rib cook with szechuan vege. Ichiban!

The spring chicken in herbal.

Hai Reng Kou Ru (Foochow Sea cucumber & Fish maw soup)

This is Sitiawan number 1 dish! Tasted a bit sourish, spicy and sweet in thick starchy broth with the main ingredients like fish maws, sea cucumber and bamboo shoots.

This is glutinous rice.

The toppings are winter melon sweets, red dates, raisins and dry longans. Not my favourite. I only attack the toppings!

After all the makan-makan, we wipe-wipe backside and headed for home. So easy right. No need to clean up after dinner.

Back at home, my Dad started to give out angpows to his Grandchildren.

Behind every angpow, there is a short Bible verses from my Dad. Can you believe Dad wrote different Bible verses and short wishes every year? He is so full of philosophy.

This is what he wishes me.

“God’s Love Will Forever Be With You” – Too Calligraphic until Yenjai also don’t know how to read. In chinese it read as – “Zhu De Ai Yong Yuan Yu Ni Tong Zai”. haha!

My Mom had a set of pretty angpow that must show off too.

So red! So beautiful! So full of dong-dong-chiang!

The childrens are the happiest lots.

Since this is the year of Rat which is also my eldest Sister’s year, my Mom jokingly told her to give everyone in the household an angpow for Properity and…. ong la! It was supposed to be a joke. A moment later, my Sis really gave everyone an angpow.

Woot!

We stay awake waiting for the clock to strike 12. I wonder how the sky looks like in Sitiawan.

Although this is supposed to be a backdated post, I would still want to wish all, Happy Reunion!

This year is kinda simple one for me as I’ve scale down the hassle of baking, and cleaning the math after and also beautify my kingdom with lots of ang-ang decorations. But I do had something new to usher the coming New Year, that is, painted one side of my wall white. Previous, it was apple green and I found out it makes my photographs a bit dark. So this time, totally off white for me. Since it is a new wall, new coat, it deserve a new painting too.

3 pieces of chinese painting on a slab of marble with carved frame.

Last year, I read in the newspaper that Kok Fah aka chrysanthemum was supposed to help boost one’s wealth. I bought a few pot not because of the old tale belief. The flowers was begging me to bring them home.

How could I be so cruel right? So I bought one yellow and one red chrysanthemum. I have no idea what is the name of the pink flower. They are so pretty I thought I must buy them.

Ok, that was last year. This year, I bought only the yellow and red chrysanthemum. I knew I will spent more at the nursery if I were to step foot in there. Well, talking about boosting one wealth, do you believe it works? I would say… practise good karma.

Have to cut this post short as my Boss allow us to go back early.

I’m down with a bad throat. I can only blame it on the Mandarin oranges. Please do not over indulge in them as they contain lots of harmful pesticide and chemical.

To those driving on the road, please be careful and drive safely. Do not over speed. But if you intend to speed, please drive at 160km/h. At that speed, the XXX is not able to capture/detect your car with their speed radar.

Gong Xi Fa Chai (ang pow gia lai) to all who is reading.