My 21st Birthday Celebration (Part 1) 13/6/2010

Weehoo!! I've turn 21. hahaha.. more mature nw perhaps? :P
If you are wondering how's my birthday celebration, I'll tell you 1 word..
AWESOME!!!!
Well, at least for me la.
I can't ask anything more than having good time with my family & friends for my birthday celebrations ( Yeah, celebration'S'. I had 2 separate parties for family & friends).

I planned to have both family & friends in a single party, but due to certain circumstances, got to forget bout it.
A small celebration itself was almost impossible in the beginning due to "some reasons", but suddenly few days before my birthday weekend (my actual birthday is on 16/6), I got the news that it is confirmed that there's gonna be a celebration. Imagine all the work that need to be done in a short period of time. *Phewww*

Oh, did i mention that it took place at my grandparents' place?
2 main reasons:
1) My house is too small to accommodate so many people.

2) It's durian season, where else can we get to taste good durians besides from our own trees rite? haha.

It's durian season people... :D

I went back 2 days earlier to help with the preparation.
Few family members and relatives came back on the eve to help with the ingredient preparation.
And at night, everyone slept late. Nt because of busy preparing the cooking ingredients, but chatting. haha.. Normal case when relatives gather together, lots of laughter. ^^

Having 'round table meeting' :P

I woke up at 5 am in the morning with intention to help with the cooking. I thought I woke up quite early, but once i entered the kitchen, to my surprise, the ladies (grandma, mum & aunts) already started cooking. Lolz. I wonder what time they all woke up.. 4 am? or did they actually sleep that night? haha.

We prepare all the food on our own, except for the satay and nyonya kuih; pulut tekan & kuih ku (not enough time to make lo) . The head chefs for the day are my grandma & youngest aunt.
They even setup 2 cooking stations.

My youngest aunt cooking at cooking station 1. ^^

My grandma in action at cooking station 2. ^^

And few hours later, we had 2 tables covered with food.
Menu of the day:
chicken curry, nasi lemak, fried noodles, fried yee mee, mix vege, ikan bakar (grilled fish, fried assam prawns, sambal nanas, chicken cocktails, nuggets, drummets, lemang... ( can't remember what we had some more).
not to forget the telur merah (hard-boiled egg coated with red colouring on it's shell) , a must have at every chinese birthday celebration. And for my 21st birthday, 21 telur merah in total ^^

Food on table 1.

Food on table 2.

Full view.

Other relatives started coming by 11 am. Lunch started around 12 pm.

Makan-makan 1.

Makan-makan 2.

Makan-makan 2.

Then, it was cake cutting time. haha..
My cake was sponsored by my cousin sister. *Thanks jie jie*
If you ask why my cake is not in the shape of a key, my answer is..
I don't want "key" shape cake. hahaha.
Nobody say 21st birthday cake MUST be in key shape right?

Yummy Strawberry cake.

Blowing candles.

Cutting cake accompanied by 2 'heroes' .

Cutting cake for relatives.

Around 3.30 pm, most of my relatives started going back (afraid that they might be stuck in traffic jam). Clearing time~~~

Clear.. clear.. clear..

I really had a great time.
Really appreciate all of them for coming all the way (some from KL) just to attend.
Not to forget everyone who contributed their help throughout the celebration, thank you so much ^^

P/s : The second part of the celebration will be in my next post. ^^

Happy Chinese New Year

I'm going back to my hometown in a short while.
But before I go, I want to wish all my family, friends & blog reader who happens to drop by my blog...
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Happy Chinese New Year!!

May you be blessed with good health, happiness & prosperity. ^^

"Christmas Party" & Twins

At last, I'm back updating my blog.
I've been busy with my final exam, which just ended last Wednesday.

Hopefully I get a good result, although i feel that it is impossible.

Just pray for the best.

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Anyway, Christmas day was a great and tiring day.

While all the others are busy celebrating Christmas (we are Buddhists), my family members were busy having our own "Christmas Party".
As usual, everyone has been eating throughout the day.

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The preparation of ingredients itself started a day before.

I felt so lucky because I had the chance to witness (not the whole process) the traditional way of making "otak-otak".

"Otak" means "brain" in English, but we don't address them as "brains".

What is it actually? Please click here.

My aunt's maid grinding otak-otak ingredients using the traditional method.

The happiest people on earth will be the kids.

Play & laugh the whole day.

Some of the kids having their lunch.

We had chicken rice and Nasi Lemak for lunch.

My aunt & mama wrapping nasi lemak using banana leaf.

Nasi lemak for sale!! RM0.50 per packet. hehe.

And...

For dinner, we had BBQ chicken, grilled fish, otak-otak, coleslaw, fried noodles, pudding & more.

Can't remember what we had. too many food already (sorry, didn't manage to snap photos of the food, too busy).

Getting ready for BBQ.

DIY BBQ pit.

My cousin enjoying his BBQ chicken wing.

By the end of the day, everyone was so tired & went to bed early.

I should snap a picture to show you all how we arrange everyone to sleep that night. It's like a refugee camp. haha.

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Oh ya, we had a good news the next morning.

My uncle's dog gave birth 2 puppies.

We suspected that the dog had delivered on Christmas day, but had fallen into a hole under the dog's cage.

Luckily my uncle found the puppies.

A black & brown puppies.

Final exam + eating

Final exam is here again. Don't know why I feel that this semester pass really fast. Suddenly realize that my final exam starting this coming Tuesday. O.O

While others are busy studying for final, I'm busy eating.

I've been spending my time eating MORE than the time to study. =.="

Not that I'm busy visiting my Muslims' friends Hari Raya open house, but I've been busy with my own family and relatives gathering.

Three days of non-stop eating. Started with my granduncle's birthday dinner last Saturday.

It's a 10 course dinner i think (normally is 8 course dinner right?).

The kids are the most happy ones, meet their cousins all about the same age, play & laugh like there's no tomorrow. The adults are busy stuffing their mouth with the food & "updating themselves with the latest family news". hehe..

The next day, lunch at my grandaunt's house.

Another whole round of eating, talking & laughing.

Super tired by the time I reached home.

Then, yesterday, continue eating activities at my grandparents place.

My aunties,uncles & cousins are already there by the time I'm there.

I don't know we actually eat for brunch (yea, i reached my grandparents place almost noon), lunch, tea or dinner.

One thing for sure is we've been eating non-stop throughout the day.

Too busy eating to snap the pictures. there are only two pictures that i managed to take.

Aunt making curry puff.

The kids enjoying themselves.

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Okay, it's time for me to quarantine myself to study.

7th month prayers & Short trip - Port Dickson

Just came back from my grandparents place for the Chinese 7th month's prayers.

The prayer was held on Saturday morning till late noon (no pictures bout that bcoz i was busy back then).

After the prayers, my dad, lil' cousin & I went for a short trip to Port Dickson.

(Port Dickson is quite near to my grandparents place, bout 30-45 minutes drive from my grandparents place).

Not many people there though coz it is during puasa month. Next time if want to come for holiday, must come during this time. No need to rebut place with other people. Can take as much place as you want. Haha.

See, not many people around.

Lil' cousin enjoying his ice-cream.

My dad & little cousin.

Picture taken under the hot sun.

Rambutan Season

I supposed to blog about this last month but because of my "tight" schedule (*ahem* wah.. wah.. sounds as if I'm doing big business like that.. so busy.. haha) this post & next few posts will be the updates of what I've been doing for the past 1 month.

Rambutan season is here again. As usual, went back grandparents place to join the crowd enjoying the fruit.

The easiest way to get lots of Rambutan at the same time is to chop down the branch. And Tadaa!!!

You'll have lots of rambutans in front of your eyes.

Rambutan... Rambutan.. Rambutan..

Sounds easy right? But actually NOT.

Firstly, you'll need the experts to plan the strategy to make sure that the branch will fall at the right place & most important won't hempap anyone. (*lame*)

Secondly, get to work. (*So lame*)

See my uncle, so bersemangat. Got sprained ankle can climb some more.

Next, my favorite part, burn the weaver ants' (kerengga) nest. this is when you can see all the soldiers (kerengga) come out & attack you in order to protect their nest & their lives. But too bad, all hangus rentung in just few seconds.
Anyone wants to eat rambutan bakar?

Finally, can take your time to pluck the rambutan.

Mama & aunt at work.

A video just for fun. haha.

More fruits? food?

It's durian season again.. wahaha.. Nothing can be compared enjoying fruits from our own trees and share them with other relatives. I've grown up together with the durian trees, and trust me, it's hard to find any durian that taste better than the REAL Durian Kampung.

Look at that yellow & thick flesh.. *glurp*

Ok, i'm done with snapping photos . Time to enjoy my durian..

To cool down our body from the heat, enjoy the original sweetness of coconut water.
*Aaahhhh.... refreshing.* ^^


Coconut, fresh from the tree.. hehe..


Then suddenly my "Ah Kong" (grandpa) came out from the orchard & handed me a mango. I was like... WAH!!! O.O
You all must be thinking what sooo "WAH!!" about mango until u see this...

This mango is huge!!

Don't believe?

See.. It's even bigger than my size 6 slipper.

Ok enough with the fruits, my mama made Kuih Bingka Ubi (2 trays some more.. pengsan eating non-stop). Made from tapioca (of course), flour and gula melaka.

Kuih Bingka Ubi

Itu pun belum add in what we had for lunch & dinner. So many dishes.. Adoi..

"Almost" all my favorite. Hmm.. where to start?

Ahh.. i know.. start from this.. hehe..

Sweet & Sour Crab with cili padi.

Oh! forgot to mention we had Green Bean soup for dessert.

Whole day busy eating.. *faint*

Qing Ming

Manage to follow my relative for Qing Ming ( also known as "cheng beng") this year. Not many people can make it this year as we went on Friday, so most of them working lo. We went around 4 pm ( I dunno why la they choose that time, it's sooo.. HOT!! OMG). It's not difficult to find my ancestors graves because all my deceased relatives' graves are group together in one area. According to my grandparents, the cemetery land belongs to our ancestors. Almost all the graves belongs either to my relatives or family's friends.

Preparing to pray.




Different generation working together.



Great great grandpa's grave.

Great great grandma's grave. ( Behind the green colour grave)

Great grandpa's grave.

Great grandma's grave.

I really salute my grandparents, granduncles & grandaunties. Despite their age, they are able to bear themselves under the HOT sun to pray their parents & grandparents. I really can't tahan the heat, I can feel that my skin is burning. So every now & then, I lari to get the shade (The price I have to pay for not bringing any cap or umbrella).

Look at them, bersemangat under the hot sun.. shame on me.. :(

The whole process took about 1 1/2-2 hours. Imagine I've been "grilled" under the sun for that period till whole face so red like udang masak. -.-"

Last shot before balik.

The entire process do not stop here. It followed with prayer at home the next day. Sorry no photos for that because I was too busy helping my grandma preparing food for prayers.

It's so much fun to engage in family activities like this once in a while (minus the being "grilled" part). So many stories, so much laughter & as usual, so many FOOD!! ;P.