: : Screwball Scramble : :

OH MAN!! Can’t believe I’d be seeing this game again. My sis was posting about it on her blog. LOL!

We spent hours and hours on this, timing ourselves.

They’re selling it at amazon.co.uk for 9.89 pounds.

More on toy’s on TV Cream’s site. A lot of them look very very familiar.

Man, talk about childhood days.

: : Dropping in for Dinner : :

On 24 Dec 2004, I was literally dropping in for dinner, so to speak. Rather, I was flying in for dinner. My cousin-in-law, Kula, picked me up at the airport with his son and we rush back home to everyone getting things ready.

It was a potluck Christmas dinner with almost everyone contributing something. Well, except me. Flew in from Kuching without any food items. Did bring presents though.

Anyway, instead of a tablecloth, Sina’ laid huge banana leaves everywhere. Think this was the leftover leaves from the Nubat Layak. The leaves created a great contrast. As for the candles, they played a duo role in this dinner. Not only do they serve as great decorations but they also act as a fly deterrant. Flies seem to avoid candles so it’s pretty common to see one or two more candles lit at food places which is open-air i.e. not enclosed but expose to the outside. Also, in the corner, was a Christmas bunch of roses from my sis and her hubby in the USA.

Will post up the dinner spread over the next few days.

Hi Dad! 🙂 He’s doing the honours on the roast ham. And, the electric knife is one useful device when it comes to slicing a huge portion of meat. You know, avoiding muscle aches and all. He was cutting the ham and the turkey as well.

: : Post-Christmas Teaser : :

Hi all! It’s now into the 1st week of 2005. Sorry for posting a bit late. 1st week of work for me so things have been pretty hectic.

Anyway, here is a teaser of the Christmas Eve Dinner which I will be writing about this weekend. It was a fun time at home and the food along was an amazing spread of both Western and Asian cuisine. As usual, we had a lot leftovers and everyone was struggling during the last week of 2004 to finish it all!

Roast ham with an amazing ingredient in it. Would you believe that the chef soak the ham in huge amounts of Guinness Stout? It came out very well and we could not taste the Stout at all. Well, maybe a bit but it’s not the alcoholic taste. It was the malt taste that got into the ham to tenderize it. The ham was bought from a small supermarket in Miri which has a huge cold storage business. It wasn’t fresh ham but still, it tasted great.

And this is my cousin, Ms. A. One of the many chefs of the night. Here she is showcasing her masterpiece.

Now that was just a teaser. Will probably have to post the pictures up in parts because there were more than 10 dishes altogether.

Cheerio!

: : Greetings for 2005 : :

Hi Everyone! Happy New Year and all! I hope that you all have had a great celebration and a great day today.

I went to this great Chinese coffee shop for lunch today for a New Year Lunch cum Birthday Lunch for Auntie Caleena. The shop we were at cooked a great meal so the pictures will be up some time next week once I’m back in Kuching.

It’s been a really eventful week here in Miri and …errmm…. suffice to say that every time I come back here, I put on more than a bit of weight …so… time to tone it down when I’m back in Kuching.

After one and a half year of blogging and taking pictures, I’ve come to realised that it would be very easy to have a gastronomical tour of Kuching. Well, provided that the shops and stalls are still around.

Cheerio all and have fun in 2005!

: : I’m OK!!! : :

Hi all! This is a quick note to say that I’m fine and so is Granny. We’re not hit by any tidal waves and are quite a bit of distance away from where it struck. I’m not in Kuching at the moment, am back home in Miri. Granny is, however, in Kuching. Both of us are not facing or nearby the epicenter of the quake which occured off the coast of Sumatera Island. We’re on another island, the island of Borneo which is facing the coastal line of Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia. We’re not facing Sumatera Island at all and are block by Peninsula Malaysia. The areas in Malaysia that were affected by the tidal waves was Penang and the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia. Tremors were felt in KL but not sure about other parts of Peninsula.

Needless to say, we’re checking on friends and family in Penang. Thankfully, they’re all alright and are doing fine. Some of them have felt some tremors but nothing was damage so far.

To let the readers know, Malaysia is not within the earthquake belt. This belt is nearby though, running through the islands of Indonesia (Sumatera, Java, Bali), so we’re just outside the border of this belt. Occasional tremors can be felt in Sarawak, in all cities and towns but luckily no major damage has been felt. However, I did hear from Dad that a road did crack in Berkenu or somewhere on the outskirts of Miri, indicating a major quake happening. Houses and high-rise buildings in Malaysia are not built to withstand earthquakes. However, I’m sure that would be changing really soon. Don’t think they can build houses to withstand tsunamis though.

Watching CNN today, saw the devastation happening to a lot of the areas : Sri Lanka, India, Thailand. Saw pictures of what’s happening in Penang from the local newspapers. It’s bad.

So, Kuching is safe. Miri, on the other hand, is dealing with torrents of rain and flash floods. I got caught in one yesterday with the heavy downpour from the hills. The town area was totally flooded as well as some of the roads were totally submerged. Luckily, I made it home safe and sound in my Sina’s (mum) little Proton Wire which made it through the high waters safely. Got very wet getting out of the car but after a quick hot shower, everything was fine again.

Having said that, I’m suffering from a cold and fever with a running nose to boot. Guzzling loads of orange juice and getting plenty of rest. Also, catching up on DVD movies that I didn’t quite managed to catch throughout the year.

Cheerio all and have a Happy New Year!

: : Potstickers : :

Digging through my picture gallery, I found this picture of pot stickers. Think it was taken at the last Mooncake Festival held a few months ago.

I like these. The filling was pork meat with chopped mangkuang and onions. Plus, it was spicy so went well for me and Granny.

You can order these potstickers from a little quaint tea shop called Life Cafe along Carpenter Street. The degree of spicyness can also be chosen. There are 5 different categories and I usually order spicyness no. 3. That’s enough for me. They use chilli oil to make it hot. Wooo!