Grandfather's 90th Birthday

This is long overdue, but I thought I would share with you a post about my recent trip back to KL in April. It was a last minute decision but I am so glad I made the effort to be home and spend time with my family. The main reason was to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday. My grandfather is an amazing person, I have a great deal of respect for him.

Unfortunately, Grumpy could not join me for this trip. But my brother and his better half made it.

All of my uncles and aunties made it, including all my cousins, the grandchildren. One cousin flew in with his wife and his very gorgeous baby boy from the UK, another cousin flew in from Hong Kong with his fiance and finally, one cousin flew in from Sarawak as he works in the oil rigs over there. All of us were looking forward to this birthday dinner which was held at Oriental Pavilion in Jaya 33, Petaling Jaya.

I made sure I had a nice cocktail dress, got my nails done - complete with nail art, I got my hair done (an amazing blow wave) at this hairdressers called 'Ah Mui's' (I kid you not) who is so famous in Damansara among the Malaysian elite - ladies like Datins to celebrities, to the rich and famous and to the more ordinary plain Janes like myself all go there to get a blow wave for a special events, parties, etc. I put on nice make up, fake lashes, bought a pair of gorgeous heels from Charles & Keith. After I got dolled up, I stepped out of my bedroom, Dopey looked at me and he said "OMG WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING? CLUBBING?!!" LOL

Here is a picture of all my grandfather's grandchildren. As you can see here, I was a bit overdressed for the occasion. My cousins must be thinking I am crazy but WTH, it is such an auspicious event for Granddad to celebrate his 90th, of course one must dress the part!

*big smile*

Dopey, Dad, Mum and myself with my grandfather. Apart from his right eye, which he recently went for an eye operation, he still is in good form.

The entire family had such an enjoyable time together, we used to be very close when we were young, but of course, now that everyone is all grown up, living their own lives, we do not catch up as much as we would like to. The last time everyone was together like this, was more than ten years ago.

After dinner, some (not all) of us cousins planned an after party! I was expecting a nice lounge somewhere in the heart of KL, but everyone complained about traffic, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the city... we ended up at an outdoor Belgian pub nearby. Of course, all the people there were wearing shorts and a singlet... I stood out like a sore thumb.

This trip, going home without Grumpy, I guess my parents had sole custody of me. I did heaps of family stuff, which was nice... first, let me show you my cousin's baby boy, Baby E. He is half Irish half Malaysian Chinese.

He is such a bundle of joy! I wish I could see him more often! I wish I could see all the little tots in the family more often!

And next, let me show you my other cousin's baby toy poodle. My cousin has a pure breed male and female toy poodle, complete with the poodle clip. Each of them costs an arm and a leg, and they had a baby poodle recently. This little puppy is so adorable! Watch this video of the puppy climbing the stairs. He is so tiny and such a delight to watch!

I should really make an effort to go back to KL more often....

Winter Weekend

How was your weekend? Mine was filled with lots of food, and lots of food!

Saturday, Grumpy had the day off. We made plans to go to this restaurant called Pie In The Sky all the way up in Mount Dandenong. Our close friend Mr Happy is very fond of this place and raves about it all the time. They make Guinness Beef pie here.

This restaurant does not take bookings, so we were worried about getting a table. When we arrived, we were seated straight away, no dramas there. It was busy, but it was not too packed.

Grumpy still sleepy (even though I let him sleep in on his day off, while I was up early doing tai chi, yoga and pilates at Body Balance class).

I had the Tandoori chicken pie with chips and salad.

Grumpy had a the Guinness Beef Pie with mash, peas and gravy.

The pies were okay, but we had no idea why our dear friend spoke so fondly about this place. I told Grumpy that I preferred the Harry's pies I normally get in Sydney. It was double the price of a normal Harry's pie too. When we got back in to Melbourne, I told Dopey that the pies were pretty average to me, "I do not know why Mr Happy says that the pies here so good when they are not!" Dopey told me that Mr Happy probably liked the pie because he also liked the ambience and the whole idea of driving all the way to the mountains. So true. Dopey has been making a lot of sense lately. Maybe he does not deserve this award winning title of 'Dopey' anymore.

After we had lunch, we went by to Grumpy's cousin Little-Mrs-Fitness-First place because she made popiah. Yeap, home made popiah which tasted so deeeelish! We were already so full from the pies, and yet we could not resist eating the popiahs for afternoon tea. OMG.

The two little kids of Little-Mrs-Fitness-First, the little boy just melts my heart. He is such a handful, but I love him to bits because he says the sweetest things! And you can't say no to a smile like his.

We ended the night with dinner with friends. We could hardly eat anymore but we still went out for dinner to catch up with the usual group of people.

Today, Grumpy played golf all day. No one plays golf in winter (and in the rain) except for my husband. For dinner, I made Prawn Tacos, Pico de Gallo, beans and guacamole with nachos. It was very easy to make, tasty and healthy too!

Soft tacos.... yummmm... Grumpy is going through an 'avocado phase' at the moment. He loves anything avocado. So his favourite was the guacamole I made from scratch. He put guacamole in his tacos.

I love Mexican food! I can't wait to go to the US and eat all the Mexican in the world!

I also made fresh banana bread today. I will share it with my friends at work tomorrow. I have modified the ingredients from two separate recipes, and the taste is nice, maybe short of one banana... but it crumbles a bit, and that makes it a bit hard when you pop it in the toaster. I need to perfect my banana bread recipe!

P.S. Remember the frenemy I was talking about in my earlier post... she found another job in Boxhill, so she resigned from her current job in the city! YAY! Which means I do not have to meet her for lunch anymore! Whoop whoop! First thing that came to my mind when she told me the news... 'GOOD RIDDANCE'!

Upset and annoyed

Yesterday at lunch, a friend made me very upset. We are fairly close, so I have no idea why would she speak to me in such a rude manner? She was extremely defensive and I was not attacking her or anything close to that. WTF??! I thought she was wayyyy out of line. And that made me very uncomfortable for the rest of the day, and today even.

Which got me thinking... is she really a friend? Or is she more of a frenemy? Should I let one small episode upset me, and override all the other favourable moments we have shared together over the years?

But lets put it this way, I am not particularly comfortable with confrontation, so therefore even today I pretend that things are fine.... on the outside. We did have dinner plans tomorrow, but I cancelled it. I just don't feel like it at all.

On the other side, Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch has been annoying me lately with her inability to go downstairs to the cafe BY HERSELF to get her chai latte and slice of toast! If I don't accompany her to the cafe, she acts all sorry for herself and resorts to normal tea in the kitchen. Both of us get a chai latte every morning at work. I changed cafes recently (if that doesn't sound too absurd) because the old one raised their prices and the latte was becoming shit! So now I grab my chai from a different cafe near the train station for cheaper and tastes so much better. Plus, its on my way to the office, so it is very fast. Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch drives in to work, and it is not really convenient for her to walk a block and a half to the same place as where I grab my chai lattes. Another thing with her is because she does not commute, she walks and does everything at a slower pace. Usually, if we go downstairs together to the cafe, we talk and talk, come back upstairs, talk, cut the toast into half at the kitchen, sometimes microwave our lattes because it has turned cold, talk again, go back to our desk, talk, eat.. and then guess what? It is already 9.30am!! One hour after I arrive in the office!

As this annoyed me a fair bit this morning, I wrote an email to Dopey, explaining the entire situation about Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and why can't she go downstairs by herself like an adult to a cafe that is 3 steps from the door in our office building?!

All he replied was "But she's your BFF what"

What he said put a smile on my face! This is so trivial!

Shoes & Boots

My dear long time friend in Perth, Michelle asked about my Crocs. So I thought I would share with you which pair of shoes I bought. This friend of mine is the most loyal Nine West customer I know, and has a crazy passion for shoes.

The first pair I got is a pair of black flats. Well duh, of course its flat, its a Croc! LOL Although I did see some Croc heels at the shop the other day *cringe*... more like Croc platforms/wedges. Sorry, Croc heels are just sooo wrong!

Here it is:

Verdict: Great to wear it to work, goes well with my work clothes. Of course I change to my normal high heels once I get to my desk, but nonetheless, I have been very happy with this pair so far. One little detail is that it squeeks a bit when you walk in them. You probably might not hear it as much on the street, but when you are in a quiet corridor in the office building, believe me you would wish it was not your pair of shoes that was making all that noise. LOL

The other pair I got is a bit more casual look, mary janes, as I would call it.

Verdict: I find them so versatile for the weekends. I slip them on to walk the dog, to do grocery shopping, pick up my dry cleaning, breakfast at my favourite cafe etc. Great for winter too because I do not want to freeze in my Havaianas. I can even wear them to do the gym for yoga and Body Balance.

So yes, I love my Crocs as it suits my lifestyle and I do not have sore feet anymore! Yay!

I might as well share with you another pair of leather boots I bought recently...and, no it is not a Croc! I have been hunting for this exact pair of boots for months. I think this might be a copy of the Rag & Bone lace up boots, but since it is very difficult to get hold of anything Rag & Bone in Australia (and I probably would not be able to afford it too), I finally found this pair (and in the right size) from Aldo. They are completely sold out in Australia and I was very close to ordering them in the UK, getting it delivered to a friend in the UK, and then get it couriered to me here. But thank goodness, I got hold of this last pair in Chapel Street, South Yarra!

Verdict: I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! Team them up with a dress and tights.. goes great with skinny jeans and they are more unique compared to the normal boots I see every year at the shops during winter...

The curious case of sore feet solved

Hello

I wear my Croc shoes nearly everyday now! So far I find them immensely comfortable!!!

I wear them when I walk to the train station and stuff. Although, my boss did not fail to remind me that they are less sexy than my normal shoes... yes, point taken Belgian Truffles -_-

My wedding feature on Polka Dot Bride

When our wedding photographer contacted me to say Miss Polka Dot Bride wanted to feature my wedding on her website, I was ecstatic! OMG Polka Dot Bride... wedding blogger extraordinaire! That was easily two months ago. And so I waited, and I waited, and finally! Thursday May 27th arrived and my wedding feature was published! Whoop whoop!

Here is the link: Ju Lee and Marcus