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!

Forest v Chelsea

Good Luck Forest!

Nottingham Forest play Chelsea in the 4th round of the FA Cup tonight.

Update: they lost 3-0 :(

Bollywood Veggies

Situated on 12 acres of farmland in Kranji, northwest Singapore, is Bollywood Veggies, an organic farm and bistro. Sandy about to tuck into fried sweet potato leaves with sambal, healthy (coconut milk-free) chicken curry, and fried carrot cake.

Australia Day

Steve and Katrina threw a bbq to celebrate Australia Day.



Steve and Terry:



Steve setting fire to Jalan Hang Jebat:





Pavlova Man Simon:

Blue eyes

Trying out my Christmas present from Holly and Nel: an eye mask from The Body Shop. For extra soothing, I placed the mask in the fridge for two weeks. It definitely soothed and cooled my eyes but it's pretty difficult to see.

4th wedding anniversary

God, has it been four years already?

Fourth anniversary is "linen" but I didn't think I would get away with giving Sandy a tea towel so found her a chunky Swarovski ring instead.



We've been meaning to try Da Paolo Il Giardino at Cluny Court for some time so decided to have dinner there to celebrate. A path lined by bamboo plants lead to a private garden with half a dozen tables. Sandy started with a mixed seafood soup and helped me finish a huge plate of beef carpaccio with shaved parmesan and salad. For mains, Sandy had a delicious handmade spinach pasta with scallops and prawns in a cream sauce while I took roast venison with porcini mushrooms in a brandy and red wine sauce with ratatouille and potatoes. Coffee and Italian chocolate cake for dessert. The selection of wines by the glass was pretty limited, but I had a fairly decent chardonnay from Victoria, Australia, and a sangiovese then a sangiovese/merlot blend from Italy. The biggest surprise was the price! We'd forgotten how reasonable Da Paolo's is. Simple yet delicious food and very unpredictable service.



As I'm writing this, wonderful aromas are wafting in from the kitchen. Sandy is cooking roast lamb with rosemary, roast potatoes and a spicy courgette dish with oregano, coriander and tomatoes. She's the best! Time to open a bottle of vino ...

Black chicken

A common sight in every wet market in Singapore and Malaysia (and presumably HK, China, Taiwan, etc) are black-skinned chickens.



Since Sandy recently bought one to boil with Chinese herbs for a delicious herbal soup, I thought I would find some more info about them. The skin is black and the bones are black; they look so odd hanging next to their pink sisters in the market. Evidently they are Silkie chickens, a widespread breed of hen found throughout the world.

Popular in the West as a show hen 'cos they're so cute and fluffy ...



(All these photos are taken from The Silkie Club of Great Britain.)





and popular with Chinese on the plate 'cos they taste so good! Our dinner:



Sandy's herbal chicken soup contained seven Chinese herbs. Below are the Chinese and English names and some of their many medicinal properties (extracted from some rather dubious Chinese websites):

1. bei qi (astragalus root): regulates blood sugar, improves endurance
2. dang shen (codonopsis root): improves immune system, Increases red blood cells
3. huai shan (Chinese wild yam, dioscorea): promotes urination, improves digestive system
4. gou qi (Chinese wolfberry): elevates testosterone levels, increase the weight of the uteri of immature mice
5. yu zhu (solomon's seal): raises the blood pressure or rabbits but lowers that of dogs (!)
6. nan xing (sweet almond): don't want to know
7. bei xing (Manchurian apricot): no info, thank God

Maybe I shouldn't have researched those herbs straight after dinner, I feel a little queasy now ...

Fusion food ... gone wrong

Roti prata stuffed with cheap (meatless) chicken frankfurter and processed cheese and served with Indian fish curry (with a dash of monosodium glutamate for good measure).

Nasty, nasty. Why did I even order it?

Happy New Year!

All the best for 2007 from Sandy and Phil in Singapore!

Sandy's sister Hueh Hueh came down from KL for a visit and we took her out to Beijing Steamboat in Geylang for dinner on the Saturday night. The food was delicious as always, but so spicy! Into the two soups -- one clear, the other a cauldron of bubbling chilli oil -- we dipped slices of raw lamb and beef, chive dumplings, tofu, beancurd skin, meatballs, fishballs, bak choy, kangkong, tang oh, yam root noodles and sea cucumber.

Phil dipping beancurd skin into the chilli oil while Hueh Hueh cools her burning tongue in Tiger beer...



New Year's Eve at Cable Car bar...







Sandy, Hueh Hueh and Hooi Hooi enjoying a seven-course New Year's Day menu at Chikuyotei Japanese restaurant, Mandarin Hotel.







We saw this fellow while on a New Year's walk in the Botanic Gardens.