Goodbye 2005

It's time to say goodbye to 2005. It's been a year filled with the realities of life and the challenges that come with it.

Angie and I took it really easy on the last day of the year. We spent most of the day lazing around playing Scrabble and today's edition of Sudoku in the Star.


[This is no ordinary Scrabble board... a tournament board this is, thanks to Antonia :o)]

For our little new year's eve dinner, we had Ayamas Khandarr Maharaja Roaster and KFC's whipped potato. For dessert, we downed some Tesco Christmas pudding with blackcurrant wine. Yum!


[Steamed Christmas Pudding: Hot and delicious :oP]

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year 2006!

Croatian Cuisine and Sudoku

Last Thursday (29 December 2005) saw us at Hillside, Tanjung Bungah sampling Croatian cuisine at an inconspicuous eatery opposite the Esso station. We tried the roast chicken and roast pork ribs. Delicious in a mild-flavoured way.


[Croatian Roast Chicken: Reminded us of salted steamed chicken]


[Croatian Roast Pork Ribs "With Fat": Similar to the chicken but with a distinct porky flavour, obviously]

Later, we adjourned home for our maiden attempt at Sudoku. We downloaded a puzzle from the Internet and its level of difficulty was classified as "medium". Took us nearly an hour to complete :o).


[Sudoku: Yay! We made it]

Vixen Rudy Tan Gao Khoon @ Tan Gao Chiak (1991-2005)

It was a teary Christmas eve this year as we said goodbye to our beloved 'anak bongsu', Vixen who was the source of great joy to us.




[The DARLING of the family...deeply missed by Papa, Mummy, Ying Chee2, Aileen Chee2 & Angie Chee2]

Christmas 2005

Christmas is here and it's interesting to note how our Christmas celebrations have evolved over the years depending on our circumstances. This Christmas is our 2nd 'married' Christmas and we are getting used to the interesting logistical challenges :o).

This Christmas is special because it roughly coincides with the fullmoon celebration of our nephew, Gabriel.

We take this opportunity to wish you and all at home a Blessed, Holy and Christ-filled Christmas 2005.


[Angie & Bart, Christmas 2005]

Solstice Dish

On 22 December 2005, we had some traditional winter solstice 'tang yuen' made by Chu Len Chi Chi. These multi-coloured soft flour balls are boiled in syrup. I remember as children, we had fun (and taking considerable risk) trying to swallow these balls without chewing them (and without choking, of course).


[Tang Yuen: Another Chinese classic]

Pastry with Pat and Bob

We had friends from New Zealand, Pat and Bob, staying over at our place from 5-11 December 2005. While they were around, we had a little baking session: Date and Lemon Shortcake.


[How many persons does it take to make Date and Lemon Shortcake? Four...]


[From hot to cold: After baking, now the icing...]

Culinary Classic and Cleaver Cut

About two weeks ago, we enjoyed two traditional dishes. The first was 'chi gu' in Hokkien (or 'ngar gu' in Hakka or Cantonese) with roast pork and leek. The chi gu (related to the popular water chestnut) is usually available during the chinese new year but they are available early this time around


[Chi Gu Siew Bak: A Chinese New Year Classic]

While my mom was around during Gabriel's birth, she made some 'dao ma chet'. It's something like 'ban meen' but instead of being cut machanically, it's painstakingly cut using a cleaver into noodle-like strips before being cooked in thick soup. The soup has onions, anchovies and pieces of pork. Presumably, this is the traditional Pusing Hakka recipe.


[Cleaver Cut: Lip smacking good *slurp*]