Mr & Mrs Khor

Congratulations to Aik and Karen who were married on Saturday 24 February in Penang, Malaysia. Aik is Sandy's school friend and both Aik and Karen worked with Sandy in KL, and later in Singapore, at VHQ Post.

After a Catholic ceremony at Church of the Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus, 175 guests were treated to a wonderful beachside drinks reception and buffet under a large, U-shaped marquee in the grounds of Lone Pine Hotel in Batu Ferringhi.

A beautiful day befitting a beautiful bride!

Penang

After the Chinese New Year celebrations in KL, Sandy drove up to Penang with her family to visit relatives whilst I went back to Singapore. The following weekend, I flew up to Penang to join Sandy and attend Karen and Aik's wedding. We stayed at Lone Pine Hotel in Batu Ferringhi, where the wedding was taking place. View from the hotel room ...



Sandy managed to find all her favourite Penang Chinese hawker food during the three days she was visiting relatives ... pictured below is Sandy's dad ordering fritters ...



Malay lunch prepared by Sandy's auntie from Kangar Perlis, on the border of Thailand: grilled stingray, ayam masak merah, sambal udang with egg, and fried tofu ...



Sandy, Phil, Hueh Hueh, Ah Ngae, parents, auntie and cousin went out for Malay food and feasted on fish head curry, deep fried fish, sambal eggplant, deepfried spicy chicken, omelette, sambal deepfried eggs, sambal cuttlefish, Indonesian tempeh, and extra bowls of chilli sambal on the side just in case the food wasn't hot enough ...





Sandy and I enjoyed a quick Indian roadside meal before heading to SOHO bar to drink. The nasi lemak (spicy coconut rice with anchovies, peanuts and eggs) was so hot even Sandy was crying! We also had mutton soup and beef tendon soup with thick slices of crusty white bread, and roti canai with fish curry and dhal. Delicious ... and the bill came to RM12 (US$4 / £2).

Happy Birthday!

Phil celebrated his 36th birthday at Out of Africa — a South African restaurant in KL — with Sandy, Hueh Hueh and Ah Ngae.







We ate peri peri chicken livers and garlic bread; potato skins with spicy beef; oxtail potjie (a kind of beef stew); elephant ribs with lashings of putu (African maize); ribeye steak; and Mozambique spicy grilled king prawns. With crepes and birthday cake for desert.



The restaurant staff singing Happy Birthday to the tune of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"!!





Mother-in-law prepared a traditional (in the Cheah household, anyway) birthday lunch of mee goreng (long noodles for longevity), red boiled eggs (err, well they're red so that's gotta be good) and tumeric fried chicken.







The final birthday celebration was back in Singapore when Phil, Sri and Mohan started partying at 11.30pm and walked out of the bar at 9.30am! It was actually quite confusing walking out of the dark bar into bright sunlight. We then went for breakfast in Little India ... masala thosai ... and straight to Prince of Wales in Dunlop Street for hair of the dog (not really hair of the dog as we were still drunk).

Chinese New Year

Sandy and I are up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, blogging from Sandy's parents house (courtesy of a very fast wireless connection belonging to the neighbour - we had to ask him to leave his router on as he was taking the family to Genting Highlands to gamble).

After eleven years, it's finally Phil's year again: Year of the Pig. Other notable pigs include Arnold Schwarzenegger (Phil +24 yrs), Fabien Barthez (same age), Hillary Clinton (+24 years), Jack Ruby (dead), Sacha Baron Cohen/Borat (same age) and, from closer to home, Ah Ngae (-12 years) and father-in-law (+24 years).

Instead of the usual steamboat for Reuninion Dinner, Sandy's mum prepared a feast of pork trotters and sea cucumber in black sauce, steamed chicken with Thai basil (from the garden) dip, roast duck, shredded turnip, and fish maw and pig stomach soup ... delicious! I much prefer this to style of food to steamboat. The others all disagree.





Sandy and Hueh Hueh loading ang pau (red packets) with dosh for giving to unmarried relatives and friends ...





First Day lunch was leftover pork trotters and sea cucumber in black sauce, roast duck, shredded turnip, and fish maw and pig stomach soup with three new dishes: wood ear fungus, golden needles and vermicelli, a dish of mushrooms, carrots and snow peas, and some vegetarian goose (made rom soy bean) from the neighbour ...



Spotted these on the table ... the nian gao is the traditional Chinese New Year sweet and sticky cake (to sweeten the words of the Kitchen God when he makes his annual report about the household); the lotus represents continuity (I think) and I have no idea what the leek means ... anybody know?



Phil wondering whether to buy a massage chair ... hmm, I think not.



Phil is heading back to work in Singapore on the Second Day, Sandy is staying up in Kuala Lumpur with her family. They will then head up to Penang, where Phil will join them on Friday. See later posts...

Phil& Sandy wish all our blog visitors "Gong Xi Fa Cai" !

blogging at the bar

Blogging at my local bar. The cactus was donated by the bar staff!