Pink Lady

We saw a motor-cyclist completely clad in pink from a pink helmet to a pink backpack to a pink top (only pants and slippes are not pink) riding on a pink motor-cycle while on our way to lunch with God-daughter last Thursday.

I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her.

They Survived

A few weeks back I planted a plant.

A week later a strong wind came and blew the whole stem away. I was devastated because it meant that the plant had not taken root.

Nevertheless I replanted it, together with a few more stems of the plant that I still had around the house.

Every day I faithfully watered my plants and kept looking for new shoots. Today I am rewarded.

After 20 days of tender loving care I thought I saw new shoots!

There's nothing better than a photo proof to settle any ambiguity so I took a photo and compared it with the one I took about a week and a half ago.

Yes, my plants survived and they are doing well. Hallelujah!

10 days ago after replanting and today!

In Prison

Many people are in prison and they don't know it. So how do you know you are in prison?

You are in prison when you cannot leave any time you want to and when others cannot visit you any time you
want them to.

And you don't need bars or locks or chains for that to happen.

Beautiful In His Time

Today is a beautiful day. Something happened this morning that put me on cloud nine.

We were having our breakfast at our usual "Sunday" coffee-shop when the boss lady came over with our drinks and whispered in my ear, "You are very beautiful." I was surprised but managed to say, "Thank you."

Then she came around again and asked, "Have you ever won any beauty contest?" I was flabbergasted. I said, "No," and in my heart I thank God for all that He has done for me.

Never, ever in my wildest, craziest dream would I have imagined someone having this conversation with me. Me, whom my relatives labelled as kiapsi, which in Hokkien meaning ugly, hideous or grotesque.

Thank you Lord for making me beautiful in Your time.

This was how I looked today in my red kebaya.

My First Plant

Today is a historic day. I planted my first plant.

This morning Bro. Fong gave me a few stalks of mint that are supposed to ward off lizards. He also told me that it is very easy to plant them from cuttings of the stem.

I decided to do so since I liked the smell of the plant and it is also supposed to be a good herbal cure for sore throat.

The plant is supposed to grow from all the nodes

By right, I should stick the stem into the soil but lying the stem down in this manner is a fail-safe way to avoid the danger of my planting the stem upside-down!

This way I also get more plants as each plant will grow from each node. I admit I am really kiasu but why end up with one plant when you can have more?

Let's see the progress of this plant 'cos I have a reputation of killing any plant that comes into my care. :-(

This is what my plant will look like when it grows up

Three and A Half Men

MACC, the Malaysian Association of Chinese Comedians, not the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, came to town. They were up for a two-night stint at the newly opened Penangpac, Penang's first performing arts centre, at Straits Quay from 3-4 February 2012.

Friday is cell group night so we bought tickets for Saturday night.

Our tickets

The title of the show was "Three and A Half Men." That's a bit strange because it featured 4 comedians. The half probably refers to the newbie Dr Jason although it might be misconstrued to mean something uncomplimentary. 

The poster

They kept us in stitches throughout the whole night but we really enjoyed Phoon Chi Ho's act most of all, especially the part where the cockroach becomes the basis for dances like the tango and the twist. And it was so hilarious to see how he used men's "salah parking" to explain the choreography of Michael Jackson's dance in the MTV Billie Jean.

I am glad that there is now a dedicated venue for performing arts in Penang and look forward to enjoying many shows without having to go all the way down to KL.

The Most Pleasant-est CNY Surprise

It all started with a photo I took of Hubby enjoying his nasi lemak for breakfast. I sent the photo in an sms to 'Bee telling her of our new breakfast haunt. And this conversation ensued.

As you can expect, I got more and more excited and when she got to the part, "Don't leave," I was ecstatic with joy and almost whoo-hooing in the coffee shop.

She's in Penang! And she's coming over.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! He hears the heart cry of a mom who longs to see her daughter at least once during the New Year season.

That fleeting meet up on Chinese New Year Eve, 

much as we really appreciate it, simply doesn't count.

Yesterday I was just thinking to myself that this would be the first CNY without our 'Bee and I was getting a bit mopey over the thought. But the Lord is good and He knows the desires of my heart. What a wonderful surprise! It won't be a 'bee-less CNY after all.

Peking Duck

Last week Hubby's friend who came back for CNY gave him a Peking Duck all the way from Beijing. We only ate it today because I could not find any Peking Duck Pancakes at TESCO and had to make them myself using Ken Hom's recipe.

Clockwise from top left corner: The dough resting, rolling the dough into odd shapes and sizes, pan-frying the pancakes, a stack of the cooked pancakes

The pancakes were lousy. Very tough. Maybe that's because they were cold when we ate them. I cooked the pancakes in the morning and we only ate them with the duck after lunch.

Anyway I'm definitely going to try another recipe if I ever have to make Peking Duck pancakes again.

Surprisingly the duck was delicious. I don't like duck so this is high praise. But we were a little disappointed that the duck's skin was not crispy. Isn't the skin supposed to be crispy?

Clockwise from top left corner: The duck with scallions, hoisin sauce and pancakes; the duck in its warpper, the duck out of its wrapper; just out of the microwave, a serving of the duck with scallions and hoisin sauce.

Enjoying the duck

Too Fast

I woke up and found that we've stepped into February. 11 months to go and it'll be the end of the year again.

Pai Ch'neah from the Senior Pastor

I have been in Tabernacle of Praise for 33 years and yesterday was the first time that a Senior Pastor came to Pai Ch'neah us.

Clockwise from top left: The guys, the ladies (or beauties as Hubby calls us :-)). and the all of us.

After they had oohed and aahed over Hubby's marine tank and guppy pond we proceeded to enjoy the scones I made to mark this historic occasion. Pastor's elder daughter Elisa really loved the whipped cream so we let her take it home.

When I saw the way she ate the whipped cream on its own, it reminded me of my 'Bee. 

She used to eat whipped cream by the bowls.

Hubby also bought ice-cream 'cos the children were coming. He even shared the Lay's potato chips that 'Bee gave him with them. Josiah loved them.

This was also the first in a long time that we had guests and children in our home. On one hand, the children would be afraid of Princess trying to make friends with them.

Now there is no more Princess. 

It's been a year since her passing and I still miss her.

On the other hand, the children would be so excited when they saw the colourful fish in the marine tank that they would hit the glass and traumatize our fish.

We ended the evening watching the videos of 'Bee's wedding. Elisa loved the video so much that she applauded when it came to an end.

Pastor's wife Serena then mentioned that it is very important for couples to have a wedding video. Couples should regularly re-run the video and listen again to the vows and blessings of the parents to refresh their commitments to each other. More so when the marriage is going through a rough patch.