sandy's hometown

S: my early years in Kangar ...





S: my teenage years in Penang ...

happy 60th

Father-in-law's 60th birthday dinner in KL ...





flattened roadkill piglet ...



kah san showing off some moves ...

massage chair on wheels

P: Sandy and I travelled up to KL for father-in-law's 60th birthday. Forget flying up, we took a massage chair on wheels. This sixteen-seater bus not only had a TV-cum-games console for each person -- with a choice of over twenty movies and a dozen games -- but the chairs had a built-in four-speed massager!

Penang food

P: Sandy and I flew up to Penang to attend Hooi Hooi and Hashi's weddding dinner, held at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang in Batu Ferringhi. We also managed to get some serious eating in. We were met at the airport by Hueh Hueh, Ah Ngae and mother, who took us straight for Malay lunch. We'd eaten at this stall a few years ago but it moved and we only recently discovered where its new location was.

Mother-in-law loading the table with dishes ...



Dishes of deep-fried chilli-stuffed terubok fish; ayam kicap manis (chicken with sweet black sauce); tumeric fried chicken; cuttlefish in chilli; curried squid; fish curry; stewed beef; bamboo shoots in coconut milk; mixed vegetables; and winged-bean salad. Ten dishes for five of us!



Suitably satiated, we checked in to our hotel, had a swim then fell asleep by the pool!







Hueh Hueh, Sandy and I drove into town to look for their favourite seafood hor fun stall for dinner. Unfortunately the stall was closed so we tried the same dish from another stall. Pretty good but the girls maintain that the original stall is still the best in Penang, if not the universe.



Sandy choosing the following ingredients for her soup: congealed blood cubes, fishballs, intestines and chye sim! I didn't partake ...



Penang's famous Guerney Drive foodstreet ...



For breakfast the following day, Sandy, sisters, mother and aunt really pigged out and ordered: carrot (radish) cake; char kway teow (stirfried flat rice noodles); won tan mee (more noodles); kway chap (intestines); chee chong fan; roast pork; and chicken feet lor mee.

Hooi Hooi and Hashi's wedding

Congratulations to Hooi Hooi and Hashi on their marriage!

From the left: Clarence, Samantha, Phil, Sandy, Hooi Hooi, Hashi, Hueh Hueh, Karen, Simon, Joseph and Michelle ...



Some more photos from the wedding dinner ...









hot in pink! the chick's not too bad looking either! (S: she's a former Miss Malaysia lah!)

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).

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" !

Pulau Redang

Another fantastic Nuts Ideas and Black Studio holiday. This time we caught a propellor plane to Pulau Redang, an island on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (off the coast of Terengganu). From the left: Henry, Sandy, Yeoh, Collin, Sharina and Jonathan.



Is this a plane or a bus with wings? The seats face each other!



The view from the bedroom balcony



and from the bed!



Jolin, as adorable as ever



and her brother Joey, what a clown!



we did a couple of snorkling trips, saw a total of nine sharks and one sotong!



Yeoh, Eric and Phil



Jonathan and Collin



tough life ...





Dinner at the Malay restaurant outside the resort





Standing in a Pink Floyd album cover as bubbles float surreally on the beach





Goodbye Redang



Thank you Nuts Ideas!